Income and wealth [electronic resource] : how did households owning small businesses fare from 1989 to 2007 /

Income and Wealth: 

How Did Households Owning Small 

Businesses Fare from 1998 to 2007

by 

George W. Haynes, Ph.D.

Montana State University

Bozeman, MT 59717

for 

Under contract no. SBAHQ-08-M-0454 

Release Date: January 2010

 

This report was developed under a contract with the Small Business Administration, Office 

of Advocacy, and contains information and analysis that was reviewed and edited by 

officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, the final conclusions of the report do not 

necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy.
2 

Contents

Introduction 3 

Literature Review 4

Conceptual Considerations 7 

Empirical Considerations 8 

Results 16 

Conclusions 35 

References 42 

Appendix A 44 

Appendix B 45 

Appendix C 46 
3

Introduction

The general economic expansion earlier in this decade dramatically increased the wealth 

of some individuals while leaving others with less modest increases, or decreases, in 

wealth. While there is ample discussion of the growth of businesses in the United States 

over the past 30 years, there is very limited knowledge about the owners (individuals or 

households) of privately held businesses. The public debate about wealth distribution and 

income inequality centered around the divide between the rich and the poor or the 

wealthy and the poverty-stricken, rather than the difference between those who owned 

and/or operated businesses versus those who worked for others and the unemployed. This 

study examines changes in the distributions of income and wealth for three primary types 

of households: households not owning a business, households owning and managing only 

one small business (single business owners), and households owning and managing at 

least one small business and owning other businesses (multiple business owners). Using 

this classification of households (and business owners) and the Surveys of Consumer 

Finances from 1998 to 2007, this study assesses changes in the income earned and wealth 

accumulated by different types of small businesses from 1998 to 2007.

Using the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer 

Finances, this study examines two important questions:

(1) Did families with small business owners living in the household increase 

their income and wealth by more than families without small business 

owners living in the household from 1998 to 2007?
4

(2) Did families with more than one small business increase their income and 

wealth by more than other families owning small businesses from 1998 to 

2007?

Literature Review

The financial situation of U.S. families changed substantially between the early 1990s

and 2007. The literature review examines relevant literature assessing changes in the 

income and wealth of U.S. families. Special attention is given to evidence of changes in 

the income and wealth of U.S. families who own one or more small businesses. A 

relatively comprehensive literature exists on the financial condition (income and wealth) 

of families, but the literature is much less comprehensive for the subset of families who 

own businesses. The Federal Reserve Board assesses recent changes in U.S. family 

finances every three years when summarizing results derived from the most recent 

Survey of Consumer Finances (Kennickell and Starr-McCluer, 1997; Kennickell, StarrMcCluer and Surette, 2000; Aizcorbe, Kennickell and Moore, 2003; Bucks, Kennickell 

and Moore, 2006; Bucks, Kennickell, Mach and Moore, 2009).

Between 1992 and 1995, real mean and median family income increased slightly, 

although not sufficiently to offset the declines from 1989 to 1992 (Kennickell and StarrMcCluer, 1997). By 1995, median income and wealth were nearly the same as in 1989;

however, mean income and wealth had not fully recovered. This period of time from 

1992 through 1995 was one of continued economic expansion in the U.S. economy. By 

1998, real mean and median family income had surpassed their 1989 levels, having 

exhibited strong growth between 1995 and 1998. This period was marked by an increase 
5

in the holding of stock equity and a booming stock market (Kennickell, Starr-McCluer 

and Surette, 2000). While family indebtedness increased over this period of time, asset 

growth was more rapid. By 1998, the economy was in the seventh year of an economic 

expansion. Civilian unemployment was around 4.5% and the average annual inflation 

rate of 2.2%, as measured by the consumer price index, had been low for the previous 

three years. Mean and median family income continued to grow from 1998 through 2001 

with the fastest growth occurring among higher income households (Azicorbe, 

Kennickell and Moore, 2003).

The Survey of Consumer Finances shows that the median value of real family 

income continued to trend upward, while the mean value of real family income actually 

declined from 2001 to 2004 (Bucks, Kennickell and Moore, 2006). This result may 

suggest distributional changes within the groups. The authors suggest that three important 

shifts occurred during this time: (1) house values appreciated and homeownership 

increased; (2) prices in the equity market generally recovered; and (3) the debt to asset 

ratio increased.

The most recent Survey of Consumer Finances suggests that the median value of 

real family income before taxes was unchanged from 2004 to 2007, while both median 

and mean net worth increased (Bucks, Kennickell, Mach and Moore, 2009). The increase 

in the share of total assets attributed to unrealized capital gains were especially important 

from 2004 to 2007. The share of unrealized capital gains in total assets rose from 5.1% to 

nearly 36% from 2004 to 2007.

While no other authors addressed small business owners, Wolff (1998) argued 

that “. . . small business equity, which tends to move with stock prices, is also highly 
6

concentrated among the rich.” While small business owners may have realized an 

increase in the value of their assets with the increase in the stock market, other evidence 

suggests that small business owners hold more debt than non-business-owning families 

(Haynes and Avery, 1996). In addition, recent research suggests that small business 

owners are willing to assume more risk and hold more risky portfolios of assets (Xaio, 

Alhabeeb, Hong and Haynes, 2001). Thus, whether or not families owning small 

businesses improved their financial status between 1989 and 2004 is an open question.

This study examines changes in the real income and wealth of families owning small 

businesses to determine whether they had higher mean income and wealth and increasing 

or decreasing shares of total income and wealth from 1989 to 2004.

Another study completed by Haynes (2005) suggests that households owning 

small businesses, especially those owning only one small business, appear to have made

smaller contributions to total wealth in 2001 than in the early 1990s. The evidence 

suggested that households owning only one small business seemed to be losing the race.

They were making progress in increasing income and wealth, but they were making less 

progress than households not owning small businesses. A more recent study provides 

further evidence that compared with other households, those with small businesses made 

less progress in increasing their wealth and very similar progress in increasing their 

income in the late 1980s, a time of robust business activity, and early 2000s, a time of 

recovery for businesses (Haynes and Ou, 2006). However, an examination of data from 

1992, a year of recovery, through 2004, another year of recovery, indicated that 

households owning small businesses appeared to have progressed at about the same rate 

as other households.
7

A sharp downturn in the stock market occurred in the second quarter of 2000 

putting downward pressure on the income and wealth of many households. Financial 

prosperity in the 1990s was primarily dependent upon the rise of the stock markets. The 

2004 and 2007 SCFs capture this downturn in the stock market and enable a comparison 

of the financial success of small-business-owning families and other families in a time 

when the influence of the stock market changed substantially. On one hand, the lower 

expected returns in the stock market should have encouraged investors to shift money to 

business development. On the other hand, the downturn in the stock market substantially 

reduced the wealth of some investors and limited their ability to invest in other ventures.

Thus, whether or not families owning small businesses improved their financial status by 

2007 is an open question. This study examines changes in the real income and wealth of 

families owning small businesses to determine if they had higher mean and median 

income and wealth and increasing or decreasing shares of total income and wealth from 

1998 to 2007.

Conceptual Considerations

This study utilizes a household decision-making model to assess the success of small 

businesses, as measured by changes in income and wealth. While most other studies of 

small business success utilize the profit function, this study utilizes household income 

and wealth to assess the success of business-owning households. This strategy for 

addressing small business issues was originally suggested by Lopez (1986) in the 

following statement:

“ . . . the financial resources of the small firm are arguably intertwined with those 

of the household. This interdependence of resources suggests a theoretical model, 
8

where the small business activity is integrated into the household utility 

maximization model.”

This conceptual model maximizes household utility subject to time and budget 

constraints, where the business’s profit function is embedded in the budget constraint.

Recent work by Haynes and Onochie (2005) suggests that increases in the available cash 

in the business (from higher gross sales or net profits) bring more cash into the 

household, while only increases in the value of business (wealth) increase the amount of 

money spent on other household assets. Interestingly, these business financial indicators 

were not associated with measures of general well-being in the household.

In general, this model suggests that invoking the weak separability assumption 

and treating the business profit function in isolation fails to recognize the intermingling 

of resources between the business and household. This study recognizes the importance 

of the intermingling of resources and examines two hypotheses:

(1) Families with small business owners living in the household increased 

their income and wealth by more than families without small business owners living in 

the household from 1998 to 2007; and

(2) Families with more than one small business increased their income and 

wealth by more than other families owning one small business from 1998 to 2007.

Empirical Considerations

This section summarizes the data from the 1998 and 2007 Surveys of Consumer Finances 

and presents the statistical models employed. While this is primarily a descriptive study 

of small businesses in two time periods, it employs multivariate logistic and linear 
9

regression models to assess the determinants of high income and wealth among 

households owning small businesses.

Data

The 1998 through 2007 Surveys of Consumer Finances (SCF) were conducted for the 

Federal Reserve Board by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of 

Chicago. The surveys are designed to supply detailed and reliable information on balance 

sheets, use of financial services, pensions, labor force participation, cash income and 

demographic characteristics of U.S. households.

The SCF utilizes a dual frame sample to provide adequate coverage of the 

population. One frame is a multistage area probability sample, which provides adequate 

coverage of widely held assets and liabilities. The second frame is a list design employed 

to over-sample relatively wealthy households. Response rates for the area probability and 

list samples in 1998 and 2007 were approximately 70% and 30%, respectively.

Research conducted by the Federal Reserve Board suggests that nonresponse is 

positively correlated with wealth. This study is primarily interested in examining smallbusiness-owning families. However, the entire sample is employed to assess the 

differences between business-owning and non-business-owning families. The SCF survey 

asks respondents about the previous year; hence, the SCF for 2007 actually gathers 

information about the finances of the family and business in 2006.

The variables of interest in this study include business ownership status of the 

household, household income and household wealth (including assets and debt held by 

members of the household). Business ownership status was determined by whether an 
10

individual owned and/or actively managed at least one business. Households owning 

large businesses (500 or more employees) and households with only investors (owners, 

but not managers) were not included in this study. Small business owners are separated 

into two categories: single business owners, who own and manage only one business, and 

multiple business owners, who own and manage at least one small business and own (and 

possibly manage) other businesses.

Financial data, such as income and wealth data, often have a substantial 

percentage of missing values. The SCF is a fully imputed data set with five separate 

implicates available for every missing value. This study utilizes only one implicate in the 

SCF. Household income and wealth were computed using all of the financial information 

reported in the SCF. Household income is computed by summing the following sources 

of income: wages and salaries, interest, dividends, asset sales, rents, unemployment, child 

support, welfare, social security and other sources. The wealth of the household was 

determined by generating a balance sheet, using a program supplied by the Federal 

Reserve Board, to estimate the wealth of each household. Total wealth was computed by 

subtracting total liabilities from total financial and nonfinancial assets. Financial assets 

were computed by summing the value of transaction accounts, certificates of deposit, 

directly held mutual funds, stocks, bonds, individual retirement accounts, saving bonds, 

cash value of life insurance, other managed assets and other financial assets. Nonfinancial 

assets were computed by summing the value of vehicles, primary residence, other 

residential real estate, equity in nonresidential real estate, business interests and other 

nonfinancial assets. Liabilities were tabulated by summing the value of housing debt, 
11

other lines of credit, debt for other residential property, credit cards, installment loans and 

other debts.

