Reach me if you can: How to boost participation of rich households in wealth surveys?

Sofie R. Waltl (), Judita Jurasekova Kucserova (), Zuzana Brokesova (), Boris Frankovic () and Andrej Cupak ()
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Sofie R. Waltl: University of Cambridge
Judita Jurasekova Kucserova: National Bank of Slovakia
Zuzana Brokesova: University of Economics and Business
Boris Frankovic: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic
Andrej Cupak: National Bank of Slovakia

No WP 9/2026, Working and Discussion Papers from Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia

Abstract: Wealth surveys systematically under-represent affluent households because wealthy respondents are less likely to participate. We study whether targeted incentives can improve top-tail coverage in the Slovak Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Using census data, we pre-identify affluent households and randomly assign them to treatment and control groups. Treated households are offered a limited-edition non-cash participation incentive: a proof-quality silver collector coin. The incentive increases participation by 11–14 percentage points, equivalent to a roughly 40% increase relative to the participation rate among non-incentivized wealthy households, with the largest effects occurring when combined with personal interviewer contact. The treatment disproportionately attracts financially sophisticated households, improving coverage of the upper tail of the wealth distribution without reducing response quality. Incorporating these additional households increases measured mean wealth, raises the wealth Gini coefficient by up to 6.5%, and improves alignment between survey aggregates and National Accounts. Our findings show that fieldwork design and participation incentives materially affect the measurement of wealth inequality and may contribute to cross-country differences in HFCS-based statistics.

JEL-codes: C83 C93 D31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2026-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:svk:wpaper:1145

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