Heterogeneous interpretation of “household expenditure” in survey reports: Evidence and implications of bias

David Comerford and Liam Delaney

No 201029, Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Abstract: This paper addresses respondents’ interpretation of the term “household expenditure” when answering survey questions. A sizeable minority of respondents do not attempt to include all transactions made by every household member, interpreting the question as eliciting individual consumption. This biases estimates of expenditure downward. Furthermore, this bias is predicted by respondent characteristics.

Keywords: Household Expenditure; Survey Methods; Measurement Error (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2010-06-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201029

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