I am checking on a fact that 12% of Americans owned stock in 1978 or
1979 compared to close to 50% today.  Source could be the New York
Stock Exchange, the Investment Company Institute or the NASDAQ.  Thank
you.

According to the Federal Reserve, the proportion of households owning
stock exceeded 50% in 2001.  However, stock ownership in the late
1970s was 25%, not 12%.  Please refer to the chart on page 5 of the
first reference for several years of data on stock ownership.

I hope the Federal Reserve is a sufficiently authoritative source for
your purposes.  The NYSE uses the Survey of Consumer Finances
published by the Federal Reserve Board for the figures in its
Shareownership publication.  ("Letter from the Chairman" New Your
Stock Exchange http://www.nyse.com/p1021232175378.html?displayPage=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.nyse.com%2Fsearch%3Fsite%3Dnyse%26output%3Dxml_no_dtd%26client%3Dnyse%26proxystylesheet%3Dnyse%26filter%3D0%26restrict%3D%26getfields%3Ddescription&q=Stock%20ownership)

Sincerely,

Wonko

"The Controversial Stock Wealth Effect" Based on a presentation by
John V. Duca, Vice President and Senior Economist, Research
Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, June 2001
http://www.dallasfed.org/research/indepth/2001/id0105.pdf

"...[M]ore households are exposed to the market, with stock
ownership rates doubling from under ¼ of households in the 1970s to
around ½ in the 1990s, as depicted by the bars in this chart from last
month?s Board of Directors? presentation."  (See chart on page 5).

2003 Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Evidence from the 1998
and 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances, by Ana M. Aizcorbe, Arthur B.
Kennickell, and Kevin B. Moore Federal Reserve Bulletin, January 2003
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2003/0103lead.pdf

"The years between 1998 and 2001 also saw a rise in the proportion of
families that own corporate equities either directly or indirectly
(such as through mutual funds or retirement accounts); by 2001 the
proportion exceeded 50 percent."