Consumption Data for 1961-2009 CE Interview Survey

Sas dataset (Version 9.2), created June 15, 2009

Variable list:

NEWID:  
This is a unique consumer unit/interview # identification.  
For CE surveys from 1986-present, this is the newid variable in the raw CE data.  
For 1980-1981 and 1984-1985 NEWID=9000000+(newid from raw CE data).
For 1972-1973 NEWID=1000000*year+(newid from raw CE data), where year = (1972 or 1973)
For 1960-1961 NEWID=999900000+id, where id is just the sequence number of the observation (create by inserting "id=_N_;" in the data step after reading the raw data
newid=999900000+id;

SURVEY_YEAR:
Denotes year of the survey. For 1960-1961 data, this variable = 1961.

CONSUMPTION:
Total quarterly concumption not including the value of health insurance.
This is in nominal dollars and, using the the variable names from the CE, can loosely be decribed as:

    (totexppq+totexpcq)	-SUM(OF educapq educacq 
              			healthpq healthcq 
		                retpenpq retpencq 
              			cashcopq cashcocq
              			vehicpq vehiccq 
              			cartknpq cartkncq cartkupq cartkucq caropq carocq
              			owndwepq owndwecq
              			vehfinpq vehfincq
				miscpq misccq) 
      			+(housing flows)		
			+(vehicle flows) 		/* see detailed appendix for vehilce flows */
			-SUM(OF rendwepq rendwecq) 	/* if family lives in public or subsidized housing */


	*housing flows are the rental equivalent of the home/apartment for homeownders or those in public or subsidized housing, where rental equivalent is imputed for those in public or subsidized housing.
	*vehicle flows are the service flow value of all vehicles owned by the family 

	(For more details see: "Five Decades of Consumption and Income Poverty (2009)," with Bruce Meyer, NBER Working Paper No. 14827)

HEALTH_INSURANCE_VALUE:
Quarterly value of public and private health insurance for the family.
Only available for 1980-1981 and 1987-present