Shrinkflation ‘Dial Up’ Activity: Estimate These Shrinking Product Sizes

The ONS have produced another report on 'shrinkflation' - the concept that businesses are reducing the size of their products without reducing the price that they charge to consumers. It's an interesting occurrence for economics students as shrinkflation could, in theory, be masking real inflation and also shows how behaviorists may be working their magic on the unsuspecting public.

However, analysis from the ONS report illustrates that shrinkflation actually has very little impact. Just over 200 products from the ONS list of items that are included in the basket of goods have been shown to have fallen in size. It represents about 1 - 2% of products that we consume regularly.

Still - here's a fun activity that everyone can play by themselves or teachers may like to use as a classroom activity. Called 'dial up', players need to estimate the shrinking sizes of 6 products used in the activity. The scoring system is explained at the start of the activity.