DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03614.v1
title: Survey of Consumer Finances, 1956
title: Version 1

description: This data collection is one in a series of financial
 surveys of consumers conducted annually since 1946. In a nationally
 representative sample, the head of each spending unit (usually the
 husband, the main earner, or the owner of the home) was interviewed.
 The basic unit of reference in the study was the spending unit, but
 some family data are also available. The questions in the 1956 survey
 covered the respondent's attitudes toward national economic conditions
 and price activity, as well as the respondent's own financial
 situation. Other questions examined the spending unit head's
 occupation, and the nature and amount of the spending unit's income,
 debts, liquid assets, changes in liquid assets, savings, investment
 preferences, and actual and expected purchases of cars and other major
 durables. The survey also elicited respondent's attitudes about
 different methods of using income remaining after expenses were met,
 e.g., investing in stocks or putting money in savings. In addition,
 the survey explored in detail the subject of housing, e.g., previous
 and present home ownership, value of respondent's dwelling, and
 mortgage information. Other questions inquired into the part-time and
 full-time employment status of the spouse and other earners who were
 not the head. Questions about consumer debt covered its purpose and
 source. Personal data include number of people in the spending unit,
 age, sex, and education of the head, and the race and sex of the
respondent.
description: The respondents interviewed were drawn from a national
 sample of dwelling units. The dwelling units falling in the sample
 were chosen by area probability sampling to represent the United
States population.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Survey of Consumer Finances, 1956
description: The population of the United States.
description: (1) Most of the data in the study pertain to a
 spending unit. For some variables, information from related spending
 units was combined to provide data on a family basis. The user should
 refer to the instructions and worksheets included with the codebook to
 ascertain the procedures followed in these computations. (2) The
 majority of the variables in the study represent information obtained
 through direct questioning of the respondent. Some variables, however,
 are the result of computations done for each interview, e.g., amount
 saved, total indebtedness, estimated income taxes, and the relation of
 these amounts to income. (3) In some instances, where important
 information was missing, assigned values were given. The assigned
 values were based on other known characteristics of the spending unit
 and occur only in a small proportion of the cases. Those variables
 containing assigned information are preceded by a lead variable,
 indicating for each case whether the value in the following variable
 is assigned or not. (4) The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a
 Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed
 by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader
 software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to
 obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web
site.