Disney Comics - prices over decades?

Simo Malinen malines at iobox.fi
Tue Jul 31 12:43:22 CEST 2001


KRITON KYRIMIS: (Fri 27 Jul)
The table you posted is very interesting! However, I have a few
reservations about it, as it would seem to me that converting old prices
to modern ones is a non-trivial task.  How is this done? By adjusting
for the official values of inflation for each year? If so, does the
computation of inflation involve the price of comic books? (I don't
think so.) Is the conversion done by comparing the price of comic books
to the price of some staple at the same time, such as a loaf of bread
(which may be subsidized) or a Big Mac (which may not have existed in
the early 50s, and even if it did, it would have been considered a luxury
at that time)? Is it done by comparing the price of a comic book to the
price of paper, which has risen sky-high the last few years?  Finally,
what percentage of a typical household income was the price of a comic
book in the early fifties, compared to today? I'm sure that depending
on which criterion you use, you'll end up with quite different tables,
all of which will be equally interesting.



Well, my table was done by using the purchasing 
power values of the currency (Finnish mark) at 
1951-2000.

Let's say: "In 1951 the price of the Finnish 
weekly Aku Ankka was 50.00 marks and that is 
about 7.75 marks in today's currency." 

This means that in 1951 50.00 marks (of the 
currency in 1951) could be used to buy goods 
etc. about as much as 7.75 marks (of the today's 
currency) at today. Because currently the 
Finnish weekly costs 9.50 marks we can assume 
that it's price has raised since 1951. 

Surely there are other reasons but inflation 
raising the costs of the weekly, like taxes 
included the price. But finally the cover price 
is the one the buyer sees.

BTW - All the prices were calculated by using 
a table from: (in Finnish)
http://economics.meritanordbanken.com/fin/calc/fimtable.asp


And here's the table with the numbers again:

Finnish weekly Aku Ankka 1951-2001:
1) the cover prices of the Finnish Disney 
comic weekly Aku Ankka 1951-2001.
2) the same cover price transformed into 
today's currency.

year: the cover price = in today's currency
1951: 50.00 mk = 7.75 mk (monthly)
1952: 50.00 mk = 7.45 mk
1953: 50.00 mk = 7.30 mk
1954: 50.00 mk = 7.30 mk
1955: 50.00 mk = 7.50 mk
1956: 50.00 mk = 6.75 mk ("bi-weekly")
1957: 50.00 mk = 6.05 mk
1958: 60.00 mk = 6.84 mk
1959: 60.00 mk = 6.72 mk
1960: 60.00 mk = 6.54 mk
1961: 60.00 mk = 6.36 mk (weekly)
1962: 60.00 mk = 6.12 mk
1963: 0.60 mk = 5.84 mk (zeroes removed)
1964: 0.70 mk = 6.18 mk
1965: 0.70 mk = 5.90 mk
1966: 0.70 mk = 5.68 mk
1967: 0.70 mk = 5.38 mk
1968: 0.80 mk = 5.66 mk
1969: 0.80 mk = 5.53 mk
1970: 0.80 mk = 5.38 mk
1971: 0.80 mk = 5.06 mk
1972: 0.80 mk = 4.73 mk
1973: 0.80 mk = 4.22 mk
1974: 0.80 mk = 3.61 mk
1975: 1.00 mk = 3.83 mk
1976: 1.50 mk = 5.01 mk
1977: 1.50 mk = 4.46 mk
1978: 1.80 mk = 4.97 mk
1979: 2.10 mk = 5.40 mk
1980: 2.40 mk = 5.52 mk
1981: 2.60 mk = 5.36 mk
1982: 3.10 mk = 5.83 mk
1983: 3.50 mk = 6.06 mk
1984: 3.90 mk = 6.32 mk
1985: 4.40 mk = 6.73 mk
1986: 4.80 mk = 7.10 mk
1987: 5.10 mk = 7.29 mk
1988: 5.40 mk = 7.34 mk
1989: 5.70 mk = 7.24 mk
1990: 6.00 mk = 7.20 mk
1991: 6.40 mk = 7.36 mk
1992: 6.70 mk = 7.57 mk
1993: 6.90 mk = 7.59 mk
1994: 7.50 mk = 8.18 mk
1995: 7.90 mk = 8.53 mk
1996: 8.50 mk = 9.10 mk (pages 32 -> 36)
1997: 8.50 mk = 9.01 mk
1998: 8.50 mk = 8.93 mk
1999: 8.90 mk = 9.17 mk
2000: 8.90 mk = 8.90 mk
2001: 9.50 mk 



 - Simo


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