This study will discuss the changes in income from 1998 to the most recent data 

collected in 2007. All income figures have been adjusted to 2007 dollars using the current 

Consumer Price Index (CPI) as employed by Bucks, Kennickell, Mach and Moore 

(2009).

Control variables include personal and demographic characteristics of the 

household head and business owner, and characteristics of the business. The personal and 

demographic characteristics include age, race (White, Black, Hispanic and other), gender, 

education (no high school diploma, high school diploma, some college and college 

degree or more), marital status (married, previously married or never married) and public 

stock and real estate ownership (yes or no). Business characteristics include number of 

employees, age of the firm, legal organization, industrial classification and founding 

strategy.

The sampling frame for this analysis is U.S. households, which are referred to as 

families in this report. Personal and demographic characteristics are those characteristics 

of the respondent interviewed, typically the household head. If the respondent or 

someone in the household owns and manages a business, this study is referring to the 

largest business. No business information is available for businesses owned but not 

managed by the respondent. Small businesses are businesses with fewer than 500 

employees that are owned and managed by a family member. This study has not 

differentiated between franchise and nonfranchise businesses.
12

Models

This study is primarily descriptive, where family income and wealth are compared for 

business-owning and non-business-owning families from 1998 to 2007. This descriptive 

analysis requires the careful comparison of means using regression analysis to assess 

differences among business and non-business-owning families across time (1998 through 

2007). The most important questions assessed in this study are the following: 

(1) Did families with small business owners living in the household increase 

their income and wealth by more than families without small business owners living in 

the household from 1998 to 2007?

(2) Did families with more than one small business increase their income and 

wealth by more than other families owning small businesses from 1998 to 2007?

Logistic and linear regression models are used to examine these two questions for three

time periods, 1998 to 2007, 2001 to 2007 and 2004 to 2007.

The first set of models utilizes dummy variables for the year 2007 and households 

with a small business to determine whether households owning a small business fared 

better from 1998 to 2007 than other households. The variables of interest are the main 

effects on the dummy variables (year 2007 and small business) and the interaction term.

To be consistent with previous studies, high income and wealth are based on levels 

established in 1992, where high income was income over $50,000 per year and high 

wealth was net worth over $1 million in 1992 dollars. When these 1992 levels are 

adjusted for inflation, high income is $73,779 and high wealth is $1.476 million in 2007 

dollars. Six separate models are used in this study: (1) logistic regression model to 

examine the probability of being high income; (2) logistic regression model to examine 
13

the probability of being high wealth, where high wealth is holding $1 million in 1992 

dollars; (3) logistic regression model to examine the probability of being high income, 

where high income is being in the top 50% of income earners; (4) logistic regression 

model to examine the probability of being high wealth, where high wealth is being in the 

top 50% of wealth holders; (5) linear regression model utilizing log of household income 

as the dependent variable; and (6) linear regression model utilizing log of household 

wealth as the dependent variable. The six models are specified as follows:

HI = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership)

where HI = high income (1=greater than $73,779 in 2007$)

SB = household with a small business dummy variable;

Y07= year dummy variable for 2007;

age = age of the household head;

race = race of the household head (1=minority, 0=otherwise);

gender = gender of household head (1=male, 0=female);

education = education level (categorical variables for some high 

school, high school graduate, some college, college 

graduate);

marital status = marital status (1=married, 0=unmarried);

stock ownership = owns publicly traded stock (1=yes, 0=no); and

real estate ownership = owns real estate (1=yes, 0=no).

HW = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership)

where HW = high wealth (1= greater than $$1.476 in 2007$)

all other variables are the same as above.

HI50 = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership)

where HI50 = high income (1=top 50% of income earners)

all other variables are the same as above.

HW50 = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership)

where HW50 = high wealth (1=top 50% of wealth holders)

all other variables are the same as above.

Log income = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, 

stock ownership, real estate ownership)
14

Log wealth = f(SB, Y07, SB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, 

stock ownership, real estate ownership)

Using the first model (high-income logistic regression) as an example, a positive 

and significant coefficient on the year variable would indicate that all households have a 

higher probability of being classified as high income in 2007 than 1998, ceteris paribus.

A positive and significant coefficient on the small business variable would indicate that 

households with a small business owned and operated by a household member would 

have a higher probability of being classified as high income than other households 

without a small business owned and operated by a household member, ceteris paribus. A 

positive and significant coefficient on the interaction term would indicate that households 

with small businesses fared better than other households from 1998 to 2007. This same 

analysis was conducted for 2001 to 2007 and 2004 to 2007 to test for the robustness of 

these results over time. 

The second set of regressions utilizes the same dummy variable for the year 2007

and a dummy variable to identify households owning multiple small businesses to 

determine whether households owning multiple small businesses fared better from 1998

to 2007 than households owning just one small business. This set of regressions uses 

observations for households owning and managing one or more small businesses only.

The variables of interest are the main effects on the dummy variables (year 2007 and 

multiple small business ownership) and the interaction term. The second set of models is 

specified as follows:

HI = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)

where HI = high income (1=greater than $73,779 in 2007$)
15

MB = household with a multiple small businesses dummy variable;

Y07= year dummy variable for 2007;

age = age of the household head (dummy variables for less than 

35, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, 55 to 64, 65 to 74 and 75 or older);

race = race of the household head (1=minority, 0=otherwise);

gender = gender of household head (1= male and 0=female);

education = education level (categorical variables for some high 

school, high school graduate, some college, college 

graduate);

marital status = marital status (1= married or 0=unmarried);

stock ownership = owns publicly traded stock (1=yes, 0=no); 

real estate ownership = owns real estate (1=yes, 0=no); 

employees = number of employees in the business (continuous);

firm age = age of the business (continuous);

legal organization = categorical variables for partnership, sole 

proprietorship, subchapter s corporation and regular 

corporation);

industrial classification = categorical variables for agriculture, 

construction/manufacturing, wholesale/retail and 

service/other); and,

founding status = categorical variables for bought/invested, started 

and inherited/given.

HW = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)

where HW = high wealth (1= greater than $$1.476 in 2007$)

all other variables are the same as above.

HI50 = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)

where HI50 = high income (1=top 50% of income earners)

all other variables are the same as above.

HW50 = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, stock 

ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)

where HW50 = high wealth (1=top 50% of wealth holders)

all other variables are the same as above.

Log income = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, 

stock ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)
16

Log wealth = f(MB, Y07, MB*Y07; age, race, gender, education, marital status, 

stock ownership, real estate ownership, employees, firm age, legal organization, 

industrial classification, founding status)

Once again, the coefficient on the interaction term (MB*Y07) is assessed to 

determine whether households with multiple small businesses have fared better than other 

households owning small businesses from 1998 to 2007. This same analysis was 

conducted for 1998 to 2007, 2001 to 2007 and 2004 to 2007 to test for the robustness of 

these results over time. The next section reports the results of this study. 

Results

This section compares the weighted samples in 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007, evaluates the 

probability of being classified as high income and/or high wealth, examines the number 

of business-owning households, compares the demographic and financial characteristics 

of single- and multiple-business-owning families, compares real mean and median 

income and wealth, compares the shares of total family income and wealth between 

business-owning and non-business-owning families and across different types of business 

owners, and assesses the determinants of high income and high wealth families over the 

10 years of this study (1998 through 2007).

Univariate Analysis

The sample weights were employed for the univariate and multivariate analyses in 

this study. The characteristics of the household and business were somewhat different in 

1998 and 2007 (Table 1). The household heads interviewed in 2007 were somewhat 

older, more likely to be from a minority group, slightly better educated, slightly higher 
17

Table 1 Sample Characteristics

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007

Age

 Less than 35 23.3 22.7 22.2 21.7

 35 to 44 23.3 * 22.3 * 20.7 19.6

 45 to 54 19.2 20.7 20.7 20.8

 55 to 64 12.8 * 13.2 * 15.3 * 16.8

 65 to 74 11.2 10.7 10.4 10.5

 75 or more 10.2 10.3 10.7 10.6

Gender

 Man 72.1 73.3 71.9 72.3

 Woman 27.9 26.7 28.1 27.7

Race

 Nonwhite or Hispanic 22.2 * 23.7 * 26.4 26.1

 White, non-Hispanic 77.8 * 76.3 * 73.6 73.9

Education

 No high school diploma 16.3 * 15.9 * 14.5 13.5

 High school diploma 31.8 31.6 30.7 * 32.9

 Some college 18.5 18.4 18.3 18.4

 College degree 33.3 34.2 36.5 35.2

Marital Status

 Married 52.2 53.2 * 50.4 51.0

 Not married 47.8 46.8 * 49.6 49.0

Income of household (2007 dollars)

 Less than $10,000 9.5 * 7.6 * 7.2 6.4

 $10,000 to $24,999 19.4 18.1 18.9 19.6

 $25,000 to $49,999 27.2 27.0 26.1 26.4

 $50,000 to $99,999 28.6 28.7 28.4 28.0

 $100,000 or more 15.3 * 18.6 19.3 19.6

Net Worth of Household (2007 Dollars)

 Less than $50,000 39.5 * 37.7 38.3 36.6

 $50,000 to $99,999 11.9 * 11.7 * 11.4 10.2

 $100,000 to $249,999 21.2 * 18.8 18.9 18.8

 $250,000 to $499,999 14.0 13.9 12.6 * 14.9

 $500,000 to $999,999 7.8 * 9.5 9.8 10.5

 $1,000,000 or more 5.6 * 8.5 9.0 9.1

Owns Public Stock

 Yes 15.3 18.6 * 19.3 * 19.6

 No 84.7 81.4 * 80.7 * 80.4

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000)

 Yes 9.5 * 7.6 * 7.2 6.4

 No 90.5 * 92.4 * 92.8 93.6
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Table 1 Sample Characteristics (continued)

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007

Business Owner

 Yes 12.7 13.7 13.2 13.6

 No 87.3 86.3 86.8 86.4

Business Owners Only

Small Business Owner Manager

 Yes 55.4 53.8 52.4 52.3

 No 44.6 46.2 47.6 47.7

Business Age

 Less than 1 year 4.4 5.7 9.2 * 5.5

 1 to 4 years 29.0 22.8 25.2 25.9

 5 to 9 years 18.9 17.5 21.0 17.9

 10 to 19 years 24.9 23.8 21.3 23.0

 20 years or more 22.8 30.2 23.4 27.7

Business Size (including owner)

 1 or fewer 42.3 43.7 44.1 44.9

 2 to 4 35.0 31.1 32.1 29.8

 5 to 9 12.7 12.8 9.7 9.9

 10 to 24 4.8 * 6.9 7.1 8.3

 25 or more 5.2 5.6 6.9 7.1

Business Size (gross sales)

 Less than $50,000 54.9 * 49.6 51.9 47.8

 $50,000 - $99,999 11.5 10.7 13.6 12.0

 $100,000 - $249,999 10.3 12.2 9.7 13.1

 $250,000 - $499,999 8.4 9.4 8.3 7.7

 $500,000 - $999,999 6.7 6.7 3.9 6.0

 $1,000,000 or more 8.1 * 11.5 12.6 13.3

Legal Organization

 Partnership 24.1 * 24.0 * 28.1 * 34.2

 Sole proprietorship 51.1 * 49.3 48.3 44.2

 Subchapter S corporation 13.0 15.7 14.2 14.1

 Subchapter C corporation 11.8 11.0 * 9.3 7.4

Business Industrial Classification

 Agriculturally related 10.0 13.4 9.6 10.3

 Mining/construction/manufacturing 24.4 19.4 23.6 23.9

 Wholesale, retail 16.2 11.8 17.8 13.7

 Services and other 49.4 55.3 49.0 52.1

Founding Status

 Bought or invested 20.9 * 18.3 16.2 16.2

 Started 66.1 68.3 71.6 * 65.5

 Inherited/given/other 12.9 * 13.5 * 12.2 * 18.3

 

Number of Observations, all 4,305 4,442 4,519 4,418

Number of Observations, business only ho 1,277 1,354 1,385 1,417
19

income earners, slightly higher wealth holders, and more likely to own real estate than 

household heads in 1998.

