DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03227.v1
title: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1999: 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, consist of processing files used by the program
 in Part 20. Part 25 is a SAS program that generates 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 Single Specified Expenditure Items
description: Noninstitutional civilian population of the United
States.
description: The codebook and data collection instruments are
 provided by the data producer as Portable Document Format (PDF) files
 and the codebook is also provided as a MSWord 8.0 file. 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 on the ICPSR Web site.