Survey of Economic Expectations, United States, 1994-2002 (ICPSR 37651)

Version Date: Jul 14, 2020

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Principal Investigator(s):
Jeff Dominitz, Resolution Economics; Charles F. Manski, Northwestern University

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37651.v1

Version V1

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Summary

During 1994-2002, the Survey of Economic Expectations (SEE) was a periodic module in WISCON, a continuous national telephone survey conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center (UWSC). The WISCON core questions asked respondents about their labor market experiences, demographics, and household income. The SEE module elicited probabilistic expectations of significant personal events. In all waves of SEE, respondents were asked to report expectations for crime victimization, health insurance, employment, and income. In some waves, they were asked about returns on mutual-fund investments and about their future Social Security benefits. In waves 1 to 15, demographic information such as age, gender, and race was collected.

Citation

Dominitz, Jeff, and Manski, Charles F. Survey of Economic Expectations, United States, 1994-2002. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-07-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37651.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

State

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1994-04 -- 2002-11
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Study Purpose

The purpose of this survey was to examine how Americans in the workforce perceive their near-term economic future.

Study Design

The WISCON Survey consisted of daily telephone interviews with a nationwide probability sample, including a set of constant core questions about experiences and attitudes, and additional questions such as those in the SEE module. The SEE questions were asked during the May-July and November-January interviewing periods.

Sample

The WISCON interviewers attempted contact with a sample of telephone numbers purchased by UWSC from Nielsen Media Research. The sample was representative of currently working residential telephone numbers in the continental United States, including both listed and non-listed numbers. Nielsen updated the sample three times a year. It has been estimated that approximately 5-7 percent of United States households do not have telephones and so were not represented in the sample. When a telephone number was called, it was first determined whether or not a working residential telephone number had been reached. Each such number was then screened to verify that it is associated with a household located in the continental United States and containing at least one household resident age 18 or older. If so, the numbers of males and females age 18 and older were ascertained. One person was then selected from among the eligible adult household members. Only the selected person could be interviewed, no substitutions being allowed. Hence the respondent-selection probability varied across households, with adults living in single-adult households being drawn with higher probability than adults living in multiple-adult households.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Panel: Interval

Universe

Households with working residential telephone numbers in the continental United States, included both listed and non-listed numbers.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

  • Data Waves 1 to 8: contains all SEE data and responses to selected WISCON core questions
  • Data Waves 9 to 15: contains all SEE data and responses to most WISCON core questions.
  • Data Waves 1 to 15: contains all SEE data and some basic WISCON demographics variables.
  • Data Wave 16: contains all SEE data and responses to all WISCON core questions.

    • Response Rates

    The WISCON interviewers called about 40 telephone numbers per day and found that, on average, about 20 of these numbers were either not in service or at business locations. Among the remaining 20 or so numbers, they obtained an interview at slightly over 10 households, on average. Thus the effective response rate (the ratio of interviews to potential residential phone numbers called) was over 50 percent.

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    Original Release Date

    2020-07-14

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    Notes