This publication presents an internationally agreed set of guidelines for producing micro statistics on household wealth, It addresses the common conceptual, definitional and practical problems that countries face in producing such statistics, and are meant to improve the comparability of the currently available country data. The Guidelines, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD, propose a set of standard concepts, definitions and classifications for micro wealth statistics, and cover different phases in the statistical production process, including sources and methods for measuring particular forms of wealth, best practice in using household surveys or other sources to compile wealth statistics, the development of analytic measures, the dissemination of data, and data quality assurance.
2. Key component of household economic resources, alongside
income and consumption
Inequality in the distribution of household wealth is
significantly higher than that for household income, and may
evolve differently overtime
The distribution of household wealth may affect the
vulnerability of the economy to various shocks, and the
sustainability of economic development
Why micro-statistics on household
wealth are important?
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3. • Recommendations by various bodies
– 2011 Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics proposed “the
development of international statistical standards for the collection and
compilation of statistics on household wealth at the micro level”
– Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission recommendations to “consider income and
consumption jointly with wealth” and “give more prominence to the distribution
of income, consumption and wealth”
• SNA provides framework for compilation and analysis of
macro statistics for the whole economy, not always well-
adapted to need of statistician's interested in distribution
• No international standards in the micro field currently exist
• Long term goals
– Increase the ex ante comparability of existing measures
– Encourage more countries to undertake measurement in this field
Why have these Guidelines been
developed?
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4. • OECD Expert Group on Micro-Statistics on Household Income,
Consumption and Wealth (EGICW)
• Established under aegis of OECD Committee on Statistics (CSTAT)
in late 2010 with two-year mandate
• Chaired by Bob McColl (ABS, Australia), including representatives of
statistical offices from 17 countries and other experts in the field
(ECB, Federal Reserve Board, Eurostat, Luxembourg Income Study)
• Financial and in-kind support from Federal Statistical Office of
Switzerland, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Bank of Italy
• Report reflect comments provided by CSTAT members and
published on the responsibility of the OECD Secretary-General
• The Guidelines complement the second deliverable of EGICW, i.e.
the companion report Framework for Statistics on the Distribution
of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth
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Who has developed these Guidelines?
5. • Reviewing and comparing country methodologies for
producing micro-statistics on household wealth
• Developing agreed definitions, classifications and other
treatments for micro-statistics on household wealth
• Assessing measurement issues associated with different
components of household wealth and developing best-practice
• Assessing the pros and cons of different sources and methods,
and the range of analytic measures that could be used to
describe household wealth
• Identifying conceptual and definitional differences between
macro- and micro-approaches to measuring household wealth
What are its objectives?
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6. • Ch. 1 Introduction
• Ch. 2 Overview of household wealth statistics
• Ch. 3 Standard concepts, definitions, and classifications for household wealth
statistics
• Ch. 4 Data sources and methods for producing household wealth statistics
• Ch. 5 Measurement Guidelines for standard components of household wealth
• Ch. 6 Measuring household wealth through surveys
• Ch. 7 Analytic measures
• Ch. 8 Dissemination
• Ch. 9 Quality assurance for household wealth statistics
• Annex A Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey
• Annex B Luxembourg Wealth Study
• Annex C Differences between micro and macro measures of household wealth
• Annex D Inventory of country methodologies for producing micro wealth statistics
• Annex E Household Definition in other statistical standards
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What is the structure of these Guidelines?
7. What specific guidance is provided? (1)
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• A broad conceptual framework for micro-statistics on
household wealth linking stocks and flow (page 42)
8. • A recommended classification for components offinancial
assets, non-financial assets, and liabilities to be collected and
reported (page 67)
• A number of general principles for recording, e.g. all
household’s assets and liabilities should be:
– valued at current market price, or closest equivalent, on the date to
which statistics relate
– recorded at the same point in time for all households
– recorded on a gross basis (i.e. separately), with the exception of those
between members of the same households
– collected for all private households that reside in housing units and that
are resident of the country to which statistics relate
• Best practice in the measurement of specific components
What specific guidance is provided? (2)
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9. • Contacts:
– Marco Mira d’Ercole (OECD Statistics Directorate, marco.mira@oecd.org)
– Nicolas Ruiz (OECD Statistics Directorate, nicolas.ruiz@oecd.org)
– Bindi Kindermann (Australian Bureau of Statistics,
bindi.kindermann@abs.gov.au)
For further information
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See full report, freely available at:
www.oecd.org/statistics/guidelines-for-micro-
statistics-on-household-wealth.htm
