Plant-Level Productivity and Imputation of Missing Data in the Census of Manufactures

24 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2011

See all articles by Kirk White

Kirk White

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Jerome Reiter

Duke University

Amil Petrin

University of Minnesota - Duluth; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: January 1, 2011

Abstract

In the U.S. Census of Manufactures, the Census Bureau imputes missing values using a combination of mean imputation, ratio imputation, and conditional mean imputation. It is well-known that imputations based on these methods can result in underestimation of variability and potential bias in multivariate inferences. We show that this appears to be the case for the existing imputations in the Census of Manufactures. We then present an alternative strategy for handling the missing data based on multiple imputation. Specifically, we impute missing values via sequences of classification and regression trees, which offer a computationally straightforward and flexible approach for semi-automatic, large-scale multiple imputation. We also present an approach to evaluating these imputations based on posterior predictive checks. We use the multiple imputations, and the imputations currently employed by the Census Bureau, to estimate production function parameters and productivity dispersions. The results suggest that the two approaches provide quite different answers about productivity.

Suggested Citation

White, Kirk and Reiter, Jerome and Petrin, Amil, Plant-Level Productivity and Imputation of Missing Data in the Census of Manufactures (January 1, 2011). US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP-11-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1759396 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1759396

Kirk White (Contact Author)

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ( email )

1301 New York Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20250
United States

Jerome Reiter

Duke University ( email )

100 Fuqua Drive
Durham, NC 27708-0204
United States

Amil Petrin

University of Minnesota - Duluth ( email )

1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
71
Abstract Views
757
Rank
589,475
PlumX Metrics