INFLATION QUIZ From Our Newsletter — ANSWERS
1. A. 2.9 percent.
Answer D, 9.1 percent, is from June 2022 and is the highest U.S. annual inflation rate recorded in the past 40 years.
2. A. Eggs!
The cost of a Grade A dozen rose 170 percent from August 2020 to August 2025. Motor vehicle insurance was up 60 percent; regular unleaded gas, 45 percent; and rent, almost 28 percent. Medical care rose only 11.6 percent, but the BLS isn’t measuring out-of-pocket costs. Those rose about 18 percent per person from 2020 to 2022 alone, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
3. As reported by the website Trading Economics:
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Brazil: 5.1%
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China: -0.4%
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Germany: 2.2%
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Nigeria: 21.9%
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Russia: 8.1%
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Ukraine: 13.2%
4. B. 3.2 percent.
The BLS warns that this index for older Americans has shortcomings, such as not necessarily reflecting where they shop.
5. C. 49 percent.
The figure is 59 percent for households with incomes less than $25,000. As Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas researchers explain, inflation tends to hit low-income households the hardest, partly because a greater share of their income goes toward higher-inflation necessities such as food, gas, and rent.
6. C. Paper products.
The good news, says the BLS: although shrinkflation may grab your attention, it has a one-hundredth of 1 percent impact on the inflation rate.
7. False.
When prices rise, each dollar you repay your lender is worth less than it was when you got your loan. You, the borrower, benefit in a way from inflation: as your other expenses rise, your fixed monthly payments cost you relatively less.
8. C. They hardly changed them at all.
Regarding inflation, Americans appear to be pessimists.
