The Prom and the Wall Street Journal

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article discussing my Prom Price Index (article is here).  For those of you who are new readers, I have been creating an index that tracks the change in the price of going to the Prom since 2014.  The updated 2018 index is found on this blog under the “Data Files” heading or by clicking here. Continue reading

Update for 2017 on the “Cost of Going to the Prom”

In both 2014 and 2015 I wrote about the cost of going to the Prom. I found the results surprising. The cost of going to the prom from 1998 to 2015 was going up much slower than the cost of inflation. The findings appeared in outlets like the Washington Post, US News and The Conversation. It is now two years later.

What has happened since 2015 to the cost of attending the prom? Continue reading

OMG! Proms are actually getting cheaper compared with the price of everything else

Prom season is now upon us, the key social event of most people’s high school experience. My youngest child is preparing to attend her first senior prom and a steady supply of fancy dresses has begun to appear in our house. As my credit card bills climbed ever higher, I began to wonder, how has the price of the prom changed over time? Continue reading

Is the Prom Getting Cheaper Over Time?

OMG, it’s prom season again!  This weekend was my daughter’s junior prom and before the big event a dozen teenagers and their parents were at my home for “pre-prom” pictures.  After the last couple left I did the natural thing for both parents and economists; I started totaling up the various bills for the event.  A strange thought crossed my mind.  Compared to my older children’s and my own experience, the total price tag for this year’s prom was high, but not as outrageous as in the past.  Could it be that proms are actually getting cheaper over time?

Continue reading