Measurement Error and Misclassification: A Comparison of Survey and Register Data

38 Pages Posted: 27 Oct 2005

See all articles by Arie Kapteyn

Arie Kapteyn

University of Southern California - Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jelmer Ypma

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: November 2006

Abstract

The authors provide both a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relation between register and survey data. By distinguishing between different sources of deviations between survey and register data the authors are able to reproduce several stylized facts in the literature. In doing so, they deviate from the almost universal assumption that the register data represent the truth. They illustrate the implications of different error sources for estimation in (simple) econometric models. The analysis is applied to Swedish data that have been collected for a validation study as part of a larger European health and retirement study (SHARE: Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe). Thus this paper makes two contributions: (1) it adds to the limited number of empirical validation studies of earnings measurement in surveys and (2) it shows the sensitivity of some findings in the literature for the assumption that register data represent the truth. They find in particular that the common finding of substantial mean reversion in survey data largely goes away once we allow for a richer error structure.

Keywords: Aging Social aspects, Europe Econometric models, Sweden Population, Demographic transition, Econometric models, Age distribution (Demography), Sweden Econometric models

JEL Classification: C42, C81

Suggested Citation

Kapteyn, Arie and Ypma, Jelmer, Measurement Error and Misclassification: A Comparison of Survey and Register Data (November 2006). RAND Working Paper No. WR-283-1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=825904

Arie Kapteyn (Contact Author)

University of Southern California - Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) ( email )

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Los Angeles, CA 90089-3332
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Jelmer Ypma

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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