DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03155.v1
title: Survey of Consumer Finances, 1998
title: Version 1

description: The purpose of this data collection effort was to provide an accurate representation of the distribution of elements composing family balance sheets across families in the United States. To that end, the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances was designed to gather household-level information closely comparable to that obtained in the SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES, 1995 (ICPSR 2193). Detailed data were collected on the composition of household budgets, the terms of loans, and relationships with financial institutions. Information was also obtained on the employment history and pension rights of the survey respondent and the spouse or partner of the respondent. Detailed data were also gathered on characteristics of the survey respondent's housing and vehicle(s). In addition to recording data on the economic assets and liabilities of families, the survey examined the attitudes of consumers toward credit use and their reactions to consumer credit regulations, and lines of credit. Demographic variables include age, sex, marital status, housing, and financial independence.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Main Data Set 
 DS2: Replicate Weight File -- X42000 
 DS3: Replicate Weight File -- X42001
description: Survey of Consumer Finances Series
description: The data have been optimized and thus have a different record length from the original provided by the principal investigators.
The SAS transport files were created using the SAS XPORT engine.
description: Households within the 48 contiguous United States.
description: The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is based on a dual-frame sample design (see Arthur B. Kennickell and R. Louise Woodburn, "Consistent Weight Design for the 1989, 1992, and 1995 SCFs, and the Distribution of Wealth," August 1997, http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/method.html for more details). One set of the survey cases was selected from a standard multistage area probability design. This part of the sample, which contributed 2,813 cases to the final set of interviews, is intended to provide good coverage of characteristics, such as home ownership, that are broadly distributed in the population. The other set of the survey cases was selected as a list sample from statistical records (the Individual Tax File) derived from tax data by the Statistics of Income Division of the Internal Revenue Service. These records were made available under strict rules governing confidentiality, the rights of potential respondents to refuse participation in the survey, and the types of information that can be made available. This second sample was designed to disproportionately select families that were likely to be relatively wealthy (see Arthur B. Kennickell, "List Sample Design for the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances," April 1998, http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/method.html, for a more extended discussion of the design of the list sample). The list sample contributed 1,496 cases to the final set of interviews. Because of the complexity of the SCF design, users cannot apply some of the standard procedures for variance estimation. A set of sample replicates has been created with bootstrap techniques and analysis weights have been computed independently for each replicate. Analysts may use these weights to make approximate estimates of sampling variance. Replicate weights corresponding to both X42000 and X42001 are available. See the codebook for more details.