Consumer Expenditure Survey Data Research Articles

Regional and Seasonal Effects on Contributions by US Households: An Analysis of the 2004 Consumer Expenditure Survey

We use 2004 Consumer Expenditure Survey data to determine factors influencing cash contributions by US households. We extend the literature by using a sample selection model that incorporates seasonal and regional effects. Additionally, the analysis is done by giving type: charitable, family, political and total giving. All income elasticities are found to be inelastic (0.09-0.26), and less so than their corresponding expenditure elasticities (0.43-0.59). Evidence of seasonal, regional and population effects is found for both incidence and levels of charitable giving. Elasticities are larger in the south for all giving, and are also larger during the first quarter of the year.

Consumption and Health

Many studies show that individuals do not perfectly smooth consumption at older ages. We argue that an important explanation is that health status declines with age, making consumption at older ages less desirable. We incorporate health status into a standard incomplete markets life-cycle model, by allowing the marginal utility of consumption to increase with health status. Life-cycle income, mortality risk and health status are exogenous in the model and calibrated on Swedish data. Life-cycle consumption is endogenous and matches well Swedish Consumer Expenditure Survey data; consumption expenditure increase with age until about 60 years, and then falls with about 25% to 80 years. An alternative model with mortality risk, but without health status, fails in capturing the fall in consumption with age seen in the data.

Transportation Expenditures and Ability to Pay: Evidence from Consumer Expenditure Survey

Data at several levels of aggregation and spatial resolution show that mobility (measured by different outcomes such as vehicle miles traveled and automobile ownership) increases with income. It is equally likely that, in turn, investments in mobility (purchase and operation of private automobiles, consumption of public transportation services) allow greater quality of life in general and the ability to increase one's income. This possibly circular relationship is explored by using the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) data set. Single-equation Tobit models of annual household transportation expenditures are posited with, in the first case, annual before-tax income and, in the second case, annual total household-level expenditures as a proxy for permanent income. With a variety of demographic, community and spatial, economic, family, and life-cycle conditions of the household controlled, it is found that permanent incomes explain mobility investments better than annual incomes. However, mobility investmen...

Transportation Expenditures and Ability to Pay

Data at several levels of aggregation and spatial resolution show that mobility (measured by different outcomes such as vehicle miles traveled and automobile ownership) increases with income. It is equally likely that, in turn, investments in mobility (purchase and operation of private automobiles, consumption of public transportation services) allow greater quality of life in general and the ability to increase one's income. This possibly circular relationship is explored by using the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) data set. Single-equation Tobit models of annual household transportation expenditures are posited with, in the first case, annual before-tax income and, in the second case, annual total household-level expenditures as a proxy for permanent income. With a variety of demographic, community and spatial, economic, family, and life-cycle conditions of the household controlled, it is found that permanent incomes explain mobility investments better than annual incomes. However, mobility investments and ability to pay are likely to be endogenous since it seems that a greater investment in mobility would lead to positive economic outcomes such as the ability to travel to distant but higher-paying jobs, better and more productive integration of social and household activities into one's work life, and flexibility in job search and ability to change employers to obtain higher wages and benefits without having to make residential location changes. This potential reverse causality is explored by means of a two-stage model in which the censored mobility investment variable and the household's ability to pay are jointly modeled.

Demand for fish by species in India: Three-stage budgeting framework*

The demand studies for the fish sector are limited by their high degree of aggregation, and the lack of empirical basis for estimating the underlying elasticity of demand. In this study, the three-stage budgeting framework with quadratic almost ideal demand system (QAIDS) model has been used for fish demand analysis by species, using consumer expenditure survey data of India. Income and price elasticities of fish demand have been evaluated at mean level for different economic groups and have been used to project the demand for fish to a medium-term time horizon, by the year 2015. The domestic demand for fish by 2015 has been projected as 6.7–7.7 million tonnes. Aquaculture would hold the key to meet the challenges of future needs. Among species, Indian major carps (IMC) would play a dominating role in meeting the fish demand. Results have shown that the estimated price and income elasticities of demand vary across species and income classes. Fish species have not been found as homogenous commodities for consumers. All the eight fish types included in the study have been found to have positive income elasticity greater than one for all the income levels. Hence, with higher income, fish demand has been projected to increase substantially with change in the species mix. The own-price elasticities by species have been found negative and near to unitary.

Analysis of Variations in Vehicle Ownership Expenditures

There is significant concern about the high cost of vehicle ownership, although several authors have acknowledged in the literature that owning and operating a vehicle have accessibility benefits. This paper uses Consumer Expenditure Survey data to explore vehicle ownership expenditures of American households. Differences in vehicle ownership expenditures among urban and rural households are estimated in different regions of the United States, controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, life cycle, and other household factors. First, patterns in vehicle ownership expenses are examined over a year. Three models of expenditures for vehicle ownership are estimated: the first model is estimated by ordinary least squares, the second is a Tobit model estimated to take into account zero expenditures on vehicles by a segment of households during the survey year, and the third model is a two-stage sample selection model that explicitly models first the household vehicle ownership decision and then, given that firs...

