Federal Reserve Board member Lael Brainard told a conference on April 5 that inflation falls much more heavily on the poor. Brainard added that existing indexes may not adequately capture how low-income families spend and so experience inflation.

She quoted former Fed chair Arthur Burns, who said “there can be little doubt that poor people… are the chief sufferers of inflation”. Lower-income households may, because of the composition of their spending, face inflation above the national average