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Rotation group bias in reporting of household purchases in the U.S. consumer expenditure survey
Bach, R., & Eckman, S. A. (2020). Rotation group bias in reporting of household purchases in the U.S. consumer expenditure survey. Economics Letters, 187, Article 108889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108889
We find rotation group bias in reports of spending in the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey. Contrary to our expectations, the more waves respondents complete, the higher the quality of their responses. Respondents become more likely to report the amount of money spent on purchases and less likely to report rounded amounts. There is no change over waves in the number of purchases reported or the average amount of money spent on the purchases.
Highlights •We document rotation group bias in the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE). •Among four-time respondents, data quality improves over waves. •With increasing time in sample, households more likely to report amount spent. •Households less likely to round amounts with increasing time in sample. •No effect on number of purchases or average amount of money spent on purchases.