HE purpose of this article is to improve T understanding of the meaning of survey data on income, and of inequality measures derived from such data. Where possible, the data are examined to see whether conceptual distinctions or difficulties make any important differences. Short-run fluctuations of income are less important than one might think in their effects on overall inequality measures. The presence of extra earners substantially reduces inequality. Less-than-full-year work increases inequality particularly among the very young and those over 45 years old. There remains some increase in inequality with age resulting from differentials in rates of advancement. Some difficulties in interpreting survey data in terms of the distribution of welfare require new data and new analysis, the main aspects of which are briefly sketched.

T HIS article deals with two problems. (i) empirical evidence regarding the average rate of real estate in the United States; and (2) an analysis of factors affecting the rate. By effective rate of real estate taxation is meant the ratio of real estate taxes to current market value of real property. The discussion here is restricted to the of owner-occupied nonf arm homes.

THE purpose of the investigation reported here is to examine factors associated with the amount of money which consumer units spend on life insurance premiums. Life insurance premiums represent an extremely large and stable component of personal saving and one which, unlike mortgage and other debt payments, has no offset in the purchase of a consumer investment item. Their long range future is thus important, and we hope to throw some light on this by seeing what factors are currently associated with high or low proportions of income paid as premiums. In addition to making available the results of this study, this report demonstrates one type of solution to the problems of statistical analysis of data from a sample survey. The survey which is the source of the data used in this study is the Survey of Consumer Finances. This survey has been conducted annually since I945 by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan in cooperation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. It includes about 3,000 interviews each year with a cross-section of the heads of consumer spending units in the United States. Interviews last about one hour and cover a variety of information about the unit's income, assets, and expenditures as well as about the demographic characteristics of the family and the attitudes of the respondent. The sample design involves selection of individual addresses with known probability. The sample is complex since it involves selection of successively smaller geographical areas in stages, with clustering and stratification at each stage, and the procedures differ in communities of different sizes.' The questions asked about life insurance in the I954 Survey were as follows: