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Updates to the Sampling of Wealthy Families in the Survey of Consumer Finances

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Abstract

Participation in household surveys has fallen over time, making it harder to produce a household survey-like the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)-in a timely manner. To address these challenges, the reference year of the sampling frame data for the 2016 SCF wealthy oversample was shifted back one year, allowing the oversample to be selected earlier than the past. In implementing this change, though, we risk identifying an outdated set of families and introducing variability in the sampling process. However, we show that the set of families selected in the new frame are observationally equivalent to those that would have been selected from a past frame, and that the increased variability of wealth estimates is compensated-for with the use of more comprehensive data than in the past. Other aspects of the SCF sampling process are revisited, too. We continue to find support for using permanent income in the sampling process, rather than annual income. We also estimate the geographic distribution of wealthy families and show that the current distribution is similar to the past. We propose adding one geographic area to the oversample, though, and supplementing by 100 the set of sampled families.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesse Bricker & Alice Henriques Volz & Kevin B. Moore, 2017. "Updates to the Sampling of Wealthy Families in the Survey of Consumer Finances," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-114, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2017-114
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2017.114
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    5. Jesse Bricker & Lisa J. Dettling & Alice Henriques Volz & Joanne W. Hsu & Kevin B. Moore & John Edward Sabelhaus & Jeffrey P. Thompson & Richard Windle, 2014. "Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2010 to 2013: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 100(4), September.
    6. Jesse Bricker & Alice Henriques & Jacob Krimmel & John Sabelhaus, 2016. "Measuring Income and Wealth at the Top Using Administrative and Survey Data," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(1 (Spring), pages 261-331.
    7. Daphne Greenwood, 1983. "An Estimation Of U.S. Family Wealth And Its Distribution From Microdata, 1973," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 29(1), pages 23-44, March.
    8. Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2016. "Editor's Choice Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 519-578.
    9. Jason DeBacker & Bradley Heim & Vasia Panousi & Shanthi Ramnath & Ivan Vidangos, 2013. "Rising Inequality: Transitory or Persistent? New Evidence from a Panel of U.S. Tax Returns," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(1 (Spring), pages 67-142.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jesse Bricker & Sarena Goodman & Alice Henriques Volz & Kevin B. Moore, 2021. "A Wealth of Information: Augmenting the Survey of Consumer Finances to Characterize the Full U.S. Wealth Distribution," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-053, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Bricker, Jesse & Hansen, Peter & Volz, Alice Henriques, 2019. "Wealth concentration in the U.S. after augmenting the upper tail of the survey of consumer finances," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Hope Bodenschatz & Gerald Eric Daniels Jr. & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2023. "Decomposing Lifetime-Earnings Differences between White, Black, and Hispanic Families," Working Papers 23-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household surveys; Wealth; Distribution; Sampling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General

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