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Errors in Survey Reports of Consumption Expenditures

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Author Info
Erich Battistin () (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

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Abstract

This paper considers data quality issues to analyze the pattern of consumption inequality in the 1990s exploiting two complementary datasets from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey. The Interview sample follows survey households over four calendar quarters and consists of retrospectively asked information about monthly expenditures on durable and non-durable goods. The Diary sample interviews household for two consecutive weeks, and it includes detailed information about frequently purchased items (food, personal cares and household supplies). Each survey has its own questionnaire and sample. We exploit information from one sample as an instrument for the other to derive a correction for the measurement error affecting observed measures of consumption. We produce some evidence of non-classical measurement error affecting the aggregate measure of consumption both for diary and recall based data; we also show the implications of our findings to test for the Permanent income hypothesis.

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Paper provided by International Conferences on Panel Data in its series 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin, July 5-6, 2002 with number C4-2.

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Date of creation: Mar 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpd:pd2002:c4-2

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  7. Erich Battistin & Raffaele Miniaci & Guglielmo Weber, 2003. "What do we learn from recall consumption data?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 466, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Richard Blundell & Ian Preston, 1998. "Consumption Inequality And Income Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(2), pages 603-640, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Bound, John & Brown, Charles & Mathiowetz, Nancy, 2001. "Measurement error in survey data," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 59, pages 3705-3843 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Richard Blundell & Luigi Pistaferri & Ian Preston, 2004. "Imputing consumption in the PSID using food demand estimates from the CEX," IFS Working Papers W04/27, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jeremy Lise & Shannon Seitz, 2004. "Consumption Inequality and Intra-Household Allocations," Working Papers 1019, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Martin Browning & Thomas F. Crossley & Gugliemo Weber, 2002. "Asking Consumption Questions in General Purpose Surveys," CAM Working Papers 2002-05, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Alessandro Tarozzi, 2004. "Calculating Comparable Statistics from Incomparable Surveys, with an Application to Poverty in India," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 280, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Rozana Himaz, 2008. "Intrahousehold Allocation of Education Expenditure and Returns to Education: The Case of Sri Lanka," Economics Series Working Papers 393, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2009. "Five Decades of Consumption and Income Poverty," NBER Working Papers 14827, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Erich Battistin & Richard Blundell & Arthur Lewbel, 2007. "Why is Consumption More Log Normal Than Income? Gibrat's Law Revisited," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 671, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Neeraj Kaushal & Qin Gao & Jane Waldfogel, 2006. "Welfare Reform and Family Expenditures: How are Single Mothers Adapting to the New Welfare and Work Regime?," NBER Working Papers 12624, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Dirk Krueger & Fabrizio Perri, 2005. "Does income inequality lead to consumption equality? evidence and theory," Staff Report 363, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Dew-Becker, Ian & Gordon, Robert J, 2008. "Controversies about the Rise in American Inequality: A Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 6817, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Leslie McGranahan & Anna Paulson, 2005. "The incidence of inflation: inflation experiences by demographic group: 1981-2004," Working Paper Series WP-05-20, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  13. Matthew Brzozowski & Martin Gervais & Paul Klein & and Michio Suzuki, 2009. "Dimensions of Inequality in Canada," IMES Discussion Paper Series 09-E-02, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan. [Downloadable!]
  14. Erich Battistin & Raffaele Miniaci & Guglielmo Weber, 2003. "What do we learn from recall consumption data?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 466, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Orazio Attanasio & Erich Battistin & Hidehiko Ichimura, 2004. "What Really Happened to Consumption Inequality in the US?," NBER Working Papers 10338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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