The businesses operated by members of the household were quite similar in 1998

and 2007. Businesses were somewhat larger, more likely to be organized as partnerships 

and less likely to be organized as sole proprietorships, and less likely to have been 

purchased (bought or invested in) businesses and more likely to have been inherited 

businesses in 2007 than in 1998.

All respondents were significantly more likely to be high income earners in 2007 

than 1998 with 26.3% of households being high income in 1998 and 31.0% of households 

being high income in 2007 (Table 2). Families owning any businesses were significantly 

more likely to be high income earners in 2007 than 1998. Just under 48% of small 

business owners were classified as high income in 1998, while nearly 59% of small 

business owners were classified as high income by 2007. The largest percentage gain in 

the likelihood of being high income (53.7%) from 1998 to 2007 was achieved by small 

business owners with more than one business.

The wealth picture was very similar, with all households realizing a significant 

increase in the likelihood of being classified as high wealth. Small-business-owning 

households realized an increase in the likelihood being classified as high wealth from 

13.4% in 1998 to 23.7% in 2007 (Table 3). Again, the largest percentage gain in the 

likelihood of being high wealth (82.7%) from 1998 to 2007 was achieved by small 

business owners with more than one business.

In 1998, small-business-owning households were over two times more likely to be 

classified as high income (47.6% versus 23.0%) and about eight times more likely to be
20

Table 2 Probability of Being High Income, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 0.263 0.312 0.300 0.310 0.178 -0.006 0.033

No business ownership 0.230 0.266 0.258 0.263 0.143 -0.011 0.021

Any business ownership 0.486 0.597 0.574 0.605 0.246 0.014 0.055

Small business 0.476 0.583 0.565 0.589 0.236 0.009 0.042

 single business only 0.471 0.553 0.523 0.550 0.166 -0.005 0.051

 multiple businesses 0.497 0.694 0.760 0.763 0.537 0.101 0.005

Note: Bolded and italicized proportions are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from

the 2007 proportions (reference group).

Proportional Change

Table 3 Probability of Being High Wealth, 1989 to 2004

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 0.033 0.052 0.052 0.060 0.824 0.172 0.158

No business ownership 0.017 0.024 0.029 0.030 0.776 0.230 0.052

Any business ownership 0.144 0.222 0.207 0.254 0.759 0.142 0.226

Small business 0.134 0.210 0.196 0.237 0.763 0.126 0.209

 single business only 0.093 0.165 0.139 0.167 0.795 0.010 0.200

 multiple businesses 0.301 0.373 0.460 0.550 0.827 0.477 0.197

Note: Bolded and italicized proportions are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from

the 1989 proportions (reference group).

(proportions)

Proportional Change

classified high wealth (13.4% versus 1.7%) than households not owning a business; and 

multiple business owners had the highest probability of being classified high income 
21

(49.7%) and high wealth (30.1%) of the small business owners. In 2007, a household 

owning any small business had nearly a 59% chance of being classified high income and 

more than a 23% chance of being classified as high wealth. By 2007 the income gap 

between households with and without small businesses had widened slightly and the 

wealth gap had remained about the same. Small-business-owning households were now 

just over two times more likely to be classified high income (58.9% versus 26.3%) and 

nearly eight times more likely to be classified as high wealth (23.7% versus 3.0%).

Multiple business owners still appeared to be the most prosperous small business group,

with over three-fourths of them high income and over one-half classified as high wealth.

From 1998 to 2007 the likelihood of being high income and high wealth increased 

for all groups. More recently (from 2004 to 2007), households owning a small business 

have done much better than other households. Households owning a small business 

realized a 4.2% increase in the likelihood of being high income and more than 20% 

increase in the likelihood of being high wealth, while households with no business 

ownership realized increases of 2.1% and 5.2% in the likelihood being high income and

high wealth, respectively. Given this relatively positive increase in the likelihood of being

a high income earner or high wealth holder one would expect the percentage of smallbusiness-owning households to increase. Interestingly, the percentage of households with 

small businesses increased slightly from 11.7% of all households in 1998 (about 12 

million small businesses and 102.5 million households) to nearly 12.4% of all households 

in 2007 (14.3 million small businesses and 116.1 million households). 

Table 4 compares mean household income for all households and those owning at 

least one business. Real mean income was significantly higher in 2007 than in 1998 for 
22

Table 4 Mean Income, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 67,718 81,064 77,299 84,399 0.246 0.041 0.092

No business ownership 56,045 64,199 62,301 64,207 0.146 0.000 0.031

Any business ownership 147,708 187,157 175,649 212,947 0.442 0.138 0.212

Small business 139,284 168,373 157,842 185,350 0.331 0.101 0.174

 single business only 109,812 142,074 125,622 143,736 0.309 0.012 0.144

 multiple businesses 257,817 262,432 306,732 371,180 0.440 0.414 0.210

Note: Bolded and italicized means are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from the 2007 means

(reference group).

Proportional Changes

(2007 dollars)

all household types, increasing by nearly 25% from $67,718 in 1998 to $84,399 in 2007. 

Households not owning a business realized a real mean income increase of 14.6% from 

1998 to 2007. Small business real mean income increased from $139,284 to $185,350 

(33.1%). Real mean income for small businesses owning just one business increased from 

$109,812 in 1998 to $143,736 in 2007 (30.9%), even though it had fluctuated 

substantially over this period of time. Multiple-business-owning households realized an 

increase of over 40% in real mean income from 1998 to 2007. Median income results are 

similar to the mean income results, although median income increased by a much lower 

percentage than mean income for non-business owners (6.2%) and a much higher 

percentage than mean income for multiple business owners (97.1%). Refer to Table 4.1 

for other median income results (See Appendix A).

The wealth story is very similar (Table 5). Real mean wealth increased by over 

56% for all households from 1998 to 2007. Households not owning a business realized a 

real mean wealth increase of just under 40%. Households owning a small business 

realized a substantial increase in wealth from $1,167,271 to $1,906,807 (63.4%). 
23

Table 5 Mean Wealth, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 356,310 467,234 483,604 557,592 0.565 0.193 0.153

No business ownership 219,341 274,485 287,857 306,783 0.399 0.118 0.066

Any business ownership 1,294,922 1,679,758 1,767,183 2,154,334 0.664 0.283 0.219

Small business 1,167,271 1,529,587 1,604,712 1,906,807 0.634 0.247 0.188

 single business only 783,066 1,092,480 1,036,995 1,168,055 0.492 0.069 0.126

 multiple businesses 2,712,511 3,092,892 4,228,141 5,205,702 0.919 0.683 0.231

Note: Bolded and italicized means are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from the 2007 means

(reference group).

Proportional Changes

(2007 dollars)

Households with just one business realized a significantly more modest increase (49.2%), 

while households with more than one business realized substantially higher increases in 

real mean wealth (91.9%) than other small business owners. Median wealth results are 

similar to the mean wealth results, although median wealth increased by a much lower 

percentage than mean wealth for non-business owners (19.6%) and a much higher 

percentage than mean wealth for multiple business owners (214%). Please refer to Table 

5.1 for other median income results (See Appendix B).

Aggregate household income increased by just over 42% for all respondents 

between 1998 and 2007 (Table 6). The unit of observation is all families belonging to a 

specific group in each time period. Aggregate income may increase over time either 

because the group has become larger or because group members have earned more 

income. Families with small business ownership realized a much higher percentage 

change in aggregate income than families without any business ownership (58.8% versus 

28%). Households owning multiple businesses realized the largest increase in aggregate 
24

Table 6 Aggregate Income for All Households, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

(x 1 t.) (x 1 t.) (x 1 t.) (x 1 t.)

All respondents 6.9 8.6 8.7 9.8 0.420 0.140 0.126

No business ownership 5.0 5.9 6.1 6.4 0.280 0.085 0.049

Any business ownership 1.9 2.7 2.6 3.4 0.789 0.259 0.308

Small business 1.7 2.2 2.2 2.7 0.588 0.227 0.227

 single business only 1.1 1.5 1.4 1.7 0.545 0.133 0.214

 multiple businesses 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.0 0.667 0.250 0.250

Changes

(2007 dollars)

income (nearly 67%) of any households owning small businesses, while households 

owning only one business realized a smaller increase in aggregate income (54.5%).

Families with no business ownership realized smaller percentage changes in 

aggregate wealth than families with some small business ownership (Table 7). Small 

business owners nearly doubled their aggregate wealth from 1998 to 2007 from $14.0 

trillion in 1998 to $27.3 trillion in 2007. Households owning just one small business 

realized an increase in aggregate wealth of over 82%, while those households owning 

more than one small business realized an increase in aggregate wealth of over 110%.

Multiple business owners are a critical part of the small business economic 

engine. In 1998 these multiple business households constituted about 20% of all smallbusiness-owning households; however, they earned over 35% of total household income

and held over 46% of the wealth of small business owners. In 2007, they constituted

about 18% of all small-business-owning households; however, they now earned 37% of 

total household income and held over 50% of the wealth of small-business-owning 
25

Table 7 Aggregate Wealth for All Households, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

(x 1 t.) (x 1 t.) (x 1 t.) (x 1 t.)

All respondents 36.5 49.8 54.2 64.7 0.773 0.299 0.194

No business ownership 19.6 25.2 28.0 30.8 0.571 0.222 0.100

Any business ownership 16.9 24.5 26.2 34.0 1.012 0.388 0.298

Small business 14.0 20.2 22.1 27.3 0.950 0.351 0.235

 single business only 7.5 11.3 11.7 13.7 0.827 0.212 0.171

 multiple businesses 6.5 8.9 10.3 13.7 1.108 0.539 0.330

Changes

(2007 dollars)

households. It appears that households owning multiple small businesses are becoming 

more significant contributors to aggregate household income and wealth.

