Household finances in Understanding Society

Abstract

Understanding Society is a large general purpose panel survey of UK households. Household finances are a core part of the content. This paper introduces the household finances content of the Study covering each of stocks (wealth and balance sheets); flows (saving, spending, transfers and giving); expectations, planning and financial management; and financial security, fragility and satisfaction. It also reviews how these data have been used by economists to date. In addition, the paper documents supplementary household finance resources within Understanding Society including the Innovation Panel and ongoing administrative data linkages.