Analysis of Variations in Vehicle Ownership Expenditures

There is significant concern about the high cost of vehicle ownership, although several authors have acknowledged in the literature that owning and operating a vehicle have accessibility benefits. This paper uses Consumer Expenditure Survey data to explore vehicle ownership expenditures of American households. Differences in vehicle ownership expenditures among urban and rural households are estimated in different regions of the United States, controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, life cycle, and other household factors. First, patterns in vehicle ownership expenses are examined over a year. Three models of expenditures for vehicle ownership are estimated: the first model is estimated by ordinary least squares, the second is a Tobit model estimated to take into account zero expenditures on vehicles by a segment of households during the survey year, and the third model is a two-stage sample selection model that explicitly models first the household vehicle ownership decision and then, given that first decision, the expenditure intensity decision for the subsample of households that own vehicles. It was found that locational and regional effects were not constant but that urban–rural differences depended on region, and differences among regions depended on whether a household was located in an urban or a rural area.

What is the Real Relationship between Income and Charitable Giving?

Many studies have focused on the relationship between income and charitable donations either by comparing income and percentage of income donated to construct a “giving curve” or by calculating the income elasticity of giving. In this article, the authors relate these two types of studies to one another, using 1997 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. They show that giving curves and elasticity models measure different phenomena and investigate ways that the information in each might be combined to enrich future studies of charitable giving.

Child‐Adult Expenditure Allocation by Ethnicity

Resource distribution within households is an important issue for family economists, policy makers, agents of the courts, and others interested in individual and family welfare. This research examines the monetary distribution in U.S. households who have children and are of four different ethnic groups. Intrahousehold expenditure allocations between children and adults are estimated, using 1994 and 1995 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey data and a method developed by Lazear and Michael. The results indicate that the overall average expenditure per child is less than that per adult in households with children. The sample households' estimated allocations vary considerably, however. Further analysis according to household ethnicity and other characteristics helps explain the variation and leads to the conclusion that the four ethnic groups examined differ in their child‐adult expenditure allocations, which may be due to the groups' differences in characteristics other than ethnicity.

Estimates from a consumer demand system: implications for the incidence of environmental taxes

Most studies suggest that environmental taxes are regressive, and thus are unattractive policy options. We consider the distributional effects of a gasoline tax increase using three welfare measures and under three scenarios for gas tax revenue use. To incorporate behavioral responses we use Consumer Expenditure Survey data to estimate a consumer demand system that includes gasoline, other goods, and leisure. We find that the gas tax is regressive, but that returning the revenue through a lump-sum transfer more than offsets this, yielding a net increase in progressivity. We also find that ignoring behavioral changes in distributional calculations overstates both the overall burden of the tax and its regressivity.

Burning a Hole in the Budget

Smoking is an expensive habit. Smoking households spend, on average, more than $US1000 annually on cigarettes. When a family member quits, in addition to the former smoker's improved long-term health, families benefit because savings from reduced cigarette expenditures can be allocated to other goods. For households in which some members continue to smoke, smoking expenditures crowd-out other purchases, which may affect other household members, as well as the smoker. We empirically analyse how expenditures on tobacco crowd-out consumption of other goods, estimating the patterns of substitution and complementarity between tobacco products and other categories of household expenditure. We use the Consumer Expenditure Survey data for the years 1995-2001, which we complement with regional price data and state cigarette prices. We estimate a consumer demand system that includes several main expenditure categories (cigarettes, food, alcohol, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care) and controls for socioeconomic variables and other sources of observable heterogeneity. Descriptive data indicate that, comparing smokers to nonsmokers, smokers spend less on housing. Results from the demand system indicate that as the price of cigarettes rises, households increase the quantity of food purchased, and, in some samples, reduce the quantity of apparel and housing purchased.

Estimates from a consumer demand system: implications for the incidence of environmental taxes

Most studies suggest that environmental taxes are regressive, making them less attractive policy options. We consider the distributional effects of a gasoline tax increase using four incidence measures and under three scenarios for gas tax revenue use. To incorporate behavioral responses we use Consumer Expenditure Survey data to estimate a consumer demand system that includes gasoline, other goods, and leisure. Our estimates confirm that when revenues are not recycled, a gasoline tax is regressive. Use of incidence measures that ignore demand responses, however, will substantially overstate this regressivity. In contrast, the differences between the equivalent variation and easier-to-implement consumer surplus measures are relatively small. In addition, our results suggest that using the additional gas tax revenue to fund labor tax cuts makes the policy substantially less regressive while using the revenue to fund lump-sum transfers actually makes it progressive.