Multivariate Analysis

Tables 8, 9 and 10 examine the determinants of high income and high wealth for all 

households from 1998 to 2007, 2001 to 2007 and 2004 to 2007, respectively. The six 

models reported in these tables examine how households owning and managing small 

businesses fared in relation to other households from 1998 to 2007. Households owning 

small businesses have a higher probability of being high income and high wealth; a 

higher probability of being in the top 50% of income and wealth; and have higher log 

income and log wealth than other households (Table 8). In general, households have a 

higher probability of being high income and high wealth; have a lower probability of 

being in the top 50% of income and wealth; and have higher log income in 2007 than 

1998. The interaction term was nearly statistically significant in just the high income 
26

Table 8 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 1998 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.4823 0.0001 -8.8639 0.0001 -0.1998 0.0797 -4.8245 0.0001 10.2250 0.0001 5.2556 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.2915 0.0116 1.5252 0.0001 0.4061 0.0016 1.3991 0.0001 0.1571 0.0067 1.2159 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 0.2468 0.0002 0.5880 0.0001 -0.1591 0.0059 -0.2432 0.0002 0.2021 0.0001 0.0849 0.1820

Interaction: small business and 1998 0.3088 0.0543 0.2349 0.3396 0.2401 0.1809 0.0508 0.8129 -0.0236 0.7606 0.0437 0.8109

Age of owner manager -0.0145 0.0001 0.0415 0.0001 -0.0226 0.0001 0.0566 0.0001 -0.0047 0.0001 0.0479 0.0001

Gender - man 0.8545 0.0001 0.7792 0.0010 0.9393 0.0001 0.4933 0.0001 0.3532 0.0001 0.6607 0.0001

Race - minority -0.2665 0.0008 -0.6368 0.0030 -0.2325 0.0005 -0.3856 0.0001 -0.1872 0.0001 -0.4086 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.3248 0.0001 -2.0574 0.0001 -2.1554 0.0001 -1.5662 0.0001 -0.8971 0.0001 -1.1975 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.4881 0.0001 -1.8023 0.0001 -1.2911 0.0001 -1.0151 0.0001 -0.5396 0.0001 -0.3802 0.0001

Education - some college -0.8646 0.0001 -1.2767 0.0001 -0.8476 0.0001 -0.6798 0.0001 -0.4001 0.0001 -0.5183 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.1338 0.0001 0.0879 0.6064 0.8270 0.0001 0.2807 0.0008 0.4175 0.0001 0.2186 0.0062

Owns Stocks 0.7961 0.0001 1.3654 0.0001 0.8215 0.0001 1.2522 0.0001 0.3372 0.0001 1.0769 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.8253 0.0001 2.6633 0.0001 1.5846 0.0001 2.9262 0.0001 0.5798 0.0001 3.6049 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.3288 0.3512 0.3160 0.4547 0.2791 0.4699

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 1998 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
27

probability equation. The positive coefficient on the interaction term indicates that 

households owning small businesses in 2007 had a higher probability of being high 

income than other households in 1998 and 2007. In other words, households owning 

small businesses appear to have fared better than other households in increasing their 

probability of being high income over this period of time. The other income and wealth 

regressions would suggest that households owning small businesses in 2007 fared about 

the same as other households from 1998 to 2007. In general, it appears that households 

owning small businesses increased their income and wealth at the about the same rate as 

other households. 

A similar analysis using the data from 2001 to 2007 does not support all the 

results found in 1998 to 2007 (Table 9). Households owning small businesses have a 

higher probability of being high income and high wealth, a higher probability of being in 

the highest 50% of income and wealth categories, and higher log income and wealth than 

other households. However, households only have a higher probability of being high 

wealth in 2007 than in 2001. The interaction term is not statistically significant in any of 

these regressions. Therefore, these income and wealth regressions suggest that 

households owning small businesses in 2007 fared about the same as other households 

from 2001 to 2007.

A similar analysis using the data from 2004 to 2007 generally supports the results 

found in 2001 to 2007 (Table 10). Households owning small businesses have a higher 

probability of being high income and high wealth, a higher probability of being in the 

highest 50% of income and wealth categories, and higher log income and wealth than 

other households. Households have a higher probability of being high income and wealth 
28

Table 9 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 2001 - 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.0631 0.0001 -8.2564 0.0001 -0.3999 0.0006 -4.8031 0.0001 10.4280 0.0001 5.5671 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.5174 0.0001 1.9317 0.0001 0.3350 0.0071 1.8451 0.0001 0.2717 0.0001 1.2704 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 0.0248 0.6968 0.3714 0.0083 -0.0293 0.6147 -0.0883 0.1758 0.0379 0.0838 -0.0508 0.4095

Interaction: small business and 1998 0.0843 0.5940 -0.1318 0.5507 0.2964 0.0940 -0.4043 0.0718 -0.1142 0.0662 -0.0489 0.7794

Age of owner manager -0.0192 0.0001 0.0462 0.0001 -0.0236 0.0001 0.0539 0.0001 -0.0058 0.0001 0.0470 0.0001

Gender - man 0.8689 0.0001 0.4387 0.0551 0.9811 0.0001 0.3498 0.0002 0.2988 0.0001 0.5946 0.0001

Race - minority -0.2235 0.0034 -0.7752 0.0002 -0.1643 0.0144 -0.4051 0.0001 -0.1187 0.0001 -0.5087 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.0861 0.0001 -2.1018 0.0001 -2.2759 0.0001 -1.6886 0.0001 -0.8355 0.0001 -1.4242 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.4426 0.0001 -1.8630 0.0001 -1.2875 0.0001 -1.0324 0.0001 -0.5011 0.0001 -0.4984 0.0001

Education - some college -0.8302 0.0001 -1.2142 0.0001 -0.7871 0.0001 -0.6880 0.0001 -0.3315 0.0001 -0.5391 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.0639 0.0001 0.3530 0.0361 0.8686 0.0001 0.3494 0.0001 0.3993 0.0001 0.3630 0.0001

Owns Stocks 0.8065 0.0001 1.3991 0.0001 0.7722 0.0001 1.2486 0.0001 0.3631 0.0001 0.9477 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.8557 0.0001 2.0747 0.0001 1.6666 0.0001 2.9906 0.0001 0.5949 0.0001 3.5630 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.3323 0.3606 0.3322 0.4639 0.3517 0.4874

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 2001 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
29

Table 10 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 2004 - 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.5226 0.0001 -9.0667 0.0001 -0.4939 0.0001 -5.5596 0.0001 10.3191 0.0001 5.1054 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.6840 0.0001 1.7685 0.0001 0.4466 0.0004 1.7418 0.0001 0.2334 0.0001 1.3210 0.0001

Year dummy, 2004 0.1448 0.0245 0.2969 0.0284 -0.0474 0.4157 0.0166 0.8001 0.0419 0.0582 0.0243 0.6860

Interaction: small business and 2004 -0.0910 0.5711 0.0083 0.9700 0.1709 0.3390 -0.2688 0.2209 -0.0758 0.2286 -0.0826 0.6296

Age of owner manager -0.0144 0.0001 0.0445 0.0001 -0.0211 0.0001 0.0574 0.0001 -0.0041 0.0001 0.0469 0.0001

Gender - man 1.0205 0.0001 0.6331 0.0040 0.8705 0.0001 0.5566 0.0001 0.3048 0.0001 0.8426 0.0001

Race - minority -0.1700 0.0251 -0.6622 0.0008 -0.1242 0.0601 -0.2146 0.0042 -0.0982 0.0001 -0.3157 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.4194 0.0001 -1.7239 0.0001 -2.3321 0.0001 -1.6239 0.0001 -0.8083 0.0001 -1.0926 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.5621 0.0001 -1.9781 0.0001 -1.3537 0.0001 -0.9386 0.0001 -0.5070 0.0001 -0.2786 0.0001

Education - some college -0.9292 0.0001 -1.1525 0.0001 -0.8399 0.0001 -0.7447 0.0001 -0.3714 0.0001 -0.4883 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.1127 0.0001 0.2901 0.0658 1.0729 0.0001 0.2705 0.0011 0.4465 0.0001 0.1119 0.1345

Owns Stocks 0.8165 0.0001 1.3470 0.0001 0.8835 0.0001 1.3288 0.0001 0.3301 0.0001 1.0353 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.8547 0.0001 2.9690 0.0001 1.6396 0.0001 3.3229 0.0001 0.5840 0.0001 3.7887 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.3483 0.3585 0.3424 0.4770 0.3396 0.4958

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 2004 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
30

in 2007 than in 2004. Once again, the interaction term is not statistically significant in 

any of these regressions. Therefore, these income and wealth regressions suggest that 

households owning small businesses in 2007 fared about the same as other households 

from 2004 to 2007.

The control variables were quite interesting in this regression analysis. High 

income households are headed by younger people, while higher wealth households are 

headed by older people. Higher income households are more likely to be headed by men, 

the owners are well educated and they are married. In addition, high income and high 

wealth households are more likely to own public stock and real estate. 

Tables 11, 12 and 13 utilize information on households with small business owners to 

assess how multiple and single business owners fared from 1998 to 2007, 2001 to 2007 

and 2004 to 2007, respectively. Households owning multiple businesses had a higher 

probability of being high wealth, a higher probability of being in the highest 50% wealth 

bracket and higher log income and wealth than other households owning small businesses 

(Table 11). Households owning small businesses had a higher probability of being high 

income and high wealth than other households in 2007 than in 1998. These households 

owning multiple businesses held more wealth than other small businesses. 

The interaction term was insignificant in all cases, except the log wealth equation. 

