DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02794.v1
title: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996: 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 75 and 76 are SAS programs that generate means, variances, standard errors, and coefficients of variation.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1996 
 DS2: Member Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1996 
 DS3: Detailed Expenditures, First Quarter, 1996 
 DS4: Income File, First Quarter, 1996 
 DS5: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter, 1996 
 DS6: Member Characteristics and Income, Second Quarter, 1996 
 DS7: Detailed Expenditures, Second Quarter, 1996 
 DS8: Income File, Second Quarter, 1996 
 DS9: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter, 1996 
 DS10: Member Characteristics and Income, Third Quarter, 1996 
 DS11: Detailed Expenditures, Third Quarter, 1996 
 DS12: Income File, Third Quarter, 1996 
 DS13: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter, 1996 
 DS14: Member Characteristics and Income, Fourth Quarter, 1996 
 DS15: Detailed Expenditures, Fourth Quarter, 1996 
 DS16: Income File, Fourth Quarter, 1996 
 DS17: Consumer Unit Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1997 
 DS18: Member Characteristics and Income, First Quarter, 1997 
 DS19: Detailed Expenditures, First Quarter, 1997 
 DS20: Income File, First Quarter, 1997 
 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 (Expenses) 
 DS55: Medical and Health Expenditures (Reimbursements) 
 DS56: Educational Expenses (Expenses Paid Directly by the Consumer Unit) 
 DS57: Subscriptions and Memberships 
 DS58: 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 and Beverages 
 DS65: Expense Patterns for Selected Services and Goods 
 DS66: Credit Liability (Second Quarter Only) 
 DS67: Credit Liability (Credit Balances) 
 DS68: Credit Liability (Credit Finances) 
 DS69: Aggregation File 
 DS70: Label File 
 DS71: Universal Classification Codes 
 DS72: Vehicle Make and Model 
 DS75: SAS Variance Program for All Consumer Units 
 DS76: SAS Variance Program for Single Specified Expenditure Item
description: Consumer Expenditure Survey Series
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 1997 in addition to the files containing data from interviews conducted during the four quarters of 1996.
The codebook is provided as an MSWord 7 file and as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, and the data collection instrument is also provided as a PDF file.
description: Noninstitutional civilian population of the United States.
description: National probability sample of households designed to represent the total noninstitutional civilian population.