September 26, 2012   Appendix A: Data Source and Methodology
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is sponsored by the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the U.S. Department of
the Treasury. It is designed to provide detailed information on
the finances of U.S. households. Bricker et al. (2012) serves as
useful introduction to the specifics of the SCF.  Household
income refers to the household’s cash income, before taxes, for
the full calendar year preceding the survey. The components of
income in the SCF are wages; self-employment and business
income; taxable and tax-exempt interest; dividends; realized
capital gains; food stamps and other, related support programs
provided by government; pensions and withdrawals from retirement
accounts; Social Security; alimony and other support payments;
and miscellaneous sources of income.  Wealth, or net worth, is
the difference between the value of assets owned by a household
and the value of the liabilities (or debt) held by the
household. Assets include items su