In the log wealth equation, the positive coefficient on the interaction term indicates that 

households owning multiple small businesses in 2007 had a higher probability of being 

high wealth than other households owning just one small business in 1998 and 2007. In 

other words, households owning multiple small businesses appear to have fared better 

than other households owning just one small business in increasing their wealth over this
31

Table 11 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 1998 - 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -1.6475 0.0045 -6.6128 0.0001 0.0561 0.9338 -2.0452 0.0217 9.9165 0.0001 9.4500 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses -0.0703 0.7923 1.3115 0.0002 0.5055 0.1306 1.1652 0.0124 0.2718 0.0313 0.7141 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 0.3914 0.0144 0.7840 0.0018 0.0600 0.7433 -0.2169 0.3193 0.1429 0.0633 0.1396 0.1317

Interaction: multiple owner and 1998 0.6833 0.0753 0.5613 0.2190 0.0634 0.8992 0.1321 0.8418 0.0986 0.5701 0.4452 0.0333

Owner Charateristics

Age of owner manager -0.0111 0.1176 0.0226 0.0206 -0.0196 0.0151 0.0590 0.0001 -0.0033 0.3168 0.0333 0.0001

Gender - man 0.2830 0.3507 1.4517 0.0093 1.0433 0.0007 0.7090 0.0529 0.3827 0.0071 0.4042 0.0182

Race - minority -0.0043 0.9839 -0.7469 0.0634 -0.1461 0.5401 -0.1886 0.4671 -0.1526 0.1372 -0.0884 0.4744

Education - no high school diploma -1.4361 0.0001 -1.2473 0.0594 -1.1097 0.0004 -0.2301 0.5565 -0.4138 0.0054 -0.3588 0.0448

Education - high school diploma -1.0457 0.0001 -1.0963 0.0003 -0.9179 0.0001 -0.2902 0.2654 -0.4316 0.0001 -0.2798 0.0105

Education - some college -0.8228 0.0001 -1.1112 0.0003 -0.6721 0.0036 -0.6759 0.0122 -0.3919 0.0001 -0.3309 0.0033

Marital status - married 0.8575 0.0001 -0.2283 0.4254 0.3562 0.1081 0.0784 0.7603 0.1877 0.0462 0.1624 0.1516

Owns Stocks 0.2464 0.1369 0.6308 0.0023 0.5638 0.0113 1.2287 0.0001 0.1338 0.0906 0.7616 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.1563 0.0001 2.4172 0.0016 1.1055 0.0001 2.3589 0.0001 0.6507 0.0001 2.1062 0.0001

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0239 0.0064 0.0452 0.0001 0.0154 0.1257 0.0272 0.0570 0.0118 0.0038 0.0232 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0196 0.5712 0.1092 0.1237 0.0117 0.8074 0.0169 0.8594 0.0005 0.5491 0.0012 0.2481

Organization, partnership -0.6934 0.0137 -0.4737 0.1542 -0.6919 0.0843 -0.9013 0.0818 -0.4209 0.0013 -0.6520 0.0001

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.6249 0.0163 -1.1645 0.0002 -0.7293 0.0557 -1.0722 0.0300 -0.3618 0.0028 -0.7253 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporation 0.3095 0.3215 -0.2087 0.5322 0.5952 0.2264 0.0894 0.8796 0.2057 0.1380 -0.0383 0.8182

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.8416 0.0037 0.4343 0.3353 0.5271 0.0695 -0.0433 0.9167 0.9293 0.0001 -0.2982 0.0648

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.6643 0.0305 -0.0050 0.9919 0.5883 0.0661 -0.9666 0.0256 0.9714 0.0001 -0.5382 0.0020

Industry, services and other 1.2450 0.0001 0.8274 0.0468 1.2134 0.0001 -0.2546 0.5227 1.1810 0.0001 -0.1803 0.2358

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.2494 0.4235 -0.4237 0.2794 0.1771 0.6288 -0.0698 0.8890 -0.3859 0.0068 0.0282 0.8693

Founding status, started -0.2398 0.4042 -0.7530 0.0346 -0.1524 0.6543 -0.9490 0.0362 -0.4458 0.0007 -0.6456 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.1890 0.3462 0.1855 0.3502 0.1494 0.3720

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 1998 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
32

period of time. The main effect term for the year dummy 1998 was significant at the 13% 

level of significance. Therefore, this result should be viewed with caution.

Similar results were found in analyzing the 2001 to 2007 information (Table 12). 

These households owning multiple small businesses had more wealth than households 

owning just one small business. Households owning small businesses had a lower 

probability of being in the highest 50% wealth bracket and had lower wealth in 2007 than 

in 2001. The interaction term was significant in the log wealth equation suggesting that 

households owning multiple small businesses appear to have fared better than other 

households owning just one small business in increasing their wealth over this period of 

time.

Similar results were found in analyzing the 2004 to 2007 information (Table 13).

Households owning multiple small businesses were more likely to be high wealth, to be 

in the highest 50% wealth bracket and to have more wealth than households owning just 

one small business. Households owning small businesses had somewhat lower mean log 

income and wealth in 2007 than in 2004. The interaction term is not statistically 

significant in any of these regressions. Therefore, these income and wealth regressions

suggest that households owning multiple small businesses in 2007 fared about the same 

as households owning just one small business from 2004 to 2007. Equity (fairness) 

considerations are important in assessing any subset of households. Over 47% of all 

income earned by households was earned by those in the top 10 %, while over 53% of all 

income earned by households owning a small business was earned by those in the top 
33

Table 12 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 2001 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -0.9118 0.1117 -5.4725 0.0001 0.5682 0.3820 -0.8844 0.3277 10.3998 0.0001 9.8827 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses -0.0232 0.9283 0.5311 0.0594 -0.0937 0.7560 -0.0272 0.9511 0.1242 0.2237 0.3626 0.0063

Year dummy, 2001 0.0123 0.9393 -0.1124 0.6058 0.2078 0.2511 -0.5000 0.0314 -0.1302 0.0471 -0.2071 0.0151

Interaction: multiple owner and 2001 0.6047 0.1115 1.3307 0.0013 0.5479 0.2474 1.2708 0.0504 0.2210 0.1245 0.7720 0.0001

Owner Characteristics

Age of owner manager -0.0103 0.1411 0.0339 0.0002 -0.0175 0.0258 0.0460 0.0001 -0.0063 0.0242 0.0386 0.0001

Gender - man -0.0474 0.8742 1.1805 0.0136 0.3215 0.2856 0.5191 0.1788 0.2070 0.0901 0.1866 0.2399

Race - minority 0.0868 0.6865 -0.5703 0.1195 0.0415 0.8643 -0.5126 0.0439 -0.1839 0.0363 -0.1339 0.2408

Education - no high school diploma -1.0497 0.0007 -1.8187 0.0028 -1.0151 0.0012 -0.0277 0.9487 -0.1610 0.2035 -0.1695 0.3031

Education - high school diploma -1.2393 0.0001 -1.4166 0.0001 -1.1730 0.0001 -0.4054 0.1251 -0.4422 0.0001 -0.4227 0.0001

Education - some college -0.6972 0.0005 -1.2259 0.0001 -0.6897 0.0034 -0.5602 0.0502 -0.2401 0.0036 -0.3592 0.0008

Marital status - married 0.9859 0.0001 -0.1936 0.4884 0.8035 0.0002 0.2415 0.3774 0.3259 0.0001 0.4265 0.0001

Owns Stocks 0.5951 0.0003 1.1147 0.0001 0.6263 0.0032 0.9863 0.0008 0.3026 0.0001 0.7516 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.4898 0.0001 1.6983 0.0015 1.3790 0.0001 2.4580 0.0001 0.7648 0.0001 1.8279 0.0001

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0207 0.0162 0.0395 0.0002 0.0134 0.1654 0.0355 0.0143 0.0134 0.0001 0.0196 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0176 0.6315 0.1317 0.1063 0.0423 0.6297 0.0110 0.8569 0.0027 0.1742 0.0026 0.3187

Organization, partnership -0.7683 0.0108 -0.2794 0.3644 -0.7227 0.0553 -1.3610 0.0165 -0.1737 0.1225 -0.5857 0.0001

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.9407 0.0008 -1.0917 0.0002 -0.7452 0.0340 -1.5065 0.0054 -0.3391 0.0011 -0.8343 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporation 0.4034 0.2290 0.0941 0.7605 0.1481 0.7272 0.0266 0.9676 0.2032 0.0817 0.1960 0.1965

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.3840 0.1483 0.5961 0.1413 0.1705 0.5358 -0.2109 0.6095 0.4554 0.0001 -0.2083 0.1462

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.3983 0.1722 0.3046 0.4770 0.9911 0.0036 -1.0028 0.0229 0.7477 0.0001 -0.5319 0.0007

Industry, services and other 0.7134 0.0037 0.6115 0.0966 0.7927 0.0024 -0.3673 0.3478 0.7307 0.0001 -0.3576 0.0068

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.1360 0.6787 -0.4121 0.2773 -0.2928 0.4542 0.2534 0.6331 -0.3840 0.0022 0.1144 0.4832

Founding status, started -0.1575 0.5965 -0.8853 0.0112 -0.4320 0.2312 -0.7239 0.1229 -0.3232 0.0045 -0.5987 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.2093 0.3279 0.1954 0.3498 0.1803 0.3850

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 2001 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
34

Table 13 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 2004 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -1.9361 0.0013 -6.3077 0.0001 -0.4991 0.4397 -2.3632 0.0102 10.2616 0.0001 9.3716 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses 0.4849 0.1163 1.2401 0.0001 -0.2111 0.5374 1.4165 0.0175 0.0674 0.5520 0.8022 0.0001

Year dummy, 2007 -0.0097 0.9521 0.0961 0.6638 0.0542 0.7630 -0.3236 0.1351 -0.1244 0.0592 -0.1630 0.0555

Interaction: multiple owner and 2007 0.1092 0.7945 0.6823 0.1165 0.7419 0.1396 -0.0583 0.9395 0.2976 0.0539 0.3508 0.0785

Owner Characteristics

Age of owner manager -0.0095 0.1773 0.0298 0.0012 -0.0214 0.0055 0.0624 0.0001 -0.0060 0.0314 0.0438 0.0001

Gender - man 0.7133 0.0207 1.7371 0.0020 0.9053 0.0018 1.1208 0.0018 0.3972 0.0011 0.3516 0.0253

Race - minority -0.2750 0.1868 -0.7125 0.0469 -0.5291 0.0160 -0.2646 0.2909 -0.2480 0.0037 -0.0629 0.5686

Education - no high school diploma -1.3511 0.0001 -1.5888 0.0181 -1.0526 0.0011 -0.1723 0.6697 -0.3794 0.0052 -0.0221 0.8996

Education - high school diploma -1.2635 0.0001 -1.4669 0.0001 -0.6265 0.0026 0.1157 0.6648 -0.3857 0.0001 -0.2700 0.0068

Education - some college -0.7147 0.0005 -1.1444 0.0001 -0.4759 0.0441 -0.6270 0.0233 -0.4109 0.0001 -0.3677 0.0008

Marital status - married 1.0248 0.0001 -0.0953 0.7316 0.9481 0.0001 0.0715 0.7846 0.3457 0.0001 0.3685 0.0005

Owns Stocks 0.1106 0.5220 0.5743 0.0030 0.5603 0.0100 1.1332 0.0002 0.0879 0.2007 0.5445 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.3898 0.0001 2.4033 0.0006 1.1685 0.0001 2.5928 0.0001 0.6441 0.0001 2.0216 0.0001

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0230 0.0106 0.0430 0.0001 0.0149 0.1319 0.0166 0.2394 0.0163 0.0001 0.0199 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0111 0.7206 0.1691 0.1026 0.0475 0.6787 0.0121 0.9087 0.0029 0.1640 0.0027 0.3093

Organization, partnership -0.2680 0.3635 -0.4976 0.1278 -0.3008 0.4166 -1.1089 0.0760 -0.1462 0.2117 -0.4560 0.0026

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.6563 0.0173 -1.1436 0.0003 -0.5170 0.1410 -1.6653 0.0058 -0.2942 0.0081 -0.8465 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporation 0.8746 0.0113 0.4123 0.2157 1.0216 0.0320 -0.0120 0.9867 0.1899 0.1282 0.2105 0.1918

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.4086 0.1552 0.3645 0.4049 0.0438 0.8821 0.0977 0.8014 0.4561 0.0001 -0.4255 0.0053

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.8100 0.0079 -0.0822 0.8585 0.5769 0.0762 -0.4195 0.3093 0.7037 0.0001 -0.5160 0.0014

Industry, services and other 1.3206 0.0001 0.6944 0.0878 0.8771 0.0023 0.2960 0.4365 0.9226 0.0001 -0.3258 0.0245

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.1081 0.7462 -0.4384 0.2521 0.3025 0.4014 -0.1891 0.7160 -0.3991 0.0018 -0.0346 0.8344

Founding status, started -0.3163 0.2942 -1.1610 0.0007 0.2390 0.4669 -1.2071 0.0096 -0.3415 0.0030 -0.6437 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.2523 0.3685 0.2202 0.3788 0.1733 0.3962

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 2004 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
35

10% (Table 14). The concentration of income in the top 10% bracket increased from 

41.1% in 1998 to 47.1% in 2007 (a 14.5% increase) for all households, while the 

concentration of income in the top 10% bracket increased from 49.7% to 53.3% (a 7.3% 

increase) for households owning small businesses.

