Poor Finances: Assets and Low-Income Households

Assessing Asset Data on Low-Income Households:
Current Availability and Options for Improvement

September 2007

By:
Caroline Ratcliffe and Henry Chen
The Urban Institute
and
Trina R. Williams Shanks, Yunju Nam, Mark Schreiner, Min Zhan, and Michael Sherraden
Center for Social Development
Washington University in St. Louis

This report was prepared for and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (HHS/ASPE) under Order Number GS23F8198H / HHSP233200400131U to the Urban Institute and its collaborators at the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis, and the New America Foundation. This report was prepared between September 2004 and July 2006. John Tambornino, Jeremías Alvarez, and Linda Mellgren at HHS were project officers, Signe-Mary McKernan of the Urban Institute was overall project director, and Michael Sherraden directed the work at CSD. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent official positions of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its sponsors.

Project Home Page:
Poor Finances: Assets and Low-Income Households

This report is available on the Internet at:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/PoorFinances/data/index.htm

Printer Friendly Version in PDF format (94 pages)

How to Obtain a Printed Copy

Contents

Executive Summary (in PDF format - 5 pages)

Acknowledgments

Introduction to the Series

Chapters

  1. Introduction
  2. Criteria for Evaluating Asset-Related Data Sources
  3. Data Sets Identified and Criteria for Assessment
  4. Primary Data Sources for Holdings of Low-Income Households' Assets
  5. Means for Improving Asset Data
  6. Conclusion
  7. References
  8. Appendices

Acknowledgments

The report has benefited from comments of the entire project teams at the Urban Institute, the Center for Social Development, and the New America Foundation as well as helpful comments and suggestions from Jeremías Alvarez, Laura Chadwick, Susan Hauan, Gretchen Lehman, Linda Mellgren, Annette Rogers, Reuben Snipper, Kendall Swenson, and Joan Turek of ASPE and Jim Gatz, Leonard Sternbach, and John Tambornino of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)/HHS. Individuals affiliated with the organizations responsible for the three primary data sets featured in this report also reviewed this report. We thank Robert Avery and Arthur Kennickell of the Federal Reserve Board, Alfred Gottschalck of the U.S. Census Bureau, and Robert Schoeni and Frank Stafford of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research for their helpful comments and suggestions.

This report is part of a series entitled Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households, produced in a partnership between the Urban Institute, Center for Social Development, and New American Foundation.

How to Obtain a Printed Copy

To obtain a printed copy of this report, send the title and your mailing information to:

Human Services Policy, Room 404E
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20201

Fax:  (202) 690-6562

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Home Pages:
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Last updated:  10/11/2007