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Survey Estimates of Wealth - Mathematica Policy Research

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The SIPP distribution lags the PSID distribution by less than it lags the SCF distribution, but<br />

differences are still large. For any given percentile in the positive range the SIPP never exceeds<br />

77 percent <strong>of</strong> the corresponding PSID percentile value.<br />

We have seen that the SIPP does a better job <strong>of</strong> capturing total liabilities than total assets.<br />

Table II.6 shows the percentile distributions <strong>of</strong> both assets and liabilities. At the bottom <strong>of</strong> the<br />

distribution, the reporting <strong>of</strong> assets grows more slowly in the SIPP than in the SCF. Reported<br />

SIPP assets are less than half <strong>of</strong> the reported SCF assets between the 3rd and 12th percentiles,<br />

but after that they are no less than 60 percent <strong>of</strong> the SCF assets through the 96th percentile.<br />

Between the 42nd and 83rd percentiles (roughly the third and fourth quintiles), SIPP assets are<br />

consistently 79 to 83 percent <strong>of</strong> the SCF assets, then fall back gradually to 65 percent by the 95th<br />

percentile, after which they drop at an increasing rate. Liabilities display a rather different<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>ile. Except for the lowest nonzero amounts and the top few percentiles, the SIPP and SCF<br />

distributions <strong>of</strong> liabilities are essentially identical.<br />

4. Differential Measurement <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Wealth</strong>y<br />

As we noted in discussing Table II.5, over much <strong>of</strong> the percentile range the SIPP net worth<br />

distribution appears to merely lag behind the SCF distribution rather than display a substantially<br />

different pr<strong>of</strong>ile. We can see further evidence <strong>of</strong> this if we compare the distributions <strong>of</strong> SIPP and<br />

SCF net worth with respect to fixed categories <strong>of</strong> net worth. Table II.7 provides such a<br />

comparison. To enhance the resemblance between the two distributions, we have excluded from<br />

SCF net worth those assets and liabilities that are not measured in the SIPP (see the next section).<br />

Looking at the ratio <strong>of</strong> population estimates by category <strong>of</strong> net worth, we see the greater<br />

concentration <strong>of</strong> SIPP families at the very bottom but then nearly identical populations beginning<br />

with the lowest positive net worth class and continuing up to a million dollars. Referring to the<br />

cumulative percentage distributions in the final two columns, we see that 83 percent <strong>of</strong> SIPP<br />

28

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