Survey of Consumer Finances, 1983

The focus of this survey was the estimation of the debt obligations and asset holdings of a nationally representative sample of American families, and their use of financial institutions. A complete, detailed inventory of household assets and debts including businesses, pensions, properties, and financial transactions was collected along with demographic data and a comprehensive work history for primary family members. In addition to recording data on the economic assets and liabilities of 4,103 families, the survey examined the attitudes of consumers toward credit use, their reactions to new financial instruments and to consumer credit regulations, and their knowledge of consumer pension rights and benefits. Data on reasons for various financial choices and attitudes toward financial risk and liquidity were also collected. Information that permits estimation of pension and Social Security wealth was gathered as well. Data for this collection exist in two versions: raw data prepared by the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and recoded data, prepared by the Federal Reserve Board. The latter file was produced by the Federal Reserve Board using a series of consistency checks and imputation procedures to edit the raw data and estimate values for missing data. Additional weights were constructed and included in the recoded data file. New variables were also constructed directly from original variables and, in addition, were created by matching information from other sources such as the U.S. Census.