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The current state of U.S. household balance sheets

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Abstract

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for two of the most widely used datasets containing information about U.S. household balance sheets: the quarterly macro-level Financial Accounts of the United States (FA, formerly known as the Flow of Funds Accounts) and the triennial microlevel Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The FA is very timely, but the data can be used only to describe the household sector as a whole. The SCF provides the micro-level detail needed to capture heterogeneity in household finances, but the data are available only with a long lag. The authors? key contribution in this article is their use of the FA dataset and other macro data sources to ?age? the micro- level SCF data forward through time to generate a representative sample for current-quarter policy analysis. They use this aging approach to compare and contrast pre- and post-recession trends in key indicators, such as net worth, debt-to-income ratios, debt service-to-income ratios, and housing loan-to-value ratios across families grouped by characteristics including income, age, and geography.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob Krimmel & Kevin B. Moore & John Edward Sabelhaus & Paul A. Smith, 2013. "The current state of U.S. household balance sheets," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Sep, pages 337-359.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:y:2013:i:september:p:337-359:n:v.95no.5
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    1. David A. Benson & Mariacristina De Nardi & Eric French, 2012. "Consumption and the Great Recession," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 36(Q I), pages 1-16.
    2. Jason M. DeBacker & Bradley T. Heim & Vasia Panousi & Ivan Vidangos, 2011. "Rising inequality: transitory or permanent? New evidence from a U.S. panel of household income 1987-2006," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2011-60, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Sabelhaus, John & Song, Jae, 2010. "The great moderation in micro labor earnings," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 391-403, May.
    4. Meta Brown & Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Do we know what we owe? A comparison of borrower- and lender-reported consumer debt," Staff Reports 523, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    5. Sabelhaus, John & Song, Jae, 2009. "Earnings Volatility Across Groups and Time," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(2), pages 347-364, June.
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    1. Ampudia, Miguel & Pavlickova, Akmaral & Slacalek, Jiri & Vogel, Edgar, 2016. "Household heterogeneity in the euro area since the onset of the Great Recession," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 181-197.
    2. Le Blanc, Julia & Lydon, Reamonn, 2019. "Indebtedness and spending: What happens when the music stops?," Research Technical Papers 14/RT/19, Central Bank of Ireland.
    3. McIndoe-Calder, Tara, 2017. "Debt giveth and debt taketh away: mortgage debt burdens in Ireland," Economic Letters 11/EL/17, Central Bank of Ireland.
    4. Jeffrey Thompson, 2018. "Rising Top Incomes And Increased Borrowing In The Rest Of The Distribution," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 686-708, April.
    5. Lisa J. Dettling & Sebastian Devlin-Foltz & Jacob Krimmel & Sarah Pack & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2015. "Comparing Micro and Macro Sources for Household Accounts in the United States: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-86, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Barry Z. Cynamon & Steven M. Fazzari, 2017. "Household Income, Demand, and Saving: Deriving Macro Data With Micro Data Concepts," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(1), pages 53-69, March.
    7. Lydon, Reamonn & McIndoe-Calder, Tara, 2017. "The Great Irish (De)Leveraging 2005-14," Research Technical Papers 05/RT/17, Central Bank of Ireland.
    8. John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & Minjoon Lee & Matthew D. Shapiro & Christopher Tonetti, 2015. "The Wealth of Wealthholders," NBER Working Papers 20972, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jesse Bricker & Jacob Krimmel & Rodney Ramcharan, 2014. "Signaling Status: The Impact of Relative Income on Household Consumption and Financial Decisions," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-76, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Christophe André, 2016. "Household debt in OECD countries: stylised facts and policy issues," Chapters from NBP Conference Publications, in: Hanna Augustyniak & Jacek Łaszek & Krzysztof Olszewski & Joanna Waszczuk (ed.), Papers presented during the Narodowy Bank Polski Workshop: Recent trends in the real estate market and its analysis - 2015 edition, chapter 2, pages v1, 33-85, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    11. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier & Nahid Tabatabai, 2014. "The Great Recession, Decline and Rebound in Household Wealth for the Near Retirement Population," NBER Working Papers 20584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    Keywords

    Households; Households - Finance;

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