The Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF): Description and Methods of the 2005 Wave

This paper describes the methods of the second wave of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF2005), paying special attention to the innovations relative to the first wave. The EFF2005 was designed to give continuity to the information on household finances collected through the EFF2002. The EFF is the only statistical source in Spain that allows the linking of incomes, assets, debts, and consumption at the household level. A desirable characteristic present in both 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 wave has a full panel component. Further, a refreshment sample by wealth stratum has been incorporated to preserve cross-sectional representativity and overall sample size.