Survey of Consumer Finances, 1971 (ICPSR 7451)

Version Date: Feb 16, 1992

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Principal Investigator(s):
University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07451.v2

Version V2

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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.

Citation

University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program. Survey of Consumer Finances, 1971. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1992-02-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07451.v2

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Funding

Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Primary Sampling Units (PSUs)

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1971 (1971)

Date of Collection

1971-01 -- 1971-03 (January-March 1971)

Data Collection Notes

  1. In order to prevent the disclosure of identifying information, responses to variable V14 have been masked.

  2. 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.

  3. For additional information on the Survey of Consumer Finances Study, please visit the Survey of Consumer Finances website.
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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

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

The sample was made up of a national cross-section of family units.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

The population of the United States.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual, Household

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

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Original Release Date

1984-05-11

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.

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Notes