Buying a newspaper or getting a haircut has gotten increasingly expensive in Sweden (and elsewhere also, for sure) if you compare the costs of 50 years ago. A haircut in 1964 cost SEK 6.34 (Under $1), today it’s SEK 373 ($56). In 1964, if you had SEK 6 and 50 öre ($1) in your pocket, you could choose between going to the hairdresser or buying a ”falukorv” (the large Swedish sausage). Today a falukorv of about 1lb will set you back jsut under SEK 40. That a visit to the hairdresser has increased so much in comparison to a popular food can be explained, says professor in Economics at Stockholm University Hans Wijkander.

”It is a reflection of wages increasing more than the CPI (Consumer Price Index). We are simply better off,” he says. With more money in our wallet we can afford to keep up our hairdos, and hairdressers are eager to keep up with the wage increase so they raise prices whenever they can. During the past 50 years, the cost of living in Sweden has increased tenfold. What we today need a thousand kronor ($152) to buy, we needed only a hundred ($15) for in 1964. Not only have haircuts become more expensive, but newspapers and movies have as well — the prices on the latter two have also increased significantly more than the consumer price index, while bananas and ground beef have become relatively cheaper.