Question
In the FRB "Flow of Funds" reports, how are the "sectors" aggregated? (Households, monetary authority, domestic nonfinancial, etc.)
Answer
The quarterly "Flow of Funds" report produced by the U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve consists of numerous tables, which examine transactions from the perspective of sectors or of financial instruments.
The richness of the flow of funds accounts lies, in part, in their detailed presentation of economic sectors and financial instruments. In the accounts, the economy is divided into thirty sectors ... for purposes of analysis, the sectors can be combined into broader groups ... The combined debt of [the domestic nonfinancial group] ... is monitored by the Federal Open Market Committee because it is one indicator of the effect of monetary policy.
The sectors are grouped as follows, per the Guide to the Flow of Funds Accounts, Volume 1, Part 1, Diagram 1 (Page 20 in the 2000 edition). The Guide, with these definitional tables, is not available online.
| (1-7) Nonfinancial |
| (1-6) Domestic nonfinancial |
| (1-5) Domestic nonfinancial nonfederal |
| 1. Households and nonprofit organizations |
| (2-4) Nonfinancial business |
| 2. Nonfarm nonfinancial corporate business |
| 3. Nonfarm noncorporate business |
| 4. Farm business |
| 5. State and local governments, excl. employee retirement funds |
| 6. Federal government |
| 7. Rest of the world |
| (8-30) Financial |
| 8. Monetary authority |
| (9-14) Depository institutions |
| (9-12) Commercial banking |
| 9. U.S.-chartered commercial banks |
| 10. Foreign banking offices in the U.S. |
| 11. Bank holding companies |
| 12. Banks in U.S.-affiliated areas |
| (13-14) Thrift institutions |
| 13. Savings institutions |
| 14. Credit unions |
| 15. Bank personal trusts and estates |
| 16. Life insurance companies |
| 17. Other insurance companies |
| 18. Private pension funds |
| 19. State and local government employee retirement funds |
| 20. Money market mutual funds |
| 21. Mutual funds |
| 22. Closed-end funds |
| 23. Government-sponsored enterprises |
| 24. Federally related mortgage pools |
| 25. Issuers of asset-backed securities |
| 26. Finance companies |
| 27. Mortgage companies |
| 28. Real estate investment trusts |
| 29. Security brokers and dealers |
| 30. Funding corporations |
Related Releases
Z.1 Financial Accounts (A) (f.k.a. Flow of Funds)
Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States (f.k.a. Flow of Funds)