Eat, Drink And Obfuscate

WE MIGHT OVERINDUGLE this holiday season—but we probably won’t be honest about it. For my Money Guide, I took a look at how America spends. There are two key sources: the Commerce Department and the Labor Department. The Commerce Department relies on top-down economic data, while the Labor Department surveys consumers.

It turns out that consumers aren’t entirely honest. The Commerce Department found that, in 2013, U.S. households spent an average $900 on tobacco, $1,100 on beer, wine and spirits, and another $700 on alcohol when eating out. But households that were surveyed by the Labor Department admitted to spending just $330 on tobacco and $445 on alcohol.