Survey on Household Income and Wealth

The Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) is a statistical survey conducted by the Sample Surveys Division of the Banca d'Italia (the Italian central bank). The main objective of the SHIW is to study the economic behaviours of Italian households. In recent years the survey has been integrated in international research projects such as the Luxembourg Income Study [1] and the Luxembourg Wealth Study,[2] whose aim is to produce a comparable cross-national Data Archive on household income and wealth. Starting from 2008, the survey has also been part of a project conducted by the European Central Bank to produce a harmonized survey on household finances and consumption in the Euro area (Survey on Household Finance and Consumption [3]).

Methodology and scope

The sample size comprises about 8000 households selected from population registers. In order to analyse any changes in the phenomena under investigation, since 1989 about half of the sample has included households interviewed in previous surveys (panel households). Data collection is entrusted to a specialised company using professional interviewers and CAPI methodology.

The survey collects the following information:

Survey data from 1977 to 2014 are freely available for research purposes on the Banca d'Italia’s website (formats: ASCII, SAS and Stata).

Main uses

The main uses of the survey are:

  • for research projects linked to the functions of the Banca d'Italia;
  • for ex-ante evaluation of economic policies through microsimulation models such as Euromod [4] and Econlav;[5]
  • for academic research;[6]
  • to improve the information coming from macro statistics such as National Accounts.

The main results of the SHIW are diffused through the Supplements of the Statistical Bulletin.[7]

See also

Notes

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