Consumer Expenditure Survey Methods Symposium and Microdata Users’ Workshop, July 21–24, 2020

The Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) program collects expenditure, demographic, and income data from families and households. The CE program held its annual Survey Methods Symposium and Microdata Users’ Workshop from July 21 to 24, 2020, to address CE-related topics in survey methods research, to provide free training in the structure and uses of the CE microdata, and to explore possibilities for collaboration. Economists from the CE program, staff from other U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offices, and research experts in a variety of fields—including academia, government, and private industry—gathered virtually to explore better ways to collect CE data and to learn how to use the microdata once they are produced. The experience was unique for presenters and attendees alike in that this was the first time either event was held online, in whole or in part.

The carbon footprint of Brazilian households through the Consumer Expenditure Survey (POF)

The main objective of this article is to assess the carbon footprint of Brazilian families based on the Household Expenditure Survey (POF), 2008-2009, from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The methodology used to quantify the Brazilian households’ carbon footprint has comprised three data sources: i) Household expenditure Survey, 2008-2009; ii) Leontief matrix of Brazilian accounts, year 2010; and iii) 2009 World Input-Output Database (WIOD) environmental inventory. Initially, an input-output (IO) model was created. Next, the results from the IO model were combined with the information of the POF. The poorest families, with a monthly income of up to $ 415.00, emit less than 1.5 metric tons per year, in contrast, the wealthiest families, with a monthly income above $ 5,187.50, release around 18.5 tons, almost 12 times more. It was found that an increase in income, results in an increase in CO2eq emissions. Thus, while the poorest families, which represent more than 20% of the total Brazilian families, cause 7% of the total emissions, the wealthiest families cause 16% of the total emissions although they represent only 4% of the total families. It was observed that the food category loses importance as income increases, while the opposite occurs in the services category. For the poorest families, there is great importance in the housing category, mostly caused by the consumption of electricity and LPG. Therefore, important measures for economic growth supported by actions become particularly relevant.

Panel Conditioning in the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey

The U.S. Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey asks many filter questions to identify the items that households purchase. Each reported purchase triggers follow-up questions about the amount spent and other details. We test the hypothesis that respondents learn how the questionnaire is structured and underreport purchases in later waves to reduce the length of the interview. We analyze data from 10,416 four-wave respondents over two years of data collection. We find no evidence of decreasing data quality over time; instead, panel respondents tend to give higher quality responses in later waves. The results also hold for a larger set of two-wave respondents.

Impact of Market-Rate Residential Parking Permit Fees on Low-Income Households

On-street parking is a poorly-managed public asset. In dense neighborhoods, this results in difficult space searches, neighborhood conflict, and opposition to housing development. Market-rate residential parking permit systems are a logical solution because they manage demand. However, these programs are regressive for low-income residents who buy a permit because the permit fee is a larger percentage of their income than for higher-income groups. This paper reports on a simulation of the burden of a market-based fee on households of different income classes using three low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California. Data from the American Community Survey, Consumer Expenditure Survey, and primary parking counts are the model inputs. The outputs are measures of the increase in a household’s annual transportation expenditure, by income class, after a market-rate permit fee is implemented. The results show that market-rate programs are indeed regressive for households that purchase a permit. But because many low-income households do not have a car, do not park on-street, or pursue alternative options to buying a permit, the magnitude of the effect of income class is not as large as is often assumed. The study concludes that the regressive effect of a market-rate residential parking benefit district should not be an impediment to implementing such a scheme because low-income permit purchasers can be subsidized with permit revenue from higher-income drivers in the district, resources from higher-income parking districts, or both. Additionally, revenues can be used to support transportation modes that particularly benefit all low-income residents.

Inequality and market concentration, when shareholding is more skewed than consumption

Economic theory suggests that monopoly prices hurt consumers but benefit shareholders. But in a world where individuals or households can be both consumers and shareholders, the impact of market power on inequality depends in part on the relative distribution of consumption and corporate equity ownership across individuals or households. The paper calculates this distribution for the United States, using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and the Consumer Expenditure Survey, spanning nearly three decades from 1989 to 2016. In 2016, the top 20 per cent consumed approximately as much as the bottom 60 per cent, but had 15 times as much corporate equity. Because ownership is more skewed than consumption, increased mark-ups increase inequality. Moreover, over time, corporate equity has become even more skewed relative to consumption.

Consumer Expenditures and Savings in High Income Households

A review of the existing academic literature as well as available government publications reveals a lack of information regarding expenditure behavior of high income households. In this paper, we combine multiple years of Consumer Expenditure Survey Public Use Microdata provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and compute average expenditures and standard errors. We apply the same methodology used by the BLS to estimate the average expenditures by household income and household size for households with income of $70,000 and higher. The resultant tables provide details on consumption and saving patterns for higher income groups that are unavailable in the tables published by the BLS. Our tables can be utilized by forensic economists in practice for the determination of consumption and savings values in wrongful death matters in high income households.

Poverty, Economic Inequality and Polarization: A District-Wise Analysis of Maharashtra

This article presents a new set of poverty, economic inequality and polarization estimates for all districts of Maharashtra based on the Modified Mixed Recall Period (MMRP) estimates of consumption expenditure from the National Sample Survey (NSS) Consumer Expenditure survey rounds 66th (2009–2010) and 68th (2011–2012). The broad picture emerging from these revised estimates is that poverty has declined during the reference period in rural as well urban sectors. However, perceptible differences between rural and urban sectors in all measures of poverty were identified along with a disaggregated study of the districts where the magnitude of poverty and inequality has been alarming and needs policy attention. The pattern of clustering of population around poles defined by MPCE has been studied by employing indices of polarization. These indicate that polarization has increased in rural sector and decreased in urban sector over the reference period.