Considering the Structure of the 

Consumer Expenditure: Designing 

Computer Assisted Interviewing

• December 8-9, 2010

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

• CONSUMER EXPENDITURE SURVEY 

• METHODS WORKSHOP

• Frank Stafford

Professor of Economics

• University of Michigan

fstaffor@umich.edu
Research Setting

• There is a long history of keeping track of 

consumer expenditure 

• In the current day the challenges are 

enormous

• Impact of internet access, proliferation of 

other expenditure modes (A)

• Proliferation of goods and service types, 

especially for rich families (B)

• Think of A x B 

• Add in fluid household structure!
‘OLDEN DAYS’

Sweden, 1290 - 2008
DESIGN THEMES

• Extensive use of interactive GUI

• Use to screen inconsistencies from adding 

up

• Apply a more ‘conversational mode

“Future Directions in Timeline Data 

Collection and Analysis: Time Dairy and 

Event History Calendar Methods,” (with 

Robert F. Belli) in Calendar and Time 

Diary Methods: Measuring Well-Being in 

Life Course Research (Sage Publications, 

2009)
A Bit More on Design Themes

• Soft checks on consistency

• Hard checks on consistency from ‘adding up’ 

such as 52 weeks per year

• GUI works over the phone – tool to help 

interviewer navigate a less structured 

‘conversation’

• Can have tabs for interviewer to work back and 

revisit topics 

• An example is our Employment Event History 

Calendar (EEHC) revised in 2009 and use 2009 

and now in 2011.
SAMPLE SCREEN
DOES ‘IT’ WORK??

Alignment of Unemploymnet Spells and 

Receipt of UI

r = .28

Difference Between 1st Month Received Unemp. Comp. and 1st Month Unemployed 

Where 1st Month Unemp. January - June 2008

By Proxy Status

(N=151)

1 1

23

9

4 1 3 1 1 1

4

54

20

4

2 2 2 1

7

2 4 1

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

-5 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Months Difference

Count

Self

Proxy
• Traditionally used in PSID

• Expanded 1997-2009 to cover most spendig 

domains

• Spread throughout application – not one long 

block

• Commonly use unfolding brackets 

USE OF GLOBAL CATEGORIES
Comparison with Broad CE Categories

• PSID – CE Comparison

1999 2001 2003

Total 0.96 1.02 1.01

Food 1.03 1.08 1.1

Housing 0.94 1 0.97

Transportation 0.86 0.95 0.94

Education 1.16 1.31 1.13

Childcare 1.21 1.25 1.26

Health care 1.04 1.1 1.14

Source: Li Schoeni Danziger Charles (2010) table 3

Table 1. Ratio of average consumption expenditures in PSID

to Consumer Expenditures Survey
An Expenditure Periodicity Taxonomy

(C) 

Regularity Frequency Examples

Somewhat regular High (weekly) Food, gasoline

Regular Medium (monthly) Rent, utilities, prescription drugs (for some people)

Regular Low (annual/semiannual) Property taxes, auto license

Irregular Varies across households Clothing, health care copays

Big ticket items Usually less than once/year Automobiles, home improvements

Source: “Methodological Innovations in Collecting Spending Data:

The HRS Consumption and Activities Mail Survey,” Michael Hurd and Susann Rohwedder.
DIVERSE MODES IN THE ABOVE TABLE 

(D)

• Store

• Check

• ETF regular

• ETF sporadic

• Credit/Debit Cards

• Vending machines

• Internet (GPI?)
DIVERSE PUSCHASERS (E)

• Respondent

• Spouse

• Kids PSID CDS has allowances paid to 

kids

• Stealth credit card purchases? 8+ in 2007 

from original CDS I sample

• A x B x C x D x E
Interactive Reconciliation

ALP- CEX

Rohwedder and Hurd, 2010

All 45 or Older 65 or Older

ALP $41,723 $43,814 $40,585

CEX $43,596 $44,147 $35,706
Strategies and structure 

• First obtain force status of the family 

members age 15 and older as of the 

survey data and the prior calendar 

year. Then a summary measure of 

labor income from the prior calendar 

year period.

• Add ins (eg. Inheritance, mortgage 

refi??) to define an ‘annual cash 

flow available for consumption’ or 

ACFC.
Strategies and structure 

• Go through a set of rather global 

expenditure categories, using recall 

periodicities to match the expenditure 

category.

• Then a reconciliation phase in which the 

components are added to a total

• Then a single consumption domain (or 

two) for added detail. Here the starting 

point could be the categories set out in 

Appendix B of CPI Requirements of CE
Strategies and structure 

• Mode (s) of Purchase. For the 

specific domain. Maybe tabs by 

mode?

• Gifts of goods, ‘help from others’ in 

ACFC

• Who purchased? (some aspects of 

the Japanese expenditure studies?)