Evaluating micro-survey estimates of wealth and saving

Bosworth, Barry P., and Rosanna Smart. “Evaluating micro-survey estimates of wealth and saving”. CRR WP 2009-4, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, January 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104913.
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Abstract

This paper presents an overview of changes in household wealth accumulation and saving using wealth data from three micro-level surveys: Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We provide comparisons to the macroeconomic estimates of wealth accumulation and saving, explore problems in constructing household-level valuations of wealth, and assess the value of using household-level datasets to examine wealth accumulation and saving behavior in the United States. Our first analysis compares the macroeconomic estimates of wealth from the Flow of Funds to comparable measures from the SCF, PSID and HRS. The Flow of Funds and SCF valuations of net worth correspond closely up to 1998. Yet, after1998, the SCF reports a much more rapid acceleration of wealth, concentrated in equity-type assets. The estimates of wealth in the PSID and HRS are very similar to the SCF for the bottom 95 percent of the wealth distribution, diverging only for the top five percent of households...

Title
Evaluating micro-survey estimates of wealth and saving
Author
Bosworth, Barry P.
Smart, Rosanna
Center
Center for Retirement Research
Genre
working paper
Date Issued
January 2009
Publisher
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Series Title
CRR WP
Series Number
2009-4
Persistent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104913
Use Restrictions
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Subject
Financing retirement

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