Survey of Consumer Finances, 1971 (ICPSR 7451)
Version Date: Feb 16, 1992 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07451.v2
Version V2
Summary View help for Summary
This data collection is one in a series of financial surveys of consumers conducted annually since 1946. In a nationally representative sample, the head of each family unit was interviewed. Starting in 1966, in order to examine the effect that increased car ownership was having on American families, the data collected in this series were organized so that they could be analyzed by both family unit and car unit. The 1971 data are based on car unit. Survey questions regarding automobiles included number of drivers and car owners in the family, make and model of each car, purchase method, car financing and installment debt, and expectations of car purchases in the coming year. Other questions in the 1971 survey covered the respondent's attitudes toward national economic conditions (e.g., the effect of United States relations with Vietnam, Cambodia, and in the Middle East, inflation and unemployment on United States business) and price activity, as well as the respondent's own financial situation. Other questions examined the family unit head's occupation, and the nature and amount of the family's income, debts, liquid assets, changes in liquid assets, savings, investment preferences, and actual and expected purchases of major durables. In addition, the survey explored the subject of housing and neighborhood characteristics. Questions in this survey also focused on credit card use and purchases. Personal data include age and education of head, household composition, political affiliation, and occupation.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Primary Sampling Units (PSUs)
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
- In order to prevent the disclosure of identifying information, responses to variable V14 have been masked.
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Data on a family unit basis have a record for each family, with car information only for the first (usually the newest) car owned. Data on a car unit basis have a record for every car owned by the family. By using a global filter, data on a car unit basis can also be analyzed on a family unit basis. The frequencies in the codebook have been filtered on a family unit basis.
- For additional information on the Survey of Consumer Finances Study, please visit the Survey of Consumer Finances website.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
A Survey of Consumer Finances was conducted annually from 1946 through 1971 by the Economic Behavior Program. The major focus of these surveys is toward the collection of statistics on the distribution of consumer income, assets, debt, and major transactions. Interviewing was done in January-March of each year with questions covering ownership of assets and financial balances; source, purpose, and amount of debt, including installment debt; and amount, earners, and source of current income, and previous year's income. Also explored are attitudes toward the respondent's personal financial situation, toward general economic conditions and prices, and expectations for the coming year. Information was sought about current and planned expenditures for housing, automobiles, and major durables. Personal characteristics reported include age and education of head, household composition, and occupation.
During the mid-1960's, it became evident that the increase in car ownership was having a marked influence on the lives of American families. In order to examine these effects, the data collected since 1966 were organized so that they could be analyzed on either a family or car unit basis. The 1971 dataset is based on car-unit, and the frequencies in the codebook have been filtered to a family-unit basis.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The sample for this survey was made up of a national cross-section of family units representing the total population of the United States. The number of units interviewed in 1971 was 1327 yielding 1758 car-units. This study has 377 variables. The data should be filtered on variable 187.
Sample View help for Sample
The sample was made up of a national cross-section of family units.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
The population of the United States.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1984-05-11
Version History View help for Version History
2021-12-16 Masked variable V14 for disclosure issues.
2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:- University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program. Survey of Consumer Finances, 1971. ICPSR07451-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-12-16. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07451.v2
1984-05-11 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?