Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1993: Interview Survey

<p>The ongoing Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) provides a continuous flow of information on the buying habits of American consumers and also furnishes data to support periodic revisions of the Consumer Price Index. The survey consists of two separate components: (1) a quarterly Interview Survey in which each consumer unit in the sample is interviewed every three months over a 15-month period, and (2) a Diary Survey completed by the sample consumer units for two consecutive one-week periods. The Interview Survey was designed to collect data on major items of expense, household characteristics, and income. The expenditures covered by the survey are those that respondents can recall fairly accurately for three months or longer. In general, these expenditures include relatively large purchases, such as those for property, or expenditures that occur on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utilities, or insurance premiums. Excluded are nonprescription drugs, household supplies, and personal care items. The Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income (FMLY) files in this collection contain consumer unit characteristics, consumer unit income, and characteristics and earnings of both the reference person and the spouse. Summary expenditure data are also provided. The Member Characteristics and Income (MEMB) files present selected characteristics for each consumer unit member, including reference person and spouse. Each record in the FMLY and MEMB files consists of three months of data. Detailed Expenditures (MTAB) files provide monthly data at the Universal Classification Code (UCC) level. In these files expenditures for each consumer unit are classified according to UCC categories and are specified as gifts or nongifts. There may be more than one record for a UCC in a single month if that is what was reported to the interviewer. The Income (ITAB) files supply monthly data at the UCC level for consumer unit characteristics and income. The Documentation File (Part 20) contains a sample program and a list of variables by start position. This program is for use in the verification of the public-use data and as an illustration of the Consumer Expenditures estimation methodology, as well as to provide programming assistance. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)</p>
<p><strong>Please Note</strong>: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at <a href="https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06580.v1">https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06580.v1</a>. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.</p>