D URING the past decade, a considerable amount of information has become available about share ownership among various population groups. Following the first collection of data on this subject in the I947 Survey of Consumer Finances,' additional information was gathered in subsequent Surveys, in the I952 study of the Brookings Institution,2 and in the I956 Census of Shareowners conducted by the New York Stock Exchange.3 These studies were primarily concerned with the frequency of stock ownership. They showed that only one tenth of the nation's families own publicly-traded common and preferred stocks, and demonstrated considerable variability in ownership among different population groups. Some of the studies, notably the recent Surveys of Consumer Finances, also collected data about the approximate size of stockholdings, and these shed light on the concentration of stocks among different groups of stockholders. Finally, a recently completed reinterview study, conducted by the Survey Research Center, contained attitudinal information related to stock ownership. In the present paper, data from the Surveys of Consumer Finances will be used to investigate the economic and demographic factors associated with the frequency of stock ownership and with the amount of stocks owned. Subsequently, data from the Survey Research Center reinterview study will be used to study the association of stock ownership with some more dynamic attitudinal and expectational variables. In selecting the independent variables to be used in the investigation, primary attention was given to factors which are presumed to explain stock ownership by an individual. These are: his knowledge of the stock market and his familiarity with stocks as an investment outlet; his income and wealth, which reflect his financial ability to enter the stock market; his general personality, which may indicate his attitude toward entering the stock market; and his price expectations, as well as other economic and financial expectations. On the operational level, many of these considerations cannot be tested directly. They can only be approximated by variables about which information is easily gathered and is readily available. It is to be remembered, how, ever, that the surveys used here were not uniquely designed to study stock ownership. Therefore, they do not contain all of the variables which should, ideally, be used in the present analysis. The selection of variables was thus constrained by the availability of data. Following are the operational variables which were selected for the present analysis: A. Socio-Economic Variables: (i) income, (2 ) education, (3) liquid asset holdings, (4) age, (5) occupation, (6) region, and (7) size of place of residence. B. Attitudinal and Expectational Variables: ( i ) price expectations, (2 ) job preference, taken as an indication of security mindedness, (3) investment preference, (4) personal financial expectations, and (5) general economic expectations. Of the socio-economic variables, education, age, occupation, liquid assets, and income were found significantly related to the frequency of stock ownership. Only income and liquid assets, however, seem to be directly related to the amount of stocks owned. Education and age are perhaps associated with it indirectly, through their effect on income and liquid assets. With regard to the attitudinal variables, * The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Professors Katona, Morgan, Lansing, and Mueller of the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, in the preparation of this study. 'The Survey of Consumer Finances is conducted annually by the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The results of the survey are published in the Federal Reserve Bulletin. I am grateful to the Board of Governors for permission to use these data in this study. 2Lewis H. Kimmel, Share Ownership in the United States (Brookings Institution, Washington, I952). The study was sponsored by the New York Stock Exchange. Who Owns American Business?, I956 Census of Shareowners, prepared by the Department of Public Relations and Market Development, New York Stock Exchange.