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The Economist has a nice new interactive graph to help us see how housing prices have changed across the U.S. Naturally, we plugged in Las Vegas and Phoenix to see how puny (or, rather, less threatening) the recent rise in prices looks compared to the massive spike of the pre-crash bubble. As noted in a related article at The Economist, the recent rise in prices makes us naturally ask whether we are off to our old habit of inflating prices. JUST seven years after the biggest housing bubble in American history began to deflate, could another be inflating? Prices in a 20-city index compiled by CoreLogic Case-Shiller rose by 11% in the year to the end of March, and by more than 20% in Phoenix and Las Vegas, both cities at the centre of the housing collapse. Inventory is down: homes are selling in days, and often for more than the asking price. In Phoenix, bidding wars have broken out between would-be homeowners and investors paying cash. Americans once more see property as a winning asset. But to qualify as a bubble, an asset must not simply appreciate; it must decouple from its intrinsic value. For houses, The Economist each quarter compares the ratio of prices to household income and rents against their long-run average in 20 countries. We have now done the same for the 20 metropolitan areas in the Case-Shiller index. The verdict: in most markets houses are at or near their long-run values, but none looks bubbly. Read Bubble-hunting here . Click here to use the interactive graph .

After a bit of a jump earlier this year, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers dropped for the second month in a row in April. A drop in the gasoline index was key as CPI decreased 0.4%. The index is up 1.1% over April 2012. Fom the Bureau of Labor Statistics release: As was the case in March, a sharp decrease in the gasoline index was the primary cause of the decline in the seasonally adjusted all items index. The fuel oil index also declined while the electricity and natural gas indexes increased; the net result was a 4.3 percent decrease in the energy index. The food index, unchanged in March, rose 0.2 percent in April. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1 percent in April, the same increase as in March. The indexes for shelter, used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and tobacco all increased in April. These increases were partially offset by declines in the indexes for apparel, airline fares, and recreation. The all items index increased 1.1 percent over the last 12 months, the smallest 12-month increase since November 2010. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.7 percent over the span; this was its smallest 12-month increase since June 2011. The food index rose 1.5 percent while the energy index declined 4.3 percent. Here's a look at the CPI for All Urban Consumers over the last year: Read the full release here .

The Atlantic 's Derek Thompson has found an economic story that [almost] everyone can celebrate: the price of flying. Airline tickets cost half what they did just thirty years ago: This is a case, Thompson argues, of deregulation working. And when the Internet became accessible to the common consumer, buyers gained a lot of leverage on prices. And yet, we still think of flying as expensive. Thompson: When US Airways and American Airlines announced their mega-merger this year, it set off national hysterics, as flyers claimed the new behemoth would painfully raise prices. The reaction seemed unaware that consumers have enjoyed an amazing (and unsustainable) three decades in cheap flying while the price of fuel, which accounts for more than a third of airfare costs, has gone up 260 percent since the turn of the century. Between falling prices, 9/11, and fuel inflation, there have been 47 airline bankruptcies since 2001. Some companies died. Others merged. Others survived with leaner contracts. Through attrition and consolidation, a less crowded marketplace for flying is inevitable. Why don't we appreciate this heyday in bargain flying? The first, and obvious, answer is that flying through the air in a big machine powered by a scarce resource will always cost a big number, and your average family expends very little energy adjusting big numbers for inflation. If you buy a round-trip ticket from New York to Columbus for $280 every year between 1986 and 2010, would you suddenly realize, after 24 years, that the real price of your ticket had dropped by exactly 50 percent? Probably not. You'd probably think, correctly, "I guess flying to Ohio costs $280." The second, and less obvious, reason why we don't recognize the amazing fall in ticket prices is that average consumers don't know what a plane ticket "should" cost. Some prices, we know, as if by heart. Parents know the price of socks, teenagers know the price of Cheetos, and college kids know the price of PBR. These numbers hardly change. Their constancy anchors an expectation. But quick, what's *the price* of flying to Los Angeles? You have no idea. It could be $300 or $700, depending on the route, the time of day, the number of seats left, the number of days notice, and so on. Read How Airline Ticket Prices Fell 50% in 30 Years (and Why Nobody Noticed) here .

