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I think the writing done on cost disease might better explain the gap rather than inflation (http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-...)

Inflation would imply that everything is increasing in cost at about the same rate. Instead we have ballooning costs for a few critical expenses(housing, eductation, healthcare).

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That's an interesting point, and it's notable that every affected industry suffers from a high degree of government intervention, either in the form of regulation, or the artificial injection of cheap money.

As inflation is also a form of government intervention (insert hand-waving gestures re: the Fed not really being a government agency), I think the principle still holds, but generalizes to something I can't articulate succinctly off the top of my head.

I'd like to note that in that article he wrote, he was careful to point out that he did not think government intervention was the primary factor. Specifically, he pointed out to veterinary care as an industry that has very little intervention but has the same cost disease problem as people care.

Its kind of difficult to find the similar strand in all of them to be honest. That's the reason the article ends on such a sour note: he never really figures out what's causing this.

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