Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2011: Diary Survey Files (ICPSR 34442)

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The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program provides a continuous and comprehensive flow of data on the buying habits of American consumers including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. These data are used widely in economic research and analysis, and in support of revisions of the Consumer Price Index.

The CE program is comprised of two separate components (each with its own survey questionnaire and independent sample), the Diary Survey and the quarterly Interview Survey (ICPSR 34441). This data collection contains the Diary Survey data, which was designed to obtain data on frequently purchased smaller items, including food and beverages (both at home and in food establishments), gasoline, housekeeping supplies, tobacco, nonprescription drugs, and personal care products and services. Each consumer unit (CU) recorded its expenditures in a diary for two consecutive 1-week periods. Although the diary was designed to collect information on expenditures that could not be easily recalled over time, respondents were asked to report all expenses (except overnight travel) that the CU incurred during the survey week.

The microdata in this collection are available as SAS, SPSS, and STATA datasets or ASCII comma-delimited files. The 2011 Diary release contains five sets of data files (FMLY, MEMB, EXPN, DTBD, DTID) and three processing files. The FMLY, MEMB, EXPN, DTBD, and DTID files are organized by the quarter of the calendar year in which the data were collected. There are four quarterly datasets for each of these files.

The FMLY files contain CU characteristics, income, and summary level expenditures; the MEMB files contain member characteristics and income data; the EXPN files contain detailed weekly expenditures at the Universal Classification Code (UCC) level; the DTBD files contains the CU's reported annual income values or the mean of the five imputed income values in the multiple imputation method; and the DTID files contain the five imputed income values. Please note that the summary level expenditure and income information on the FMLY files permits the data user to link consumer spending, by general expenditure category, and household characteristics and demographics on one set of files.

The three processing files enhance computer processing and tabulation of data, and provide descriptive information on item codes. The three processing files are: (1) an aggregation scheme file used in the published consumer expenditure tables (DSTUB), (2) a UCC file that contains UCCs and their abbreviated titles, identifying the expenditure, income, or demographic item represented by each UCC, and (3) a sample program file that contains the computer program used in Section VII. "MICRODATA VERIFICATION AND ESTIMATION METHODOLOGY" of the Diary User Guide. The processing files are further explained in Section III.F.6. "PROCESSING FILES" of the same User Guide documentation. There is also a second user guide, User's Guide to Income Imputation in the CE, which includes information on how to appropriately use the imputed income data.

Demographic and family characteristics data include age, sex, race, marital status, and CU relationships for each CU member. Income information, such as wage, salary, unemployment compensation, child support, and alimony, as well as information on the employment of each CU member age 14 and over was also collected.

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