404 research outputs found
Enhancing the Quality of Data on Income: Recent Developments in Survey Methodology
In this paper, we evaluate two survey innovations aimed at improving income measurement. These innovations are (1) integrating the question sequences for income and wealth which may elicit more accurate estimates of income from capital than has been true in the past, and (2) changes in the periodicity over which income flows are measured, which may provide a closer match between what the survey respondent knows best and the periodicity contained in survey measurement. These innovations have been introduced into both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the study of Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD). Based on the results reported in this paper, the potential return in quality of income measurement from these innovations is substantial.
Improving the Quality of Economic Data: Lessons from the HRS and AHEAD
Missing data are an increasingly important problem in economic surveys, especially when trying to measure household wealth. However, some relatively simple new survey methods such as follow-up brackets appear to appreciably improve the quality of household economic data. Brackets represent partial responses to asset questions and apparently significantly reduce item nonresponse. Brackets also provide a remedy to deal with nonignorable nonresponse bias, a critical problem with economic survey data.
The Measurement and Structure of Household Wealth
This paper deals with methodological issues that arise in measuring household wealth. Two prominent American household surveys--the PSID and SCF--rely on different methodological approaches to the measurement of household wealth. In particular, SCF oversamples high-income households and has a far more extensive set of questions. In the top one percent of the wealth distribution, better measures of wealth are related to over- sampling of very wealthy households and the number of questions that are asked. However, one can characterize total household wealth holdings for the overwhelming majority of households with a relatively moderate number of questions. When successive waves of wealth modules are used to compute savings, the verdict on quality is more cautious, in part due to the inherently lartger role measurement error plays in any first difference formulation.
The Effect of Unfolding Brackets on the Quality of Wealth Data in HRS.
A characteristic feature of survey data on household wealth is the high incidence of missing data—roughly one in three respondents who report owning an asset are unable or unwilling to provide an estimate of the exact amount of their holding. A partial solution to that problem is to devise a series of questions that put the respondent’s holdings into a quantitative range (less than x, more than x, or what?). These quantitative ranges are called unfolding brackets, and they represent a survey innovation that aims to improve the quality of wealth data by substituting range data for completely missing data.
In this paper, we examine the effect of unfolding brackets on the quality of HRS wealth data. Special attention is given to the impact of unfolding bracket entry points on the distribution of asset holdings in HRS 1998. Although there is a small positive relationship between mean asset holdings and entry point, there are many cases where that relationship does not hold. In general, our conclusion is that entry point bias problems are not a major concern in the evaluation of quality in the 1998 HRS wealth data.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49427/1/wp113.pd
Charge Symmetry Breaking in 500 MeV Nucleon-Trinucleon Scattering
Elastic nucleon scattering from the 3He and 3H mirror nuclei is examined as a
test of charge symmetry violation. The differential cross-sections are
calculated at 500 MeV using a microsopic, momentum-space optical potential
including the full coupling of two spin 1/2 particles and an exact treatment of
the Coulomb force. The charge-symmetry-breaking effects investigated arise from
a violation within the nuclear structure, from the p-nucleus Coulomb force, and
from the mass-differences of the charge symmetric states. Measurements likely
to reveal reliable information are noted.Comment: 5 page
Enhancing the Quality of Data on the Measurement of Income and Wealth
Over the last decade or so, a substantial effort has gone into the design of a series of
methodological investigations aimed at enhancing the quality of survey data on income and
wealth. These investigations have largely been conducted at the Survey Research Center at
the University of Michigan, and have mainly involved two longitudinal surveys: the Health
and Retirement Study (HRS), with a first wave beginning in 1992 and continued thereafter
every other year through 2004; and the Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old
(AHEAD) Study, begun in 1993 and continued in 1995 and 1998, then in every other year
through 2006
This paper provides an overview of the main studies and summarizes what has been learned
so far. The studies include; a paper by Juster and Smith (Improving the Quality of Economic
Data: Lessons from the HRS and AHEAD, JASA, 1997); a paper by Juster, Cao, Perry and
Couper (The Effect of Unfolding Brackets on the Quality of Wealth Data in HRS, MRRC
Working Paper, WP 2006-113, January 2006); a paper by Hurd, Juster and Smith (Enhancing
the Quality of Data on Income: Recent Innovations from the HRS, Journal of Human
Resources, Summer 2003); a paper by Juster, Lupton and Cao (Ensuring Time-Series
Consistency in Estimates of Income and Wealth, MRRC Working Paper, WP 2002-030, July
2002); a paper by Cao and Juster (Correcting Second-Home Equity in HRS/AHEAD: MRRC
Working Paper WP 2004-081, June 2004); and a paper by Rohwedder, Haider and Hurd
(RAND Working Paper, 2004).Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55450/1/wp151.pd
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