Appendix 1 Historic Currency Prices
This table of conversion factors provides readers with a guide to the historic value of currencies. The table displays factors the reader can use to convert monetary values given in the text to 2021 USD.
I derived the factors in the table as follows. First, I deflated the historic value of the currency by the GDP implicit price deflation factor for each year. That figure was converted into a percentage representing the historic value as a percent of the currency’s value in 2021. That inflated value was then multiplied by a conversion factor for 2021 USD. The 2021 USD conversion factors are:Footnote 1
| AUD = 0.76382 | GBP = 1.40152 |
| CDN = 0.81780 | NZD = 0.70997 |
| EURO = 1.20393 | SEK = 0.11901 |
Historic GDP implicit prices were obtained from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, a component of the United States’ Federal Reserve System.Footnote 2 The prices for Euros is relative to Irish inflation as distinct from that of other European jurisdictions.
| YEAR | AUD | CDN | IRISH € | GBP | NZD | SEK | USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1.22248 | 1.21160 | No Data | 2.14912 | 1.04204 | 0.16285 | 1.47120 |
| 1996 | 1.21206 | 1.20211 | No Data | 2.10923 | 1.03063 | 0.16196 | 1.45885 |
| 1997 | 1.20793 | 1.19645 | 1.76654 | 2.11264 | 1.03050 | 0.16060 | 1.44583 |
| 1998 | 1.20334 | 1.19921 | 1.71603 | 2.09712 | 1.02465 | 0.15987 | 1.43729 |
| 1999 | 1.19632 | 1.18255 | 1.68008 | 2.08386 | 1.02065 | 0.15905 | 1.42722 |
| 2000 | 1.17127 | 1.15736 | 1.62119 | 2.06693 | 1.01026 | 0.15767 | 1.40852 |
| 2001 | 1.15769 | 1.15364 | 1.55841 | 2.04808 | 0.99231 | 0.15536 | 1.39119 |
| 2002 | 1.14324 | 1.14090 | 1.50766 | 2.02669 | 0.98323 | 0.15388 | 1.37943 |
| 2003 | 1.12776 | 1.12128 | 1.46739 | 1.99772 | 0.97642 | 0.15223 | 1.36319 |
| 2004 | 1.10843 | 1.09897 | 1.46185 | 1.96977 | 0.95550 | 0.15191 | 1.34003 |
| 2005 | 1.08014 | 1.07755 | 1.42880 | 1.93480 | 0.94264 | 0.15123 | 1.31241 |
| 2006 | 1.05050 | 1.06005 | 1.39085 | 1.90204 | 0.93684 | 0.14948 | 1.28487 |
| 2007 | 1.02671 | 1.04144 | 1.37707 | 1.86895 | 0.90266 | 0.14661 | 1.26182 |
| 2008 | 0.97483 | 1.00039 | 1.38289 | 1.82969 | 0.88884 | 0.14324 | 1.24275 |
| 2009 | 0.98875 | 1.02805 | 1.43617 | 1.80815 | 0.87750 | 0.14071 | 1.24161 |
| 2010 | 0.93999 | 1.00972 | 1.46890 | 1.79058 | 0.85830 | 0.13966 | 1.22833 |
| 2011 | 0.90595 | 0.98228 | 1.45292 | 1.76382 | 0.83883 | 0.13845 | 1.20520 |
| 2012 | 0.91580 | 0.97300 | 1.42818 | 1.74252 | 0.84603 | 0.13733 | 1.18885 |
| 2013 | 0.90498 | 0.95788 | 1.41774 | 1.71246 | 0.81709 | 0.13627 | 1.17209 |
| 2014 | 0.90703 | 0.94072 | 1.41837 | 1.69063 | 0.80820 | 0.13428 | 1.15138 |
| 2015 | 0.90858 | 0.94784 | 1.33229 | 1.86350 | 0.80359 | 0.13180 | 1.14126 |
| 2016 | 0.90057 | 0.94325 | 1.32381 | 1.65686 | 0.79142 | 0.12999 | 1.13186 |
| 2017 | 0.87478 | 0.92646 | 1.31258 | 1.63088 | 0.76603 | 0.12741 | 1.11212 |
| 2018 | 0.85318 | 0.90538 | 1.30387 | 1.60182 | 0.75595 | 0.12445 | 1.08519 |
| 2019 | 0.82379 | 0.89769 | 1.25180 | 1.57193 | 0.73798 | 0.12123 | 1.06598 |
| 2020 | 0.82406 | 0.88660 | 1.26737 | 1.48321 | 0.72281 | 0.11901 | 1.05227 |
| 2021 | 0.76382 | 0.81780 | 1.20393 | 1.40152 | 0.70997 | 0.11901 | 1.00000 |
To illustrate the table’s use, Chapter 7 gives the maximum payment value for New Zealand’s HCP’s Fast Track process as NZD$50,000. Most fast track payments were made in 2015, therefore, to understand the relative 2021 USD value, the reader would multiply 50,000 by the 2015 NZD conversion factor (0.80359):
0.80359 X 50,000 = 2021 USD$40,179.50.
If the reader wishes to know 2021 values in the original currency, they can revert to online calculators offered by national institutions:
Australia: www.rba.gov.au/calculator/
Canada: www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/
Ireland: www.cso.ie/en/interactivezone/visualisationtools/cpiinflationcalculator/
Britain (England): www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator
New Zealand: www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator
Sweden does not offer an English language calculator and the USD figures are given in the table.
1 30 June 2021 USD conversions from https://www.ofx.com/
2 The price date for each currency is 1 July of the respective year for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA. British, Swedish, and Irish prices are taken at 1 January.
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