Where did the abundance go?
You know technology got radically better and cheaper. Your iPhone has more computing power than NASA in 1990. Solar panels cost 90% less. Data is nearly free.
So why does life feel MORE expensive? Why doesn't your paycheck go further? Where did all that productivity go?
The Deflation Index measures the gap: 646 percentage points.
Two systems, opposite directions
The gap: 14.9 percentage points annually
Technology creates exponential deflation. Costs collapsed 96% across computing, communications, energy, and transportation. Meanwhile, the money supply expanded 550%. These opposing systems create a 15 percentage point gap every year, compounding over 35 years into a massive divergence.
Where does the productivity go? It concentrates into asset prices, intermediaries, and financial complexity—rather than flowing to consumers as lower prices.
All indexed to 100 in 1990. Technology delivers dramatic deflation (cyan), while money supply expands massively (green). The gap between them reveals the divergence.
Weighted Index: 29.41% Computing + 23.53% Communications + 29.41% Energy + 17.65% Transportation
DI: 100 (1990) → 3.74 (2024) | M2: 100 → 650.2
Computing costs astronomical. Mobile phones rare and expensive. Solar power niche. Base year for all calculations. M2: $3.0T.
Internet adoption accelerates. Computing costs collapse 95% from 1990. Communications revolution begins. M2: $4.9T (+48%).
iPhone launches. Mobile computing becomes universal. HDD storage costs drop to $0.10/GB. Communications essentially free. M2: $7.4T (+124%).
Solar panel costs drop below $2/watt, beginning steep decline. Lithium-ion batteries begin 20%+ annual cost reductions. LED adoption reaches scale. M2: $8.8T (+167%).
M2 expands 24% in a single year. The largest peacetime expansion in history. Tech deflation accelerates. Gap widens dramatically. M2: $18.4T (+457%).
Computing 99.99%+ cheaper than 1990. Communications essentially free. Solar cheapest energy in history. DI: 3.74 (down 96.26%). M2: $21.3T (+550%).
Identify which sectors have real deflation vs monetary distortion. Understand where to allocate capital based on fundamental cost trends, not just nominal prices.
See which sectors are experiencing sustainable cost reduction. Build where technology delivers real abundance, not just monetary inflation.
Understand why rent tripled while computing collapsed. See the data behind why life feels more expensive despite obvious technological progress.
Access rigorous methodology and verifiable data. All calculations transparent, all sources cited, all assumptions documented on GitHub.
Technology delivered 96% deflation. The money supply expanded 550%. These two forces—one pushing prices down, one pushing them up—diverge by 15 percentage points every year. This is measurement, not theory.
Free downloads available: Complete Excel datasets with all formulas, sources, and calculations on the methodology page.
Real data from four fundamental technology sectors.
900+ verified calculations. 400+ data points. 35 years (1990-2024).
Data reflects year-end 2024. Next update: Q2 2026 with 2025 data.
Data from Federal Reserve, BLS, IRENA, BloombergNEF, AI Impacts, DOE, FCC.