>1. Does food just refer to groceries? Or does it include eating out?
>(no jokes please)
Jokes? Can't imagine what you're talking about!
It's all food, home and away. They do break it out separately, but I don't have those stats in the spreadsheet.
>2. Is the same basket of items being counted? or are we talking
>about "functional substitutes." That is, does the 2000 basket
>include hamburger for the 1970 new york steak?
Not at all. It's based on diary entries of what actual households spend on everything - clothing, food, shelter, education, etc. It's used to weight the spending categories in the CPI (where all those substitution effects do matter).
Doug