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Introducing the Distributional Financial Accounts of the United States

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Abstract

This paper describes the construction of the Distributional Financial Accounts (DFAs), a new dataset containing quarterly estimates of the distribution of U.S. household wealth since 1989, and provides the first look at the resulting data. The DFAs build on two existing Federal Reserve Board statistical products --- quarterly aggregate measures of household wealth from the Financial Accounts of the United States and triennial wealth distribution measures from the Survey of Consumer Finances --- to incorporate distributional information into a national accounting framework. The DFAs complement other existing sources of data on the wealth distribution by using a more comprehensive measure of household wealth and by providing quarterly data on a timely basis. We encourage policymakers, researchers, and other interested parties to use the DFAs to help understand issues related to the distribution of U.S. household wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael M. Batty & Jesse Bricker & Joseph S. Briggs & Alice Henriques Volz & Elizabeth Ball Holmquist & Susan Hume McIntosh & Kevin B. Moore & Eric R. Nielsen & Sarah Reber & Molly Shatto & Kamila Som, 2019. "Introducing the Distributional Financial Accounts of the United States," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-017, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2019-17
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2019.017
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    1. Ricchezza sempre più concentrata anche in Italia
      by Salvatore Morelli in La Voce on 2021-05-17 10:24:05

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    2. Paolo Acciari & Salvatore Morelli, 2020. "Wealth Transfers and Net Wealth at Death: Evidence from the Italian Inheritance Tax Records 1995–2016," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 175-203, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jesse Bricker & Sarena Goodman & Alice Henriques Volz & Kevin B. Moore, 2021. "A Wealth of Information: Augmenting the Survey of Consumer Finances to Characterize the Full U.S. Wealth Distribution," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-053, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Gallin, Joshua & Molloy, Raven & Nielsen, Eric & Smith, Paul & Sommer, Kamila, 2021. "Measuring aggregate housing wealth: New insights from machine learning ☆," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2020. "Trends in US Income and Wealth Inequality: Revising After the Revisionists," NBER Working Papers 27921, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Dennis J. Fixle & Marina Gindelsky & Robert Kornfeld, 2021. "The Feasibility of a Quarterly Distribution of Personal Income," BEA Working Papers 0191, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    7. Wojciech Kopczuk & Eric Zwick, 2020. "Business Incomes at the Top," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 27-51, Fall.
    8. Morazzoni, Marta & Sy, Andrea, 2022. "Female entrepreneurship, financial frictions and capital misallocation in the US," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 93-118.
    9. Oosthuizen, Dick & Zalla, Ryan, 2022. "Funding deposit insurance," Working Paper Series 2704, European Central Bank.
    10. John Sabelhaus & Alice Henriques Volz, 2020. "Social Security Wealth, Inequality, and Life-cycle Saving: An Update," Working Papers wp416, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    11. Kennickell, Arthur B., 2021. "Chasing the Tail: A Generalized Pareto Distribution Approach to Estimating Wealth Inequality," SocArXiv u3zs2, Center for Open Science.
    12. Groiss, Martin, 2024. "Equalizing Monetary Policy - the Earnings Heterogeneity Channel in Action," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302346, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Marc Anderes, 2021. "Housing Demand Shocks and Households Balance Sheets," KOF Working papers 21-492, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic data; Economic measurement; Household economics; Inequality; National accounts; Wealth distribution; Wealth dynamics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

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