Elasticities of demand for gasoline in Canada and the United States

Fluctuations in the world price of oil, the concern with greenhouse gas emissions and the efforts to revive the 1997 Kyoto Protocol have resulted in renewed interest in the estimation of elasticities of demand for gasoline. In this paper, a complete system of demand equations is estimated, including an equation for the demand for gasoline. Canadian family expenditure (FAMEX) and United States consumer expenditure (CEX) survey data are used. Household–level data permits estimation of elasticities for various household groups. Also, differences in demand responsiveness to own-price and income changes are estimated for different regions in Canada and the United States. Demand is found to be own-price and income inelastic, on the whole, as reported in earlier studies. There is also variation in these elasticities across regions of Canada and the United States. However, larger differences are observed with respect to household size and housing tenure, than to region of residence.

Consumption over the Life Cycle: Some Facts from Consumer Expenditure Survey Data

This paper uses a seminonparametric model and Consumer Expenditure Survey data to estimate life cycle profiles of consumption, controlling for demographics, cohort and time effects. In addition to documenting profiles for total and nondurable consumption, we devote special attention to the age expenditure pattern for consumer durables. We find hump-shaped paths over the life cycle for total, for nondurable and for durable expenditures. Changes in household size account for roughly half of these humps. The other half remains unaccounted for by the standard complete markets life cycle model. Our results imply that households do not smooth consumption over their lifetimes. This is especially true for services from consumer durables. Bootstrap simulations suggest that our empirical estimates are tight and sensitivity analysis indicates that the computed profiles are robust to a large number of different specifications.

Consumption over the Life Cycle: Facts from Consumer Expenditure Survey Data

This paper uses Consumer Expenditure Survey data and a seminonparametric statistical model to estimate life cycle profiles of consumption, controlling for demographics, cohort, and time effects. We construct age profiles for total and nondurable consumption as well as expenditure patterns for consumer durables. Special emphasis is placed on the comparison of different approaches to control for changes in demo- graphics over the life cycle. We find significant humps over the life cycle for total, nondurable, and durable expenditures. Changes in household size account for roughly half of these humps. Bootstrap simulations suggest that our empirical estimates are tight in that standard errors are small.

Adult Consumption Ratios: An Alternative Approach

Abstract No abstract available.

Absolute and Relative Consumption of Married U.S. Households in 1960 and 1996: The Cleavers Meet the Taylors

Consumer Expenditure Survey data for 1960 and 1996 are used to examine the real consumption of single‐earner and dual‐earner households. Both real consumption quantities and budget shares of consumption categories were found to differ by household earner type. However, both real consumption quantities and budget shares of the majority of consumption categories were more similar for singleearner households and dual‐earner households with two full‐time workers in 1996 than in 1960. Also, the savings rate of all household earner types improved significantly from 1960 to 1996.

Welfare Receipt and Private Charity

In the wake of welfare reform efforts, alliances between governments and charities, and public preoccupation with “social capital,” it is useful to understand how welfare payments interact with charitable giving. Using Consumer Expenditure Survey data from the first quarter of 1999, this article estimates the impacts on charitable giving by individuals from receipt of welfare payments, as well as income, wealth, and a number of demographic variables. The data analysis suggests that charity is negatively associated with welfare receipt, while wealth, income, and age have positive impacts on giving. These findings have significant implications for public policy and nonprofit management.

Life-cycle behaviour of US households: A nonlinear GMM estimation on pseudopanel data

Since Auerbach and Kotlikoff's [(1987). Dynamic fiscal policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] studies, the overlapping generations (OLG) model has become a useful modelling tool of policy evaluation. Given the lack of data on life-cycle behaviour, the parameterisation of such models is cumbersome. The purpose of this paper is to offer an econometrics-based method for estimating the utility function parameters. These parameters determine both the short-run responses to policy shocks and the speed of convergence toward the long-run solution. We use the US Consumer Expenditure Survey data and create a pseudopanel data bank with representative agents. Our estimators are obtained by compiling generalised method of moments (GMM) yearly values following the minimum distance estimation (MDE) of Chamberlain [(1984). Panel data. In Z. Griliches & M. D. Intriligator (Eds.), Handbook of econometrics II (pp. 1247–1318). Amsterdam: North-Holland]. It is shown that leisure is not an explicit argument of the utility function, the intertemporal elasticity of substitution is rather low, and aggregated purchases of goods present some durability.

Are Two Incomes Needed to Prosper Today? Evidence from the 1960s to the 1990s

Consumer Expenditure Survey data from 1960 to 1996 are used to examine trends in real consumption, real after‐tax income, market work time, and real after‐tax wages for single‐earner and dual‐earner households. Over the entire time period, most households experienced substantial improvements in measures of their prosperity. However, economic progress was considerably reduced when the comparison was from 1972 to 1996. Also, wage changes dominated changes in market work time over all time periods.