1. INTEGRATED HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS: AN ASSESSMENT OF U.S. METHODS AND AN INNOVATION
- Author
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Samphantharak, Krislert, Schuh, Scott, and Townsend, Robert M.
- Subjects
United States. Federal Reserve Board ,Personal income -- Methods ,Financial statements -- Methods ,Accounting procedures -- Methods ,Americans -- Methods ,Households -- Methods ,Credit cards -- Innovations -- Methods ,Cash flow -- Methods ,Business, general ,Economics - Abstract
We present a vision for improving household financial surveys by integrating responses from questionnaires more completely with financial statements and combining them with payments data from diaries. Integrated household financial accounts--balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cashflows--are used to assess the degree of integration in leading U.S. household surveys, focusing on inconsistencies in measures of the change in cash. Diaries of consumer payment choice can improve dynamic integration. Using payments data, we construct a statement of liquidity flows: a detailed analysis of currency, checking accounts, prepaid cards, credit cards, and other payment instruments, consistent with conventional cash flow measures and the other financial accounts. (JEL D12, D14, E41, E42), I. INTRODUCTION During recent decades, interest in the study of household finance has grown rapidly. Campbell (2006) first advanced the case for treating household finance as a distinct field of [...]
- Published
- 2018
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