572 – Measuring Household Wealth in Europe: The Household Finance and Consumption Survey
Mind the Mode: Lessons from a Web Survey on Household Finances
Romina Gambacorta
Banca d'Italia
Martina Lo Conte
Istat
Manuela Murgia
Istat
Andrea Neri
Banca d'Italia
Roberta Rizzi
Istat
Francesca Zanichelli
Banca d’Italia
Surveys on household income and wealth are generally carried out through personal interviews. In recent years, Internet has been increasingly used as a data collection method, both for economic reasons and for the timeliness with which the collected data are available. To the best of our knowledge, however, there are no many studies on the use of web for collecting information on household income and wealth. This work contributes to fill this gap by illustrating the results of an experimental survey conducted in 2016 by the Banca d'Italia in collaboration with Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistical). Data quality is assessed through the use of fiscal administrative data and the comparison with a parallel survey conducted through personal interviews. Our results suggest that the web can represent a valid alternative for qualitative questions and to gather information on less sensitive sources of income (such as those for employees and retirees). To reduce the bias associated with the use of this instrument, it is essential to have auxiliary information on the whole selected sample.