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Measuring annual change in household wealth with the Consumer Expenditure Survey
Jeffrey D. Lundy
Jeffrey D. Lundy is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California, San Diego; Department of Sociology, 401 Social Science Building, 9500 Gilman Drive #0533, La Jolla, CA 92093-0533. Email: jlundy@ucsd.edu.
The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) effectively estimates change in net wealth at the household level, compared with the Flow of Funds Accounts; however, results show that the CE does not accurately measure wealth changes at the aggregate national level
The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) tracks the value of assets and liabilities for a large rotating sample of American households. Unfortunately, researchers studying household wealth have largely neglected this resource, generally relying instead on aggregate statistics. While aggregate wealth statistics suggest individual household decisions, the CE potentially offers a more direct picture of how American households manage their finances.
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