APPENDIX
B
Retirement-Income-Related Panel Surveys for Cohorts of Individuals
Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) [ongoing]:
Collected data in 1993-1994 on 8,200 people ages 70 and older and their spouses; funding has been approved for three more interviews and to introduce a cohort in between HRS and AHEAD.
Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) [ongoing]:
Collected data on 12,650 people ages 51-61 in 1992 and their spouses, conducting two interviews; funding has been approved for two more interviews; funding has also been approved to collect data on a new cohort of people and their spouses, beginning in 1998 when they are ages 51-56.
National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Older Men [completed]:
Collected data on 5,000 men ages 45-60 in 1966 (and their wives), following them from 1966 to 1983 when they were ages 62-77; surviving members of the sample (or next-of-kin for decedents) were reinterviewed in 1990 when they were ages 69-84.
National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Mature Women [ongoing]:
Collected data on 5,000 women ages 30-44 in 1967, following them from 1967 to 1995 when they were ages 58-72; funding has been requested to continue the survey.
National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Young Men [completed]:
Collected data on 5,000 men ages 14-24 in 1966, following them from 1966 to 1981 when they were ages 29-39.
National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Young Women [ongoing]:
Collected data on 5,000 women ages 14-24 in 1968, following them from 1968 to 1995 when they were ages 41-51; funding has been requested to continue the survey.
National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men and Women (NLSY) [ongoing]:
Collected data on 13,000 people ages 14-21 in 1979, following them from 1979 to 1995
when they were ages 30-37 (an oversample of people in the military was discontinued after 1984; an oversample of economically disadvantaged whites was discontinued after 1990; the current sample size is about 10,000); funding has been requested to continue the survey.
Retirement History Survey (RHS) [completed]:
Collected data on 12,500 people ages 58-63 in 1969 (including men and women with no husband in the household), following them from 1969 to 1979 when they were ages 68-73.
Other panel surveys not specific to age groups include the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) was intended to be a panel survey but is provided as a series of separate cross-sections.
The NSFH interviewed a sample of 13,000 families in 1987-1988 and reinterviewed them in 1992-1993.
The PSID follows a sample of families on an annual basis; the current sample size is 9,200 families, including original sample families who were first interviewed in 1968, new families formed from them (e.g., by adult children), and a sample of Hispanic families added in 1990. SIPP follows samples of about 20,000 families for 32 months; a new panel is introduced each February (the first panel began in fall 1983). Under a planned redesign to be introduced in 1996, the survey will follow samples of about 50,000 families for 48 months; a new panel will be introduced every 4 years.
The SCF, which began in 1983 and is conducted every 3 years, is a comprehensive survey of household wealth that includes a household sample together with a sample of high-income households drawn from Internal Revenue Service files that agree to participate. In most years, the SCF has obtained descriptions of sample members' pension plans from their employers.
