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Administrative meets survey data: measuring household indebtedness in Ireland

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  • McIndoe-Calder, Tara

    (Central Bank of Ireland)

Abstract

The 2020 Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) marked the first time that survey data from Irish households was supplemented with administrative data from the Central Bank’s Central Credit Register (CCR). Using household level data from the panel component of the survey, weighted to the full population in 2018, we develop a simple approach for estimating measurement error and applying it, find at least one third of households hold “revealed debt” worth almost 13 per cent of the value of total debt outstanding in 2020. Revealed debt is debt which was previously not reported in the HFCS but has come to light with the inclusion of the CCR. In doing so, we show that incorporating the CCR into the HFCS has helped to correct for under-reporting and improved the overall quality of liabilities data in the survey. Controlling for demographic and income characteristics, we find that households with more complex balance sheets are more likely to hold revealed debt. The results suggest that incorporating administrative data into surveys can help alleviate issues surrounding recall bias and other human errors that may generate initial misreporting.

Suggested Citation

  • McIndoe-Calder, Tara, 2024. "Administrative meets survey data: measuring household indebtedness in Ireland," Research Technical Papers 2/RT/24, Central Bank of Ireland.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbi:wpaper:2/rt/24
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. Atif Mian & Kamalesh Rao & Amir Sufi, 2013. "Household Balance Sheets, Consumption, and the Economic Slump," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1687-1726.
    5. Romain Bouis, 2021. "Household Deleveraging and Saving Rates: A Cross-Country Analysis," IMF Working Papers 2021/257, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Cussen, Mary & Lydon, Reamonn & O'Sullivan, Cormac, 2018. "Macro and Micro Estimates of Household Wealth," Research Technical Papers 11/RT/18, Central Bank of Ireland.
    7. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi & Emil Verner, 2017. "Household Debt and Business Cycles Worldwide," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1755-1817.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General

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