8 . Interest, inflation, and purchasing power

Suppose Dariya is a fashionista and buys only denim jackets. Dariya deposits $3,000 into a savings account that pays an annual nominal interest rate of 5%. Assume this interest rate is fixed, and so it will not change over time. On the day she makes her deposit, suppose that a denim jacket has a price of $15.00.

Initially, Dariya's $3,000 deposit has a purchasing power of

denim jackets.

For each of the annual inflation rates given in the following table, first determine the new price of a denim jacket, assuming it rises at the rate of inflation. Then enter the corresponding purchasing power of Dariya's deposit after one year in the first row of the table for each inflation rate. Finally, enter the value for the real interest rate at each of the given inflation rates.

Hint: Round your answers in the first row downto the nearest denim jacket. For example, if you find that the deposit will cover 20.7 denim jackets, you would round the purchasing power down to 20 denim jackets under the assumption that Dariya will not buy seven-tenths of a denim jacket.

	Annual Inflation Rate
0%	5%	10%
Number of Jackets Dariya Can Purchase after One Year
Real Interest Rate

When the rate of inflation is greater than the interest rate on Dariya's deposit, the purchasing power of her deposit over the course of the year.