DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02795.v1
title: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996: Diary Survey
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 fifteen-month period,
 and (2) a Diary Survey completed by the sample consumer units for two
 consecutive one-week periods. The Diary Survey contains consumer
 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. Participants are asked to maintain
 expense records, or diaries, of all purchases made each day for two
 consecutive one-week periods. 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. A consumer
 unit consists 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. Member Characteristics (MEMB) files
 contain selected characteristics and earnings for each consumer unit
 member, including information on relationship to reference person. The
 Detailed Expenditures (EXPN) files present weekly data on expenditures
 at the Universal Classification Code (UCC) level, while Income (DTAB)
 files contain data on CU characteristics and income at the UCC
 level. Part 20, Documentation File, includes a sample program and a
 list of the FMLY, MEMB, EXPN, and DTAB variables by start
 position. Part 17, Aggregation File, and Part 18, Label File, contain
 processing files used by the program in Part 20. Parts 25 and 26 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
DS2: Member Characteristics and Income, First Quarter
DS3: Detailed Expenditures, First Quarter
DS4: Income File, First Quarter
DS5: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter
DS6: Member Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter
DS7: Detailed Expenditures, Second Quarter
DS8: Income File, Second Quarter
DS9: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter
DS10: Member Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter
DS11: Detailed Expenditures, Third Quarter
DS12: Income File, Third Quarter
DS13: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter
DS14: Member Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter
DS15: Detailed Expenditures, Fourth Quarter
DS16: Income File, Fourth Quarter
DS17: Aggregation File
DS18: Label File
DS19: Universal Classification Codes
DS25: SAS Variance Program for All Consumer Units
DS26: SAS Variance Program for Single Specified Expenditure Item
description: Noninstitutional civilian population of the United
States.
description: The codebook is provided as an MSWord 7 file and as a
 Portable Document Format (PDF) file, and the data collection
 instruments are provided as PDF files. The PDF file format was
 developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF
 reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how
 to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through the ICPSR
Website on the Internet.