On the Returns to Occupational Qualification in Terms of Subjective and Objective Variables: A GEE-type Approach to the Estimation of Two-Equation Panel Models

This article proposes an estimation approach for panel models with mixed continuous and ordered categorical outcomes based on generalized estimating equations for the mean and pseudo-score equations for the covariance parameters. A numerical study suggests that efficiency can be gained as concerns the mean parameter estimators by using individual covariance matrices in the estimating equations for the mean parameters. The approach is applied to estimate the returns to occupational qualification in terms of income and perceived job security in a nine-year period based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). To compensate for missing data, a combined multiple imputation/weighting approach is adopted.Generalized estimating equations, mean and covariance model, multiple imputation, pseudo-score equations, status inconsistency, weighting

The Data Quality Concept of Accuracy in the Context of Public Use Data Sets

Like other data quality dimensions, the concept of accuracy is often adopted to characterise a particular data set. However, its common specification basically refers to statistical properties of estimators, which can hardly be proved by means of a single survey at hand. This ambiguity can be resolved by assigning 'accuracy' to survey processes that are known to affect these properties. In this contribution, we consider the sub-process of imputation as one important step in setting up a data set and argue that the so called 'hit-rate' criterion, that is intended to measure the accuracy of a data set by some distance function of 'true' but unobserved and imputed values, is neither required nor desirable. In contrast, the so-called 'inference' criterion allows for valid inferences based on a suitably completed data set under rather general conditions. The underlying theoretical concepts are illustrated by means of a simulation study. It is emphasised that the same principal arguments apply to other survey processes that introduce uncertainty into an edited data set.Survey Quality, Survey Processes, Accuracy, Assessment of Imputation Methods, Multiple Imputation

GEE Estimation of a Two-Equation Panel Data Model: An Analysis of Wage Dynamics and the Incidence of Profit-Sharing in West Germany

We propose a generalized estimating equations approach to the analysis of the mean and the covariance structure of a bivariate time series process of panel data with mixed continuous and discrete dependent variables. The approach is used to jointly analyze wage dynamics and the incidence of profit-sharing in West Germany. Our findings reveal a significantly positive conditional correlation of wages and the incidence of profit-sharing. Furthermore, they indicate that permanent unobserved individual ability is comparatively more important in the profit-sharing than in the wage equation and show that shocks have a long-lasting effect on transitory wages but not on the incidence of profit-sharing. Hence, the results support theoretical predictions that selection into profit-sharing is mostly due to unobservable ability and that profit-sharing ties wages more closely to productivity.Generalized estimating equations, covariance structure, longitudinal data, real wages, variable pay