We tend to look away from a lot of reports on rising gas prices. Much like weather, gas prices are low hanging fruit for news media to attract eyeballs without providing any real analysis. But there are exceptions. In the below interview, for example, the Wall Street Journal 's Paul Vigna explains exactly why prices are up again, and it provides a nice case study on how the various parts of a supply chain affect consumer costs. In the case of the most recent rise, it has to do with the gap between what refiners get for the price of crude oil and the price of wholesale--or "the crack spread":

Home prices dropped slightly from October to November according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices release. Average home prices dropped 0.2% for the Case-Shiller 10-city composite and 0.1% for the 20 city composite. The 12-month picture looks much stronger. On an annual basis, prices rose 4.5% for the 10-city composite index and 5.5% for the 20-city composite. Here's a look at the long term trend: From the release, quoting David M. Blitzer , Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Winter is usually a weak period for housing which explains why we now see about half the cities with falling month-to-month prices compared to 20 out of 20 seeing rising prices last summer. The better annual price changes also point to seasonal weakness rather than a reversal in the housing market. Further evidence that the weakness is seasonal is seen in the seasonally adjusted figures: only New York saw prices fall on a seasonally adjusted basis while Cleveland was flat. Regional patterns are shifting as well. The Southwest – Las Vegas and Phoenix – are staging a strong comeback with the Southeast -- Miami and Tampa close behind. The sunbelt, which bore the brunt of the housing collapse, is back in a leadership position. California is also doing well while the northeast and industrial Midwest is lagging somewhat. Housing is clearly recovering. Prices are rising as are both new and existing home sales. Existing home sales in November were 5.0 million, highest since November 2009. New Home sales at 398,000 were the highest since June 2010. These figures confirm that housing is contributing to economic growth. " Read the full release here .

Personal income and spending both rose in November, according to the Commerce Department . Income rose by 0.6 percent, exceeding expectations. Real Disposable Income rose 0.8 percent after dropping 0.1 percent in October. Real Consumer Spending rose by 0.6 percent. Take a look at the monthly change: Here are the toplines from the Bureau of Economic Analysis : Personal income increased 0.6 percent in November after increasing 0.1 percent in October. Wages and salaries increased 0.6 percent in November after decreasing 0.3 percent in October. The October decrease reflected work interruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy, which reduced wages and salaries by 0.3 percent. Real consumer spending, spending adjusted for price changes, increased 0.6 percent in November after falling 0.2 percent in October. Spending on durable goods increased 2.9 percent in November after falling 0.9 percent in October. Read the BEA's full report here .

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.1 percent (seasonally adjusted) in October, with the housing costs the key driver behind the increase. The all items index has risen 2.2 percent over the last 12 months (not seasonally adjusted), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Here's a look at the CPI for All Urban Consumers over the last year: Here are some key details from the BLS release: The shelter index increased 0.3 percent, its largest increase since March 2008, and accounted for over half of the seasonally adjusted all items increase. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent, as the rise in the shelter index and increases in the indexes for apparel and airline fare more than offset declines in the indexes for used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and recreation. The food index increased 0.2 percent in October with the index for food at home rising 0.3 percent, its largest increase since September 2011. The energy index, which had risen sharply in August and September, declined slightly in October. Major energy component indexes were mixed, with declines in the indexes for gasoline and natural gas more than offsetting increases in the indexes for electricity and fuel oil. Read the full release here .

We're based in Vancouver for a couple of days, and we've been struck by how expensive certain items are compared to other cities (Great food trucks, and we'll keep going back. But we'll also keep being surprised at double digit prices on street food). So we were poised to jump into some data when The Big Picture pointed us to Mercer's 2012 Cost of Living Survey . It is always fascinating to see how some cities can offer relatively affordable options in one category of consumer goods, and then have others be so expensive. The full report is worth your time. But we love this highly informative infographic (for full size, click here ):