The subject of inflation is close to the hearts of many people as it directly affects their purchasing power and quality of life.  Controlling inflation is a challenge which governments around the world have to constantly grapple with, as a drastic and sustained increase in inflation could lead to unhappiness among the populace.

Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard famously said “You cannot manage what you cannot measure”.  An important part of the work in managing inflation is to measure and forecast the short, medium and long term expectations of inflation.  Researchers at SMU’s Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, in collaboration with MasterCard WorldWide, have developed the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations or SinDEx, which was officially launched in January 2012.

The Index is derived from an online survey of around 400 randomly selected individuals from Singapore households.  The online survey helps researchers understand the behaviour and sentiments of decision makers in Singapore households. The Index released the findings of the ninth wave of its quarterly survey in October this year.

In this podcast, Dr Aurobindo Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Finance and Project Director of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, shares his insights on inflation in Singapore and beyond.