Answer (numbers indicate how frequently that item was mentioned):

Questions:

• If you had been asked this question, what price increases have you noticed in your life? 
• What do all of the highlighted items in orange have in common? 
• What impact does inflation have on family budgets? 

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Yahoo republished NY Times article)

The outsize importance of food is in keeping with research on how people form their views of inflation. “It matters what households actually purchase frequently, rather than what has a bigger expenditure share,” said Michael Weber, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago. That’s probably because people have more exposure to items they buy often, and it’s easier to recall their price changes, he said.

That means that the price of a carton of eggs can shape consumers’ impressions of inflation more than the cost of a new refrigerator to put them in.

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Here's all the NGPF resources available using our upgraded Search tool. 

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NGPF has a "Guess the CPI Inflation game" where winning classrooms receive $100 gift cards. Here's last month's winners. Look for new contest to open soon! 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.