The second column of the table below summarizes weights in the market basket for food, housing,
fuel, and higher education. The third column reports the current inflation rate for this category.
Data is taken from the BLS Table 2 for January 2022.
Category Weight in the Market Basket Current Inflation Rate
Food (home and away) 13.0% 7.9%
Housing 33.0 4.7
Gasoline 3.7 6.6
Higher Education 1.5 2.0
(a) How does your spending differ from the spending shown in the table?
(b) Based on your response to question (a), does the aggregate inflation rate over or understate
your personal experience?