Measuring a dollar in today’s terms is trickier than it might seem because you can choose from an array of multipliers to determine how much yesterday’s dollar would be worth today. Multipliers include the following:
• Consumer Price Index ($13.40 for $1.00 in 1927)
• Unskilled wage ($42.60 for a 1927 dollar)
• Production (skilled) worker compensation ($54.10)
• Nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ($65.50)
• Relative share of GDP ($174)
In this book I have approximated today’s equivalents of past years’ baseball salaries and sums received in player trades using year-to-year increases in production (skilled) worker compensation. See generally Measuring Worth, at http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare (last accessed May 23, 2015).