The wealth story is somewhat different (Table 15). The concentration of wealth in

the top 10% of households increased from 67.3% to 71.5% (a 6.3% increase), while the 

concentration of wealth in the top 10% of households owning small businesses declined 

from 66.3% to 64.8% (a 2.3% decrease). This suggests that firms in the lower wealth 

quintiles, especially in the 90th quintile, realized more wealth accumulation than firms in 

the top quintile.

In order to explore the influence of debt held in mortgages and other debt secured 

by residential real estate, two additional control variables were added to the analyses in 

Tables 8 through Table 13: the log of debt in mortgages secured by residential real estate 

and log of debt held in other debt secured by residential real estate. Even though variables 

were statistically significant factors in predicting income and wealth, the addition of these 

variables did not change the most important results. See Appendix C for Tables 8.1 

through Table 13.1.

Conclusions

This study is primarily concerned with changes in income and wealth of families owning 

and not owning small businesses from the late 1990s to 2007. Who were the winners and 

losers? This study utilizes cross-section data to assess changes in income and wealth of 

all households and families owning different types of businesses from 1998 to 2007.
36

Table 14 Income Deciles for All Households and Small Business Owner/Manager Households

Decile 1998 2001 2004 2007 1998 2001 2004 2007

10% 0.0086 0.0094 0.0098 0.0099 0.0107 0.0117 0.0104 0.0091

20% 0.0209 0.0196 0.0211 0.0193 0.0235 0.0205 0.0200 0.0205

30% 0.0321 0.0298 0.0319 0.0289 0.0325 0.0278 0.0305 0.0291

40% 0.0443 0.0401 0.0424 0.0380 0.0374 0.0371 0.0377 0.0353

50% 0.0566 0.0517 0.0549 0.0490 0.0461 0.0493 0.0471 0.0430

60% 0.0719 0.0657 0.0688 0.0630 0.0591 0.0582 0.0583 0.0520

70% 0.0902 0.0834 0.0863 0.0800 0.0705 0.0721 0.0727 0.0620

80% 0.1135 0.1061 0.1099 0.1020 0.0873 0.0909 0.0969 0.0850

90% 0.1507 0.1429 0.1509 0.1390 0.1363 0.1424 0.1418 0.1310

100% 0.4112 0.4513 0.4240 0.4710 0.4966 0.4900 0.4846 0.5330

All Households Small Business Owner Manager Households

Table 15 Net Worth Deciles for All Households and Small Business Owner/Manager Households

Decile 1998 2001 2004 2007 1998 2001 2004 2007

10% 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0015 0.0028 0.0015 0.0011

20% 0.0007 0.0007 0.0007 0.0006 0.0058 0.0070 0.0052 0.0049

30% 0.0036 0.0036 0.0031 0.0027 0.0106 0.0122 0.0098 0.0093

40% 0.0102 0.0090 0.0083 0.0079 0.0170 0.0190 0.0164 0.0139

50% 0.0201 0.0173 0.0163 0.0163 0.0249 0.0277 0.0232 0.0196

60% 0.0329 0.0285 0.0277 0.0279 0.0343 0.0367 0.0354 0.0317

70% 0.0502 0.0460 0.0440 0.0439 0.0498 0.0502 0.0478 0.0465

80% 0.0782 0.0755 0.0731 0.0670 0.0718 0.0800 0.0725 0.0764

90% 0.1312 0.1309 0.1343 0.1185 0.1218 0.1456 0.1396 0.1489

100% 0.6729 0.6885 0.6925 0.7152 0.6625 0.6188 0.6486 0.6477

All Households Small Business Owner Manager Households
37

While panel data would be preferred, the unit of observation is all families belonging to 

a specific group in each time period. Clearly, the economic pie increased in size during 

this period of time for households owning small businesses. However, the most important 

questions are the following: Did households owning small businesses make more 

financial gains in terms of changes in income and wealth than households not owning a 

business; and did households owning multiple small businesses make more financial 

gains than households owning just one small business?

Another study completed by Haynes and Ou (2006) suggests that households 

owning small businesses, especially those owning only one small business, appear to 

have made smaller contributions to total wealth in 2001 than in the early 1990s. This 

evidence suggested that households owning only one small business seemed to be losing 

the race. They were making progress in increasing income and wealth, but they were 

making less progress than households not owning small businesses.

This study suggests that the story changed significantly from the late 1990s 

through 2007. Households with and without small businesses have made very similar 

progress in increasing their income and wealth during a time of robust business activity.

Households owning multiple small businesses appear to have accumulated wealth at 

somewhat faster rates than households owning just one small business. This result would 

suggest that the financial success of small business owners in one business is often 

leveraged into financial success in other business ventures. If public policy is targeting 

growth in gross domestic product, households owning multiple small businesses appear 

to have the most potential to grow the economy.
38

The proportion of households owning and managing at least one small business 

has been remarkably static over a relatively long period of time, with about 12% of 

households owning and managing a small business. From 1998 to 2007 the growth in the 

number of small businesses (19.4%) outpaced the growth in the number of households 

(13.2%). The largest share of growth occurred in households owning and managing one 

business, even though the high income and wealth growth was realized by households 

owning and managing two or more small businesses. With the relatively good financial 

success of households owning small businesses over the past decade, why haven’t more 

small businesses been started or expanded? The period of rapid economic expansion may 

have been a difficult time to start and nurture a new business and grow an existing small 

business venture for several reasons:

(1) Labor costs increased. The unemployment rate remained around 4% 

starting in 1998, with some movement upward to over 6% in early 2003, 

and a fall back to the 4% to 4.5% range in 2006; hence, the labor supply

was tight for most of the decade (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). In this 

type of labor market, small business owners faced higher wages. In 

addition, small business owners may have faced substantial challenges 

finding and retaining high quality employees.

(2) The opportunity cost of capital increased. Financial capital remained 

relatively expensive to borrow from 1998 through 2006, with rates ranging 

from 9.5% in 2000 to 4% in 2003 and 2004. While financial capital 

became less expensive to borrow from 2000 through 2004, rates steadily 

increased from late 2004 through 2006. Perhaps most important, the value 
39

of the stock market (S&P 500) increased by over 4% annually from early 

1998 through 2006. Investors, particularly family and friends who may 

have been willing to invest in a small business venture, had less risky 

alternatives for their excess cash. In this type of financial market, small 

business owners may have been facing higher costs of financing and 

restricted access, especially for start-up financing.

(3) Other employment opportunities increased the opportunity cost of 

prospective owners. If higher inflation-adjusted net income and wealth are 

the only important criteria considered by the business owner, many of the 

family members owning a business may have been better off working for 

someone else. In a market with relatively low unemployment in a growing 

economy, the opportunity cost of risking one’s family’s financial 

resources in a small business venture increases substantially. 

In the current economy, reeling from the severe disruptions in the financial 

markets, unemployment rates have increased to over 10%, loosening the labor supply; the 

stock market has declined by over 30% since mid-2008 loosening financial capital; and

other investment and employment opportunities for small business owners are much less 

plentiful. Based on this assessment, it must be a good time to start a business because 

good people can be hired and retained, money is available from traditional and 

nontraditional lenders for qualified borrowers and the opportunity cost of starting a 

business has declined. Perhaps it is a good time to start a new business because of the 

cost advantages realized in a recessionary economy. However, astute small business 
40

owners contemplating starting or expanding a business will be most concerned about the 

depth of the recessionary trough, rather than whether financial capital is available.

The results have some rather interesting public policy implications. If households 

owning small businesses are making similar financial progress to households not owning 

a business, then small business ownership may become a less attractive employment 

option because small business ownership is risky. Are additional incentives needed to 

encourage small business ownership?

Recent changes in bankruptcy laws have removed part of the safety net for small 

business borrowers by making it more difficult for those with credit card debt to liquidate 

their assets in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. With the emergence of more line-of-credit and 

credit-card-based lending by large banks to small businesses, this change in the 

bankruptcy law has had a significant impact on the strength of the safety net. Are other 

revisions in the bankruptcy law needed to provide a more secure safety net for small 

business owners (and their wealth)?

What might be done to improve the financial performance of households owning 

a single small business? In general, households owning multiple small businesses 

outperform households owning a single small business for a host of reasons, including 

more experience, education and financial capital. Revising rules to allow more angel and 

venture capital for these small businesses might provide more financial capital. Small 

businesses are essentially relationship borrowers; hence, they may be adversely affected 

by further concentration in commercial banking and less relationship lending at the local 

level. Further work is needed to determine if large banks are interested in servicing small 

businesses.
41

A subset of small business owners, agricultural producers (farmers), are recipients 

of substantial subsidies provided by the 2008 Farm Bill and other legislation. Should

some of these subsidy programs (such as revenue guarantees, price protection and 

production insurance) be extended to small businesses?

Most important, small business owners as a group realized substantial gains in 

real income and wealth from 1998 to 2007, and they ran a very good race with other 

households not owning small businesses. Households owning at least one small business 

realized slightly lower increases in the probability of being high wealth than households 

not owning a small business. This result suggests that investments in small businesses 

realized lower financial returns thant investments in other assets. Even among small 

business owners, it appears that more of the growth in wealth was derived from 

ownership in publicly traded stocks and real estate than from the ownership of small 

businesses. Given these relatively modest differences in the aggregate gains in wealth 

between households with and without small businesses it should be no surprise that the 

number of households owning small businesses has remained quite stable.

Further research utilizing high quality panel data is needed to compare the returns 

on business and other assets and assess the modest gains in income and wealth of smallbusiness-owning households during this time of robust economic growth.
42

References

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Owning Families, American Council on Consumer Interests, March 2000.
44

Appendix A

Table 4.1 Median Income, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 42,601 46,895 47,374 47,305 0.110 0.009 -0.001

No business ownership 38,729 42,085 43,991 41,135 0.062 -0.023 -0.065

Any business ownership 71,002 92,587 84,597 90,496 0.275 -0.023 0.070

Small business 69,712 90,182 84,597 86,383 0.239 -0.042 0.021

 single business only 67,130 86,575 75,573 81,241 0.210 -0.062 0.075

 multiple businesses 73,584 102,207 147,763 145,000 0.971 0.419 -0.019

Note: Bolded and italicized means are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from the 2007 means

(reference group).

