Increases in Wealth among the Elderly in the Early 1990s
How Much is Due to Survey Design?
Published Nov 23, 2004
The Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study shows a large increase in reported total wealth between 1993 and 1995. Such an increase is not found in other US household surveys around that period. This paper examines one source of this difference. The authors find that in AHEAD 1993 ownership rates of stocks, CDs, bonds, and checking and saving accounts were under-reported, resulting in under-measurement of wealth in 1993, and a substantial increase in wealth from 1993 to 1995. The explanation for the under-reporting is a combination of question sequence and wording in the AHEAD survey instrument.
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Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Year: 2004
- Pages: 24
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/WR195
- Document Number: WR-195
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Rohwedder, Susann, Steven Haider, and Michael D. Hurd, Increases in Wealth among the Elderly in the Early 1990s: How Much is Due to Survey Design? RAND Corporation, WR-195, 2004. As of October 13, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR195.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Rohwedder, Susann, Steven Haider, and Michael D. Hurd, Increases in Wealth among the Elderly in the Early 1990s: How Much is Due to Survey Design? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2004. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR195.html.
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