Imputing Income in the CPS: Comments on 'What Do We Know about Wages: The Importance of Non-Reporting and Census Imputation' by Lillard, Smith and Welch.
Abstract
Nonreporting of income in the Current Population Survey is an important problem affecting the many researchers using the data base. This paper discusses an approach to handling this problem proposed by Lillard, Smith and Welch, which applies selection models to a Box-Cox transformation of the income variable. Topics considered here include: the inadequacy of single imputation and the desirability of multiple imputation, the importance of the distinction between ignorable and nonignorable nonresponse, the sensitivity of inference to assumptions unassailable by the data at hand, and the possibility of using the CPS-SSA-IRS Exact Match File to study such assumptions. The Lillard, Smith and Welch paper accompanied by this discussion is to appear in a book presenting the proceedings of the NBER Labor Cost Conference to be published by the University of Chicago Press. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA116157
Entities
People
- Donald B. Rubin
Organizations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison