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Wealth and Its Distribution: A Look at Asian American Households in 2022
Asian Americans typically had more wealth than other racial or ethnic groups, and that wealth was spread across a diverse range of financial and nonfinancial assets.
Working Paper
Measuring household wealth in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics: the role of retirement assets
While the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) has much to offer researchers studying household behavior, one limitation is that its summary measure of wealth is not as broad as those of other commonly used surveys, such as the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), because it does not include the value of defined-contribution (DC) pensions. This paper describes the pension data available in the PSID and shows how they can be used to create a more comprehensive picture of household finances. We then compare various measures derived from these data with their counterparts from the SCF. Along a ...
Journal Article
Using Tax-Time Savings Programs to Build Assets
The recent financial crisis and subsequent recession had a debilitating effect on the wealth of many American families. In a report produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, it was estimated that household wealth declined 26 percent from its peak in 2007 to the trough in 2009. Not surprisingly, low- and moderate-income (LMI) families, who were already struggling financially prior to the crisis, were among the hardest hit. In 2008, nearly 30 percent of low-income families had zero or negative net worth.
Assets and Debt across Generations
This analysis examines the household wealth that baby boomers, Gen Xers and millennials each held at age 30, comparing these generations’ assets, debt and net worth.
Discussion Paper
Informal Homeownership Issues: Tracking Contract for Deed Sales in the Southeast
Since the Great Recession, homeownership rates have dropped and the wealth divide has widened for low-income and racial and ethnic minority households. Homeownership is a significant contributor to household balance sheets and generator of household wealth, particularly for these populations.A contract for deed is a seller-financed real estate contract consisting of installment payments. For households that desire the financial and physical security of owning a home, contracts for deed may provide an inexpensive option. However, risks may exist. Unlike the recipient of a mortgage, the ...
Working Paper
How Much has Wealth Concentration Grown in the United States? A Re-Examination of Data from 2001-2013
Well known research based on capitalized income tax data shows robust growth in wealth concentration in the late 2000s. We show that these robust growth estimates rely on an assumption---homogeneous rates of return across the wealth distribution---that is not supported by data. When the capitalization model incorporates heterogeneous rates of return (on just interest-bearing assets), wealth concentration estimates in 2011 fall from 40.5% to 33.9%. These estimates are consistent in levels and trend with other micro wealth data and show that wealth concentration increases until the Great ...
Discussion Paper
Informal Homeownership Issues: Tracking Contract for Deed Sales in the Southeast
Since the Great Recession, homeownership rates have dropped and the wealth divide has widened for low-income and racial and ethnic minority households. Homeownership is a significant contributor to household balance sheets and generator of household wealth, particularly for these populations. {{p}} A contract for deed is a seller-financed real estate contract consisting of installment payments. For households that desire the financial and physical security of owning a home, contracts for deed may provide an inexpensive option. However, risks may exist. Unlike the recipient of a mortgage, the ...
Working Paper
Trends in Household Portfolio Composition
We use data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to explore how household asset portfolios in the United States have evolved from 1989 to 2016. Throughout this period, two key assets?housing and financial market assets?have driven the aggregate household balance sheet evolution. However, aggregates mask great heterogeneity in balance sheet composition across the wealth distribution, and most families hold a relatively small share of assets in financial markets and larger shares in housing and other nonfinancial assets. We also describe the typical life cycle asset accumulation processes ...