Chained dollars


Chained dollars is a method of adjusting real dollar amounts for inflation over time, to allow the comparison of figures from different years. The U.S. Department of Commerce introduced the chained-dollar measure in 1996. It generally reflects dollar figures computed with 2009 as the base year.

Terms

The technique is so named because the second number in a pair of successive years becomes the first in the next pair. The result is a continuous "chain" of weights and averages. The advantage of using the chained-dollar measure is that it is more closely related to any given period covered and is subject to less distortion over time.