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Abstract

Vol. 61, No. 3, pp. 224-236 (2010)

“Consumption Data Based on Homescan -Comparisons with Other Consumption Data-”
Naohito Abe (Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University), Takeshi Niizeki (COE Researcher, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University)

This paper compares the consumption data based on Homescan provided by a marketing company (SCI) with other standard consumption data. We find that the level of expenditure recorded by SCI is smaller than the record based on diary data such as Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) by 25-30%, which is consistent with a previous work in the United Kingdom. The paper also finds that the relationship between expenditure and household characteristics such as age and labor status are similar between SCI and FIES. Time series characteristics of SCI are also reported.