Reported Income in the Nlsy: Consistency Checks and Methods for Cleaningthe Data

29 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2000 Last revised: 11 Jun 2023

See all articles by Nancy Cole

Nancy Cole

Abt Associates, Inc.

Janet Currie

Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Date Written: July 1994

Abstract

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth collects information about over 20 separate components of respondent income. These disaggregated income components provide many opportunities to verify the consistency of the data. This note outlines procedures we have used to identify and `clean' measurement error in the disaggregated income variables. After cleanin the income data at the disaggregated level, we reconstruct the measure of 'family income' and re-evaluate poverty status. While people may not agree with all of our methods, we hope that they will be of some use to other researchers. A second purpose of this note is to highlight the value of the disaggregated data, since without it, it would be impossible to improve on the reported totals. Finally, we hope that with the advent of computerized interviewing technology, checks on the internal consistency of the data of the kind that we propose may eventually be built into interviewing software, thereby improving the quality of the data collected.

Suggested Citation

Cole, Nancy and Currie, Janet, Reported Income in the Nlsy: Consistency Checks and Methods for Cleaningthe Data (July 1994). NBER Working Paper No. t0160, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=225119

Nancy Cole

Abt Associates, Inc. ( email )

55 Wheeler Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-1168
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Janet Currie (Contact Author)

Princeton University ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
United States
6092587393 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.princeton.edu/~jcurrie

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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