DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09821
title: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1990: Diary Survey
title: Archival Version

description: 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 Diary Survey contains expenditure 
 data for items purchased on a daily or weekly basis. Participants from 
 consumer units, which are roughly equivalent to households, are asked 
 to maintain expense records, or diaries, of all purchases made each day 
 for two consecutive one-week periods. Diaries are designed to record 
 information on small, frequently purchased items such as food, 
 beverages, food consumed away from home, gasoline, housekeeping 
 supplies, nonprescription drugs and medical supplies, and personal care 
 products and services. Information is also elicited at the end of the 
 two-week period on work experience, occupation, industry, retirement 
 status, member earnings from wages and salaries, net income from 
 business or profession, net income from one's own farm, and income from 
 other sources. The unit of analysis for the Consumer Expenditure 
 Surveys is the consumer unit, consisting of all members of a particular 
 housing unit who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or some 
 other legal arrangement. Consumer unit determination for unrelated 
 persons is based on financial independence. The Consumer Unit 
 Characteristics and Income (FMLY) files supply information on consumer 
 unit characteristics, consumer unit income, and characteristics and 
 earnings of the reference person and his or her spouse. Member 
 Characteristics (MEMB) files contain selected characteristics for each 
 consumer unit member, including reference person and spouse. The 
 Detailed Expenditures (EXPN) files present weekly data on expenditures 
 at the Universal Classification Code (UCC) level, while the Income 
(DTAB) files contain weekly data on income at the UCC level.
description: This survey is based on a national probability sample of 
 households. The sampling frame (i.e., the list from which housing units 
 were chosen) for this survey was generated from the 1980 Census 
 100-percent detail file. Each selected sample unit is requested to keep 
 two one-week diaries of expenditures over consecutive weeks. The 
 earliest possible day for placing a diary with a household is 
 predesignated so that each day of the week has an equal chance to start 
 the reference week and the diaries are evenly spaced throughout the 
 year. During the last six weeks of the year, the diary sample is 
 supplemented to twice its normal size to increase the reportings of 
types of expenditures unique to the holiday season.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: 1990 First Quarter: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income
DS2: 1990 First Quarter: Member Characteristics
DS3: 1990 First Quarter: Detailed Expenditures
DS4: 1990 First Quarter: Income
DS5: 1990 Second Quarter: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income
DS6: 1990 Second Quarter: Member Characteristics
DS7: 1990 Second Quarter: Detailed Expenditures
DS8: 1990 Second Quarter: Income
DS9: 1990 Third Quarter: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income
DS10: 1990 Third Quarter: Member Characteristics
DS11: 1990 Third Quarter: Detailed Expenditures
DS12: 1990 Third Quarter: Income
DS13: 1990 Fourth Quarter: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income
DS14: 1990 Fourth Quarter: Member Characteristics
DS15: 1990 Fourth Quarter: Detailed Expenditures
DS16: 1990 Fourth Quarter: Income
DS17: 1990 Publication Aggregation
DS18: 1990 Publication Labels
DS19: 1990 Universal Classification Codes and Titles
DS20: 1990: Codebook Text for All Parts
description: Civilian noninstitutional population of the United States.