CPI Basket

We talked about the CPI in class. The CPI, you'll recall, measures the cost of a specific basket of goods (i.e. 4 apples and 3 oranges) over time. Issues with the CPI are that the basket doesn't necessarily represent what you or I actually consume. Attached here is the actual breakdown of the CPI basket by category in excruciating detail. The broad categories, and their percentage weight in the basket is:

Food and Beverages 14.99%
Housing 42.69%
Apparel 3.73%
Transport 17.25%
Medical 6.28%
Recreation 5.55%
Education and Communication 6.03%
Other 3.48%

You'll see that housing is the biggest category, followed by transportation and food. Does it makes sense? Depends on who you are.