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December 1994

The Consumer Expenditure Survey: a comparative analysis

E. Raphael Branch

The BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey compares well with data from other sources and provides confidence in its estimates. The article compares CE Survey expenditure estimates with estimates from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey and the American Housing Survey. In addition, it includes comparisons of CE Survey estimates of income with income estimates from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Because the CE Survey is based on integrated results and revisions exist in all the data sources (particularly in PCE), ratios presented in this article should not be compared with those in the earlier articles.

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