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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Home

Consumption Symposium: Broadening Our Understanding of Household Consumption and Measurement, September 22-23, 2021

A Consumption Measure for Motor Vehicles (PDF)

Caleb Cho - Bureau of Labor Statistics - Cho.Caleb@bls.gov

This presentation shows consumption measures of motor vehicles using data collected in the Consumer Expenditure Surveys Interview Survey from 1996 through 2019. We propose two consumption estimates based on constant geometric depreciation and non-parametric depreciation as a step towards the full user cost approach. The average and age specific annual depreciation rates are calculated separately by comparing purchase prices of the same vehicles at different ages. These calculated depreciation rates are then used to impute current market values of vehicles and to estimate values of service flow generated from the motor vehicles owned by consumer units. Our quarterly estimates of consumer unit consumption of motor vehicles are strongly correlated to motor vehicle spending measures while exhibiting a smoothed consumption pattern across periods at consumer unit level. We also show that the imputed market values of the vehicles are close to JD power's retail prices with a strong correlation.

Last Modified Date: November 10, 2021