Prices then and now

When I was a kid, things were different.  For one thing, a candy bar cost a nickel, you know, $.05.  Now, I received an email from a younger friend asking where were candy bars selling for “only” one dollar.  So, was a nickel the “right” price and a dollar “much more expensive”.  

I think prices need to be evaluated relatively.  If a nickel was very difficult to obtain then, but a dollar is easy to obtain now, there is probably a good argument to be made that the candy bar is cheaper now.  Sometimes, prices are evaluated in terms of minutes or hours needed to be paid that much.  To a large extent, minutes or hours of work seem more or less the same now as a couple of decades back.