GDP and CPI: Tracking the Macroeconomy - End of Chapter Problem How might the current weighting of CPI lead to either an overstatement or understatement of the actual inflation rate experienced by households? The percentage shares of different types of spending change from year to year. Most households' consumption habits devitate somewhat from those of the "typical" household. The CPI uses only a handful of products to construct its market basket, whereas most households consume a wide variety of products. The base period used to construct the CPI is 1982-84, whereas consumption patterns have changed since then.