2.104 Household net worth A study reported that in 2007 the mean and median net worth of American families were

$556,300 and $120,300, respectively.

a. Is the distribution of net worth for these families likely to be symmetric, skewed to the right, or skewed to the left? Explain.

b. During the Great Recession of 2008, many Americans lost wealth due to the large decline in values of assets such as homes and retirement savings. In 2009, mean and median net worth were reported as $434,782 and

$91,304. Why do you think the difference in decline from 2007 to 2009 was larger for the mean than the median?