Proportional Changes

(2007 dollars)
45

Appendix B

Table 5.1 Median Wealth, 1998 to 2007

Characteristics 1998 2001 2004 2007 98 to 07 01 to 07 04 to 07

All respondents 93,986 102,690 102,085 121,900 0.297 0.187 0.194

No business ownership 76,098 79,825 79,571 91,030 0.196 0.140 0.144

Any business ownership 363,111 494,037 506,317 504,140 0.388 0.020 -0.004

Small business 348,088 475,557 474,918 459,000 0.319 -0.035 -0.034

 single business only 314,986 434,388 363,223 381,400 0.211 -0.122 0.050

 multiple businesses 578,279 977,325 1,327,324 1,816,000 2.140 0.858 0.368

Note: Bolded and italicized means are statistically different at the 0.05 level of significance from the 2007 means

(reference group).

Proportional Changes

(2007 dollars)
46

Appendix C

Table 8.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 1998 - 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.9197 0.0001 -8.7466 0.0001 -0.6487 0.0001 -4.4458 0.0001 10.0890 0.0001 5.2582 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.2442 0.0378 1.5130 0.0001 0.3549 0.0066 1.4113 0.0001 0.1317 0.0224 1.1978 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 0.2062 0.0019 0.6480 0.0001 -0.2215 0.0002 -0.1859 0.0052 0.1883 0.0001 0.0880 0.1671

Interaction: small business and 1998 0.2458 0.1323 0.1425 0.5706 0.1726 0.3440 0.0434 0.8395 -0.0590 0.4440 0.0086 0.9626

Age of owner manager -0.0041 0.0764 0.0400 0.0001 -0.0119 0.0001 0.0496 0.0001 -0.0018 0.0344 0.0479 0.0001

Gender - man 0.8612 0.0001 0.7069 0.0034 0.9558 0.0001 0.4886 0.0001 0.3480 0.0001 0.6478 0.0001

Race - minority -0.2738 0.0006 -0.7280 0.0009 -0.2365 0.0005 -0.3993 0.0001 -0.1889 0.0001 -0.4163 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.2495 0.0001 -1.9698 0.0001 -2.1069 0.0001 -1.6864 0.0001 -0.8672 0.0001 -1.1818 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.4599 0.0001 -1.7416 0.0001 -1.2832 0.0001 -1.0457 0.0001 -0.5155 0.0001 -0.3659 0.0001

Education - some college -0.8705 0.0001 -1.3039 0.0001 -0.8503 0.0001 -0.6937 0.0001 -0.3873 0.0001 -0.5152 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.0903 0.0001 0.1068 0.5396 0.7546 0.0001 0.3861 0.0001 0.3862 0.0001 0.2233 0.0054

Owns Stocks 0.8120 0.0001 1.3568 0.0001 0.8544 0.0001 1.2543 0.0001 0.3286 0.0001 1.0583 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.0828 0.0001 2.6239 0.0001 0.7890 0.0001 3.4944 0.0001 0.3402 0.0001 3.5860 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0740 0.0001 -0.0210 0.0976 0.0916 0.0001 -0.0796 0.0001 0.0286 0.0001 -0.0019 0.7974

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0688 0.0001 0.1196 0.0001 0.0623 0.0001 0.0435 0.0014 0.02952 0.0001 0.04911 0.0001

 residential real estate

McFadden R-squared 0.3432 0.3739 0.3339 0.4639 0.2886 0.4708

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 1998 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
47

Table 9.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 2001 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.4722 0.0001 -8.1516 0.0001 -0.7859 0.0001 -4.4250 0.0001 10.3124 0.0001 5.5759 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.5014 0.0001 1.9775 0.0001 0.3047 0.0153 1.8569 0.0001 0.2558 0.0001 1.2616 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 -0.0210 0.7458 0.4008 0.0051 -0.0719 0.2236 -0.0437 0.5094 0.0273 0.2101 -0.0493 0.4236

Interaction: small business and 1998 -0.0226 0.8884 -0.2817 0.2135 0.2123 0.2365 -0.4277 0.0564 -0.1580 0.0106 -0.1064 0.5425

Age of owner manager -0.0093 0.0001 0.0448 0.0001 -0.0145 0.0001 0.0469 0.0001 -0.0034 0.0001 0.0467 0.0001

Gender - man 0.8844 0.0001 0.3877 0.0956 0.9939 0.0001 0.3593 0.0002 0.2957 0.0001 0.5864 0.0001

Race - minority -0.2524 0.0011 -0.8504 0.0001 -0.1914 0.0048 -0.3951 0.0001 -0.1257 0.0001 -0.5133 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.0228 0.0001 -2.0315 0.0001 -2.2371 0.0001 -1.8112 0.0001 -0.8086 0.0001 -1.4078 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.4165 0.0001 -1.8199 0.0001 -1.2682 0.0001 -1.0628 0.0001 -0.4774 0.0001 -0.4808 0.0001

Education - some college -0.8221 0.0001 -1.2545 0.0001 -0.7778 0.0001 -0.7081 0.0001 -0.3170 0.0001 -0.5349 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.0140 0.0001 0.3614 0.0365 0.8129 0.0001 0.4294 0.0001 0.3720 0.0001 0.3633 0.0001

Owns Stocks 0.8361 0.0001 1.4018 0.0001 0.8200 0.0001 1.2336 0.0001 0.3588 0.0001 0.9274 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.1222 0.0001 2.0563 0.0001 0.9499 0.0001 3.5598 0.0001 0.3864 0.0001 3.5594 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0719 0.0001 -0.0223 0.0566 0.0800 0.0001 -0.0793 0.0001 0.0239 0.0001 -0.0046 0.5197

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0830 0.0001 0.1247 0.0001 0.0613 0.0001 0.0753 0.0001 0.0318 0.0001 0.0626 0.0001

 residential real estate

McFadden R-squared 0.3471 0.3828 0.3459 0.4745 0.3622 0.4888

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 2001 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
48

Table 10.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among All Households, 2004 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.8709 0.0001 -8.8369 0.0001 -0.8444 0.0001 -5.1231 0.0001 10.2061 0.0001 5.1091 0.0001

Small business owner manager 0.6025 0.0001 1.6845 0.0001 0.3435 0.0064 1.7591 0.0001 0.1919 0.0001 1.2680 0.0001

Year dummy, 2004 0.1189 0.0682 0.2760 0.0455 -0.0733 0.2134 0.0178 0.7888 0.0348 0.1132 0.0146 0.8079

Interaction: small business and 2004 -0.1302 0.4234 -0.0123 0.9569 0.1619 0.3688 -0.3051 0.1645 -0.0961 0.1239 -0.1119 0.5132

Age of owner manager -0.0061 0.0057 0.0421 0.0001 -0.0131 0.0001 0.0505 0.0001 -0.0018 0.0092 0.0469 0.0001

Gender - man 1.0409 0.0001 0.5514 0.0140 0.9000 0.0001 0.5194 0.0001 0.3060 0.0001 0.8288 0.0001

Race - minority -0.1974 0.0100 -0.7340 0.0003 -0.1496 0.0250 -0.2148 0.0045 -0.1052 0.0001 -0.3255 0.0001

Education - no high school diploma -2.3266 0.0001 -1.6489 0.0001 -2.2695 0.0001 -1.7472 0.0001 -0.7769 0.0001 -1.0683 0.0001

Education - high school diploma -1.5275 0.0001 -1.9163 0.0001 -1.3288 0.0001 -0.9864 0.0001 -0.4812 0.0001 -0.2557 0.0004

Education - some college -0.9403 0.0001 -1.2083 0.0001 -0.8427 0.0001 -0.7693 0.0001 -0.3598 0.0001 -0.4844 0.0001

Marital status - married 1.0653 0.0001 0.3499 0.0314 1.0129 0.0001 0.3707 0.0001 0.4179 0.0001 0.1134 0.1312

Owns Stocks 0.8365 0.0001 1.3345 0.0001 0.9256 0.0001 1.3034 0.0001 0.3260 0.0001 1.0084 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.2090 0.0001 2.9691 0.0001 0.9979 0.0001 3.8417 0.0001 0.3828 0.0001 3.7581 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0614 0.0001 -0.0292 0.0114 0.0691 0.0001 -0.0726 0.0001 0.0226 0.0001 -0.0012 0.8654

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0860 0.0001 0.1323 0.0001 0.0707 0.0001 0.0828 0.0001 0.0351 0.0001 0.0723 0.0001

 residential real estate

McFadden R-squared 0.3605 0.3856 0.3533 0.4865 0.3502 0.4977

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

All Households, 2004 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
49

Table 11.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 1998 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -1.7433 0.0031 -6.5510 0.0001 -0.1080 0.8742 -1.7255 0.0574 9.8813 0.0001 9.5429 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses -0.0724 0.7861 1.3907 0.0001 0.4327 0.1948 1.2678 0.0062 0.2671 0.0342 0.7287 0.0001

Year dummy, 1998 0.3383 0.0374 0.7881 0.0022 -0.0057 0.9758 -0.1477 0.5068 0.1223 0.1147 0.1408 0.1300

Interaction: multiple owner and 1998 0.6243 0.1077 0.3210 0.4935 0.1338 0.7902 -0.1093 0.8687 0.0664 0.7037 0.3335 0.1112

Owner Charateristics

Age of owner manager -0.0081 0.2672 0.0209 0.0435 -0.0162 0.0492 0.0565 0.0001 -0.0024 0.4892 0.0322 0.0001

Gender - man 0.2749 0.3685 1.3959 0.0135 1.0611 0.0007 0.6925 0.0603 0.3733 0.0086 0.3815 0.0251

Race - minority -0.0469 0.8280 -0.8793 0.0328 -0.1362 0.5722 -0.2761 0.2955 -0.1649 0.1088 -0.1311 0.2877

Education - no high school diploma -1.3276 0.0001 -1.0919 0.1013 -1.0687 0.0006 -0.2037 0.6071 -0.3780 0.0111 -0.3019 0.0907

Education - high school diploma -0.9940 0.0001 -0.9997 0.0012 -0.8889 0.0001 -0.2546 0.3307 -0.4079 0.0001 -0.2480 0.0230

Education - some college -0.8063 0.0001 -1.0801 0.0005 -0.6639 0.0041 -0.6858 0.0114 -0.3794 0.0001 -0.3114 0.0055

Marital status - married 0.8438 0.0001 -0.1789 0.5431 0.3149 0.1573 0.1296 0.6185 0.1805 0.0553 0.1745 0.1224

Owns Stocks 0.2529 0.1316 0.6073 0.0041 0.5847 0.0091 1.2530 0.0001 0.1342 0.0898 0.7447 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 0.7633 0.0052 2.4663 0.0021 0.7570 0.0041 2.9601 0.0001 0.5286 0.0001 2.1421 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0324 0.0578 -0.0210 0.3402 0.0395 0.0412 -0.0750 0.0202 0.0101 0.2030 -0.0125 0.1894

