Is the Consumer Expenditure Survey Representative by Income?

Sabelhaus, John; Johnson, David S.; Ash, Stephen V.; Swanson, David; Garner, Thesia I.; Greenlees, John S.; Henderson, Steve

doi:10.17016/feds.2012.36

Cited by 30 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…One important limitation of their analysis is that the CEX is a weak foundation on which to hold income constant. The CEX has problems with underreporting of income at the bottom of the distribution in addition to its problems reporting income and consumption at the top (Sabelhaus et al ; Sabelhaus and Groen ). Additional potential limitations of the Bertrand and Morse () findings are that, while they report rising levels of certain types of consumption, rising inequality could also be related to changes in the composition of consumption, leading them to overstate (or understate) the extent of the change in consumption.…”

Section: The Influence Of Inequality On Consumption and Debtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rising Top Incomes and Increased Borrowing in the Rest of the Distribution

Thompson

2017

Economic Inquiry

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One potential consequence of rising top‐income concentration is borrowing by less‐affluent households attempting to maintain relative living standards. This paper evaluates the “keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon, examining the responsiveness of payment‐to‐income ratios for different debt types across the income distribution to changes in income among affluent households. The analysis provides evidence for the responsiveness of debt to rising top incomes. Middle‐ and upper‐middle‐income households take on more housing‐related debt and have higher payments in places with higher top‐income levels. Among lower‐income households non‐mortgage borrowing and debt payments decline, consistent with restrictions in the supply of credit. (JEL D63, D14)

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Section: The Influence Of Inequality On Consumption and Debtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rising Top Incomes and Increased Borrowing in the Rest of the Distribution

Thompson

2017

Economic Inquiry

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“…show that the top 5 percent of the income distribution receive the vast majority of capital gains, and it is likely that the CE Survey misses the top 5 percent, as found in Sabelhaus et al . (). This would indicate that our results are more representative of the bottom 95 percent of the distribution.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Inequality of Income and Consumption in the U.S.: Measuring the Trends in Inequality from 1984 to 2011 for the Same Individuals

Fisher

Johnson

Smeeding³

2014

Review of Income and Wealth

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This paper examines the distribution of income and consumption in the U.S. using one dataset that obtains measures of both income and consumption from the same set of individuals. We develop a set of inequality measures that show the increase in inequality during the past 27 years using the 1984-2011 Consumer Expenditure Survey. We find that the trends in income and consumption inequality are similar between 1984 and 2006, and diverge during and after the Great Recession. For the entire 27-year period we find that consumption inequality increases almost as much as does income inequality. JEL Codes: D12, D31

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“…Previous studies have documented underreporting of income for households with both the lowest (Meyer, Mok, & Sullivan, ) and highest (Sabelhaus et al., ) incomes. Meyer, Mok, and Sullivan () also find that low‐income households underreport transfers from the other benefit programs that households can use to certify Lifeline eligibility directly.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 94%

“…At the high end of the income range, Sabelhaus et al. () find that while the number of households reporting incomes over $100,000 in the CEX matches other sources, these households report lower income levels. The assignment of Lifeline eligibility should be unaffected by this type of underreporting, as these household incomes are well above income‐eligibility thresholds.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Crowd‐Out or Affordability? The Lifeline Expansion's Effect on Wireless Service Spending

Conkling¹

2018

J Policy Anal Manage

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Public subsidization of private goods often leads to crowd‐out, reducing private spending. This effect is intended for a policy such as the 2008 Lifeline phone subsidy expansion, which aimed to increase affordable access to services. I examine the effects of this policy on households’ self‐reported wireless phone service spending in the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Using state‐level variation in policy implementation and triple‐differences event study methods, I estimate that the expansion reduced households’ wireless service spending by more than 100 percent of subsidy payments. I document that the expansion led to a separate, competitive market for providers catering to low‐income households. Consequently, higher‐quality subsidized services crowded out lower‐quality unsubsidized options, saving households more than an equivalent cash transfer. This highlights how market segmentation and competition can magnify a targeted subsidy's impact.

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Is the Consumer Expenditure Survey Representative by Income?

Abstract: NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Cited by 30 publications

References 16 publications

Rising Top Incomes and Increased Borrowing in the Rest of the Distribution

Rising Top Incomes and Increased Borrowing in the Rest of the Distribution

Inequality of Income and Consumption in the U.S.: Measuring the Trends in Inequality from 1984 to 2011 for the Same Individuals

Crowd‐Out or Affordability? The Lifeline Expansion's Effect on Wireless Service Spending

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