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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Remember when a bag of M&Ms cost 15 cents?
Well that was 30 years ago, so that 55 cents you're about to pop into a vending machine for a bag of candy-coated chocolates may induce a bit of sticker shock, or at least some nostalgia.
It shouldn't. Adjusted for 30 years of inflation, 15 cents is now worth 57 cents.
Concerns about rising prices are resurfacing, but many items that seem to have spiked have merely kept pace with inflation -- and some are well below.
A $29 cheeseburger might seem a tad much, even at the venerable 21 Club in New York. But it was much worse in 1974, when it cost $10 -- equal to $38 when adjusted for inflation.
"The current inflation story is a little different story than the type of inflation story you had thirty years ago," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute.
"Thirty years ago a lot of it was driven by energy prices and labor costs," he added, noting that increased productivity and importation from countries with lower labor costs have helped reduce the cost of nearly anything you can touch.
Of course, there are some products, particularly cars, that have exceeded the pace of inflation.
"How much better is the Corvette today than 30 years ago? What is that improvement worth? It's not worth zero," Achuthan said.
Chevrolet doesn't think so either, as evidenced by the price of a 2004 model year Corvette.
Prices for Corvettes surged from $5,765 for a convertible in 1974, to $51,535, in 2004. Adjusted for inflation, $6,001 is only worth $22,884 today.
Achuthan also pointed out that the cost of most services -- be it a college education or a dental check-up -- rose faster than inflation largely because productivity increases in the sector haven't kept pace with that for tangible goods.
College costs, for example, spiked from $2,534 in 1976 to $19,710 in 2003, according to the College Board. By the way, that $2,534 price tag has already been adjusted for inflation.
Personal services can't be outsourced to foreign markets that have cheaper labor either. So that bi-annual dental check-up would be hard to have done abroad for less money.
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