Discussion Papers no. 831

Imputing consumption from Norwegian income and wealth registry data

This paper documents a method for computing a longitudinal consumption measure for Norwegian households from administrative records of income and wealth.

Data on consumption expenditure of the household is essential in a wide array of economic research. This includes both topics in micro as well as macroeconomics. However, obtaining a consistent and precise measure of household consumption has proven notoriously difficult. This paper documents a method for computing a longitudinal consumption measure for Norwegian households from administrative records of income and wealth. Expenditure surveys tend to suffer from limited sample sizes and underrepresentation of high-income households. Administrative data does not have such limitations and offers a much larger sample with better coverage of all household types. This is particularly useful for improving the measurement of heterogeneity in consumption behavior.

About the publication

Title

Imputing consumption from Norwegian income and wealth registry data

Authors

Andreas Fagereng, Elin Halvorsen

Series and number

Discussion Papers no. 831

Publisher

Statistics Norway

Topic

Discussion Papers

ISSN

1892-753X

Number of pages

42

Language

English

About Discussion Papers

Discussion papers comprise research papers intended for international journals and books. A preprint of a Discussion Paper may be longer and more elaborate than a standard journal article as it may include intermediate calculations, background material etc.

Contact