Survey of consumer finances, 1960
By: principal investigator, Economic Behavior Program, Survey Research Cneter, University of Michigan
Series: Surveys of consumer finances, 1947-1971; ICPSR -- 7440; ICPSR (Series) -- 7440
Publisher: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Reserarch [distributor
Published: 1960
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, Mich
Language: und
Format: [computer file] /
Subjects: Saving and investment; Consumption (Economics); Consumers
Notes: A Survey of Consumer Finances was conducted annually from 1946 through 1971. The major focus of these surveys is toward the collection of statistics on the distribution of consumer income, assets, debt, and major transactions. Interviewing was done in January-March of each year with questions covering ownership of assets and financial balances, source, purpose and amount of debt, including installment debt, and amount, earners, source of current income, and previous year's income. Also explored are attitudes toward the respondent's personal financial situation, toward general economic conditions and prices, and expectations for the coming year. Information was sought about current and planned expenditures for housing, automobiles, and major durables. Personal characteristics reported include age and education of head, household composition, and occupation. During the mid-1960's it became evident that the increase in car ownership was having a marked influence on the lives of American families. In order to examine these effects, the data collected since 1966 were organized so that they could be analyzed on either a family- or car-unit basis. Data on a family-unit basis have a logical record for each family, with car information only for the first (usually the newest) car owned, data on a car-unit basis have a logical record for every car owned by the family.

By using a global filter, users can also analyze car-unit data on a family-unit basis. Samples for the surveys were made up of a national cross-section of dwelling units representing the total population of the United States. In the early years the interviewing unit was the spending unit, but in 1964 it was changed to the family unit. The number of spending or family units interviewed was usually between 2,000 and 3,000, and normally a different group of respondents was drawn for each survey. For a discussion of the data, see Federal Reserve Board, Reports on the Surveys of Consumer Finances, Federal Reserve Bulletin, 1947-1959, and publications of the principal investigators: George Katona, Eleanor Maccoby, Janet Austrian Janosi, Harold Guthrie, Eva Mueller, and Lawrence R. Klein. General reports of the data from the Surveys of Consumer Finances appear in the publications.

ICPSR data class: Class II

Data collected: 1960.

United States.

2,972 spending units, approximately 2,760 family units, and 464 variables.

Economic Behavior Program staff. Surveys of Consumer Finances, annual volumes 1960 through 1970. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Institute for Social Research.

Mandell, L., G. Katona, J. Morgan, and J. Schmiedeskamp. Surveys of Consumers, 1971-72: Contributions to Behavioral Economics. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Institute for Social Research, 1973.

Strumpel, B., C. Cowan, F.T. Juster, and J. Schmiedeskamp. Surveys of Consumers, 1972-73: Contributions to Behavioral Economics. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Institute for Social Research, 1975.

Curtin, R. Surveys of Consumers, 1974-75: Contributions to Behavioral Economics, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Institute for Social Research, 1976.