The Spanish survey of household finances (EFF): description and methods of the 2011 wave

This paper describes the methods of the fourth wave of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF2011), paying special attention to the innovations relative to the previous waves. The EFF2011 was designed to give continuity to the information on household finances collected through the EFF2002, EFF2005 and EFF2008. A desirable characteristic present in all four waves is the oversampling of wealthy households. This is achieved on the basis of the wealth tax through a blind system of collaboration between the National Statistics Institute and the Tax Office which preserves stringent tax confidentiality. An additional important characteristic of the EFF is that the second, third, and fourth waves have a panel component. Further, a refreshment sample by wealth stratum has been incorporated in those waves to preserve cross-sectional representativity and overall sample size. The EFF is the only statistical source in Spain that allows the linking of incomes, assets, debts, and consumption at the household level. There are now four editions of the EFF, which means that these statistics capture the financial situation of households over a long period, including an expansion and a recession. Moreover, the financial situation of Spanish households can now be compared with that of households in other European countries thanks to the recent availability of similar surveys in the rest of the EU.