DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02971.v1
title: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1998: Interview Survey and Detailed Expenditure Files
title: Version 1

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 Interview Survey was designed to collect data on major items of expense, household characteristics, and income. The expenditures covered by the survey are those that respondents can recall fairly accurately for three months or longer. In general, these expenditures include relatively large purchases, such as those for property, or expenditures that occur on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utilities, or insurance premiums. Excluded are nonprescription drugs, household supplies, and personal care items. Including global estimates on spending for food, it is estimated that about 90 to 95 percent of expenditures are covered in the Interview Survey. The Detailed Expenditure Files were created from all the major expenditure sections of the Interview Survey questionnaires and contain the most detailed expenditure data from the Interview Survey. Parts 69-72 contain processing files used by the program in Part 73. Part 73, Documentation File, includes a sample program and lists of the data file variables by start position. Parts 74 and 75 are SAS programs that generate means, variances, standard errors, and coefficients of variation.
description: National probability sample of households designed to represent the total noninstitutional civilian population.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1998 DS2: Member Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1998 DS3: Detailed Expenditures, First Quarter, 1998 DS4: Income File, First Quarter, 1998 DS5: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter, 1998 DS6: Member Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter, 1998 DS7: Detailed Expenditures, Second Quarter, 1998 DS8: Income File, Second Quarter, 1998 DS9: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter, 1998 DS10: Member Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter, 1998 DS11: Detailed Expenditures, Third Quarter, 1998 DS12: Income File, Third Quarter, 1998 DS13: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter, 1998 DS14: Member Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter, 1998 DS15: Detailed Expenditures, Fourth Quarter, 1998 DS16: Income File, Fourth Quarter, 1998 DS17: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1999 DS18: Member Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1999 DS19: Detailed Expenditures, First Quarter, 1999 DS20: Income File, First Quarter, 1999 DS21: Major Household Appliances DS22: Rented Living Quarters DS23: Owned Living Quarters (Detailed Property Description) DS24: Owned Living Quarters (Disposed-of Property) DS25: Owned Living Quarters (Mortgage Payments) DS26: Owned Living Quarters (Lump-Sum Home Equity Loans) DS27: Owned Living Quarters (Line of Credit Home Equity Loans) DS28: Owned Living Quarters (Ownership Costs) DS29: Utilities and Fuels (Telephone Expenses) DS30: Utilities and Fuels (Screening Questions) DS31: Utilities and Fuels (Detailed Questions) DS32: Construction, Repairs, Alterations, and Maintenance of Property (Screening Questions) DS33: Construction, Repairs, Alterations, and Maintenance of Property (Job Description) DS34: Appliances, Household Equipment, and Other Selected Items (Purchase of Appliances) DS35: Appliances, Household Equipment, and Other Selected Items (Other Household Equipment) DS36: Household Equipment Repairs and Service Contracts DS37: Furniture Repair and Reupholstering DS38: Home Furnishings and Related Household Items (Purchases) DS39: Home Furnishings and Related Household Items (Rental or Leasing of Furniture) DS40: Clothing and Sewing Materials (Clothing) DS41: Clothing and Sewing Materials (Infants' Clothing, Watches, Jewelry, and Hairpieces) DS42: Clothing and Sewing Materials (Sewing Materials) DS43: Clothing and Sewing Materials (Clothing Services) DS44: Rented and Leased Vehicles (Screening Questions) DS45: Rented and Leased Vehicles (Detailed Questions for Leased Vehicles) DS46: Owned Vehicles (Detailed Questions) DS47: Owned Vehicles (Disposed-of Vehicles) DS48: Vehicle Operating Expenses (Vehicle Maintenance and Repair) DS49: Vehicle Operating Expenses (Licensing, Registration, and Inspection of Vehicles) DS50: Vehicle Operating Expenses (Other Vehicle Operating Expenses) DS51: Insurance Other Than Health (Detailed Questions) DS52: Hospitalization and Health Insurance (Detailed Questions) DS53: Hospitalization and Health Insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Plans Not Paid by CU) DS54: Medical and Health Expenditures (Payments for Medical Expenses) DS55: Medical and Health Expenditures (Reimbursements for Medical Expenses) DS56: Educational Expenses (Expenses Paid Directly by the Consumer Unit) DS57: Subscriptions, Memberships, Books, and Entertainment Expenses (Subscriptions and Memberships) DS58: Subscriptions, Memberships, Books, and Entertainment Expenses (Books and Entertainment Expenses) DS59: Trips and Vacations (Not Fully Reimbursed) DS60: Trips and Vacations (Fully Reimbursed) DS61: Trips and Vacations (Trip Expenses for Non-Consumer Unit Members) DS62: Trips and Vacations (Local Overnight Stays) DS63: Miscellaneous Expenses DS64: Expense Patterns for Food, Beverages, and Other Selected Items (Food and Beverages) DS65: Expense Patterns for Food, Beverages, and Other Selected Items (Selected Services and Goods) DS66: Credit Liability (Credit Balances, Second Quarter Only) DS67: Credit Liability (Credit Balances, Fifth Quarter Only) DS68: Credit Liability (Finance Charges, Fifth Quarter Only) DS69: Aggregation File DS70: Label File DS71: Universal Classification Codes DS72: Vehicle Make and Model DS74: SAS Variance Program for All Consumer Units DS75: SAS Variance Program for Single Specified Expenditure Item
description: Noninstitutional civilian population of the United States.
description: Starting with the 1994 collection, the Interview Survey and the Detailed Expenditure Files (EXPN) are released together in one data collection by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.This release includes files from the first quarter of 1999 in addition to the files containing data from interviews conducted during the four quarters of 1998.The codebook is provided as an MSWord 8.0 file and as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, and the data collection instrument is provided as a PDF file.