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0684 0.0012 0.1000 0.0001 0.0259 0.3398 0.0736 0.0551 0.0248 0.0052 0.0510 0.0001

 residential real estate

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0250 0.0047 0.0462 0.0001 0.0168 0.0968 0.0247 0.0879 0.0121 0.0031 0.0225 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0185 0.5865 0.1164 0.1332 0.0115 0.8174 0.0127 0.8736 0.0006 0.5149 0.0012 0.2413

Organization, partnership -0.6705 0.0181 -0.4112 0.2247 -0.6602 0.1004 -0.9698 0.0619 -0.4057 0.0019 -0.6408 0.0001

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.5872 0.0258 -1.1995 0.0002 -0.6722 0.0789 -1.1489 0.0208 -0.3432 0.0046 -0.7272 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporatio 0.2978 0.3446 -0.2613 0.4431 0.6124 0.2140 0.0194 0.9738 0.2008 0.1472 -0.0616 0.7109

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.8311 0.0044 0.3616 0.4264 0.5311 0.0677 -0.1366 0.7529 0.9223 0.0001 -0.3151 0.0500

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.7025 0.0229 -0.0079 0.9874 0.6302 0.0499 -1.1247 0.0138 0.9823 0.0001 -0.5443 0.0017

Industry, services and other 1.2340 0.0001 0.8265 0.0476 1.2170 0.0001 -0.3650 0.3846 1.1753 0.0001 -0.1921 0.2044

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.1637 0.6042 -0.4828 0.2291 0.0920 0.8041 -0.0425 0.9325 -0.4142 0.0038 0.0098 0.9545

Founding status, started -0.3048 0.2954 -0.7883 0.0304 -0.2312 0.5032 -0.9446 0.0373 -0.4665 0.0004 -0.6562 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.1993 0.3669 0.1900 0.3619 0.1523 0.3782

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 1998 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
50

Table 12.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 2001 – 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -1.0016 0.0836 -5.3718 0.0001 0.5041 0.4411 -0.7263 0.4259 10.4298 0.0001 9.9320 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses -0.0539 0.8363 0.5137 0.0742 -0.1150 0.7044 -0.0183 0.9670 0.1202 0.2382 0.3539 0.0074

Year dummy, 2001 -0.0837 0.6097 -0.1666 0.4563 0.1315 0.4748 -0.5105 0.0298 -0.1432 0.0303 -0.2366 0.0058

Interaction: multiple owner and 2001 0.5815 0.1317 1.1608 0.0062 0.5293 0.2680 1.1408 0.0798 0.1789 0.2152 0.6894 0.0002

Owner Characteristics

Age of owner manager -0.0055 0.4522 0.0302 0.0015 -0.0142 0.0787 0.0453 0.0001 -0.0066 0.0228 0.0385 0.0001

Gender - man -0.0617 0.8378 1.1880 0.0157 0.3082 0.3085 0.5006 0.1970 0.1967 0.1069 0.1655 0.2953

Race - minority 0.0701 0.7477 -0.7047 0.0595 0.0291 0.9051 -0.5822 0.0239 -0.2013 0.0220 -0.1676 0.1412

Education - no high school diploma -0.9344 0.0025 -1.7572 0.0040 -0.9474 0.0024 -0.0099 0.9820 -0.1393 0.2725 -0.1220 0.4586

Education - high school diploma -1.2255 0.0001 -1.3403 0.0001 -1.1666 0.0001 -0.3578 0.1769 -0.4253 0.0001 -0.3890 0.0001

Education - some college -0.6819 0.0008 -1.2150 0.0001 -0.6808 0.0041 -0.5390 0.0605 -0.2303 0.0052 -0.3393 0.0015

Marital status - married 0.9692 0.0001 -0.1477 0.6096 0.7817 0.0003 0.2371 0.3882 0.3281 0.0001 0.4293 0.0001

Owns Stocks 0.6045 0.0003 1.1160 0.0001 0.6311 0.0031 1.0057 0.0006 0.2991 0.0001 0.7451 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 1.0188 0.0003 1.8869 0.0010 1.0680 0.0001 2.7340 0.0001 0.7642 0.0001 1.8019 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0443 0.0075 -0.0372 0.0617 0.0308 0.0989 -0.0393 0.1970 -0.0034 0.6015 -0.0040 0.6365

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0651 0.0043 0.0993 0.0001 0.0606 0.0460 0.0799 0.0604 0.0241 0.0021 0.0487 0.0001

 residential real estate

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0214 0.0139 0.0385 0.0003 0.0135 0.1646 0.0333 0.0219 0.0130 0.0001 0.0189 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0180 0.6269 0.1484 0.0861 0.0420 0.6277 0.0093 0.8693 0.0028 0.1589 0.0027 0.2828

Organization, partnership -0.7884 0.0093 -0.2387 0.4436 -0.7289 0.0538 -1.3228 0.0197 -0.1692 0.1321 -0.5772 0.0001

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.9349 0.0009 -1.1182 0.0001 -0.7306 0.0380 -1.4814 0.0062 -0.3370 0.0012 -0.8296 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporatio 0.3338 0.3228 0.0085 0.9784 0.0925 0.8280 0.0370 0.9551 0.1825 0.1183 0.1527 0.3133

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.3268 0.2242 0.7095 0.0896 0.1399 0.6137 -0.2473 0.5603 0.4589 0.0001 -0.2044 0.1528

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.3743 0.2042 0.3991 0.3666 0.9905 0.0037 -1.0321 0.0229 0.7555 0.0001 -0.5179 0.0010

Industry, services and other 0.6615 0.0080 0.7476 0.0488 0.7647 0.0036 -0.4126 0.3072 0.7403 0.0001 -0.3417 0.0096

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.0826 0.8030 -0.4474 0.2516 -0.3472 0.3760 0.2126 0.6895 -0.3953 0.0016 0.0905 0.5775

Founding status, started -0.2150 0.4755 -0.9307 0.0095 -0.4838 0.1820 -0.7615 0.1053 -0.3339 0.0033 -0.6210 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.2201 0.3485 0.2014 0.3560 0.1830 0.3906

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 2001 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth
51

Table 13.1 Determinants of Being a High Income and High Wealth Among Small Business Households, 2004 - 2007

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Characteristics Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Constant -2.1083 0.0005 -6.2488 0.0001 -0.6058 0.3529 -2.1149 0.0234 10.2881 0.0001 9.3766 0.0001

Owns/manages multiple businesses 0.5243 0.0940 1.2449 0.0001 -0.1815 0.5985 1.4125 0.0171 0.0617 0.5859 0.7945 0.0001

Year dummy, 2007 -0.0403 0.8036 0.0753 0.7375 0.0458 0.7991 -0.3268 0.1332 -0.1277 0.0526 -0.1748 0.0392

Interaction: multiple owner and 2007 0.0379 0.9290 0.5104 0.2511 0.6991 0.1663 -0.1601 0.8346 0.2626 0.0895 0.2719 0.1717

Owner Characteristics

Age of owner manager -0.0054 0.4561 0.0289 0.0033 -0.0195 0.0125 0.0620 0.0001 -0.0062 0.0308 0.0444 0.0001

Gender - man 0.7247 0.0190 1.6785 0.0030 0.9137 0.0016 1.1228 0.0020 0.3875 0.0014 0.3327 0.0334

Race - minority -0.2804 0.1826 -0.7802 0.0325 -0.5205 0.0185 -0.3386 0.1811 -0.2608 0.0023 -0.0851 0.4392

Education - no high school diploma -1.2262 0.0002 -1.4542 0.0330 -0.9908 0.0022 -0.1942 0.6375 -0.3552 0.0092 0.0487 0.7814

Education - high school diploma -1.2802 0.0001 -1.3730 0.0001 -0.6324 0.0025 0.1265 0.6348 -0.3719 0.0001 -0.2436 0.0144

Education - some college -0.7132 0.0006 -1.1355 0.0001 -0.4808 0.0429 -0.5906 0.0338 -0.3976 0.0001 -0.3414 0.0018

Marital status - married 1.0385 0.0001 -0.0204 0.9431 0.9478 0.0001 0.0580 0.8261 0.3547 0.0001 0.3847 0.0003

Owns Stocks 0.1282 0.4635 0.5579 0.0047 0.5791 0.0083 1.1192 0.0003 0.0818 0.2344 0.5374 0.0001

Owns Real Estate (>$50,000) 0.9406 0.0009 2.3597 0.0011 0.9366 0.0005 2.9458 0.0001 0.6356 0.0001 1.9130 0.0001

Log debt in mortgages secured by 0.0415 0.0188 -0.0109 0.6047 0.0241 0.2212 -0.0443 0.1602 -0.0025 0.7165 0.0044 0.6228

 residential real estate

Log debt in other debt secured by 0.0503 0.0169 0.0904 0.0001 0.0197 0.4333 0.0539 0.1294 0.0217 0.0043 0.0491 0.0001

 residential real estate

Business Characteristics

Business age 0.0240 0.0083 0.0427 0.0001 0.0156 0.1162 0.0123 0.3876 0.0157 0.0001 0.0190 0.0001

Business size, number of employees 0.0102 0.7344 0.1936 0.0749 0.0444 0.6944 0.0101 0.9165 0.0029 0.1534 0.0028 0.2822

Organization, partnership -0.2964 0.3180 -0.5088 0.1250 -0.3171 0.3934 -1.1158 0.0733 -0.1474 0.2075 -0.4651 0.0020

Organization, sole proprietorship -0.6648 0.0164 -1.2002 0.0002 -0.5201 0.1397 -1.6922 0.0049 -0.2984 0.0072 -0.8566 0.0001

Organization, subchapter s corporation 0.7971 0.0219 0.3118 0.3574 0.9870 0.0390 -0.0379 0.9581 0.1637 0.1910 0.1421 0.3776

Industry, construction, manufacturing 0.4021 0.1641 0.3608 0.4149 0.0559 0.8501 0.0171 0.9659 0.4497 0.0001 -0.4343 0.0043

Industry, wholesale, retail 0.8296 0.0067 -0.0849 0.8555 0.5908 0.0689 -0.4957 0.2405 0.7017 0.0001 -0.5139 0.0014

Industry, services and other 1.3123 0.0001 0.7225 0.0791 0.8828 0.0021 0.2188 0.5756 0.9202 0.0001 -0.3306 0.0218

Founding status, bou ght, invested 0.0359 0.9153 -0.4232 0.2807 0.2637 0.4657 -0.2077 0.6910 -0.4036 0.0016 -0.0505 0.7591

Founding status, started -0.3654 0.2322 -1.1865 0.0008 0.2132 0.5175 -1.2583 0.0074 -0.3467 0.0025 -0.6572 0.0001

McFadden R-squared 0.2603 0.3841 0.2218 0.3837 0.1755 0.4023

Logistic Regression

Log Income Log Wealth

Small Business Households Only, 2004 - 2007

Logistic Regression

High Income Proba bility High Wealth Proba bility

Logistic Regression

Highest 50% Income Highest 50% Wealth