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Micro versus macro consumption data: the cyclical properties of the consumer expenditure survey |
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| Authors: | Rodolfo G Campos Iliana Reggio Dionisio García-Píriz |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Economics , IESE Business School , Camino del Cerro del águila 3, 28023 Madrid , Spain rcampos@iese.edu;3. Department of Economics , Universidad Carlos III , Calle Madrid 126, 28903 Getafe (Madrid) , Spain;4. Department of Economics and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy , University of Michigan-Ann Arbor , 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor , MI 48109-3091 , USA |
| Abstract: | The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) offers the most comprehensive consumption data at the consumer level for the United States. Several previous studies have shown a large gap between per-capita consumption from the CEX and the aggregate Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) series. While previous research has focused on consumption levels, we focus on the cyclical properties of consumption. We find that the cyclical properties of consumption expenditure data from the two sources are quantitatively very different. This result calls for caution when using CEX data for business cycle research. |
| Keywords: | consumption business cycles Consumer Expenditure Survey Personal Consumption Expenditure |