A Wealth of Information: Augmenting the Survey of Consumer Finances to Characterize the Full U.S. Wealth Distribution

Bricker, Jesse; Goodman, Sarena; Moore, Kevin B.; Volz, Alice Henriques

doi:10.17016/FEDS.2021.053

Working Paper

A Wealth of Information: Augmenting the Survey of Consumer Finances to Characterize the Full U.S. Wealth Distribution

Abstract: We use the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to advance U.S. wealth analysis along several dimensions. We develop a comprehensive framework that modifies the SCF to recover the wealth distribution over families, tax units, and individuals from 1989 to 2019. We show that, by ignoring unequal holdings within families, existing estimates considerably understate U.S. inequality across individuals. We find wealth concentration rose through the recent economic recovery, which differs from leading models that capitalize income into wealth even after aligning conceptual differences. We illustrate that private businesses are a growing impediment to accurately modeling wealth from income.

Keywords: Wealth measurement; Intra-household allocation; Wealth distribution;

JEL Classification: H23; J11; D14; D31;

https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2021.053