An Integrated Analysis of Recent Changes in Year-on-Year Consumer Price Index and Aggregate Import Price Index in Republic of Korea through Statistical Inference

Purpose - Our previous study (Chang & Lee, 2023) presented observations on the recent changes in the year-on-year (YoY) Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Republic of Korea (ROK) after the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this article is to present an integrated analysis and interpretation of the recent changes in CPI and the Aggregate Import Price Index (IPI) by incorporating recent data, specifically data from September 2022 to December 2022. Design/methodology/approach - This study collected CPI (YoY) data in the ROK from January 2019 to December 2022 using e-National Indicator System provided by the ROK. Statistical analysis was employed to analyze the data. Findings - First, we confirm the extended results of the existing study by Chang and Lee (2023). Second, we demonstrate that the Aggregate IPI in ROK increased significantly in 2022 compared to 2021. We then provide an integrated interpretation on the significant increase in CPI and aggregate IPI in ROK, which complements Chang and Lee (2023) that limits their discussion to YoY CPI. Moreover, we show that the IPI of the semiconductor in ROK decreased significantly in 2022 compared to 2021. Research implications or Originality - Our results provide important insights into the recent changes in the CPI in the ROK. The results suggest that these changes can be partially attributed to various factors, such as the global supply chain disruptions resulting from the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged war between Russia and Ukraine, the side effect of quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve, heat waves and droughts caused by climate change in ROK, a surge in demand following a gradual daily recovery, US-China trade conflict, etc. Our study shows statistically comprehensive results compared to the studies that limit their discussion to YoY average growth rate.