Revisiting the shape of earnings nonresponse

Mark A. Klee, Rebecca L. Chenevert and Kelly R. Wilkin

Economics Letters, 2019, vol. 184, issue C

Abstract: Previous research shows a “U-shaped” relationship between earnings and survey earnings nonresponse. We demonstrate that this pattern depends upon the treatment of individuals who worked according to tax data but lack work in surveys. Including these individuals reveals a wave of earnings nonresponse that is increasing in the tails and decreasing for middle earnings quantiles. We illustrate that individuals with positive earnings in tax data yet survey reports of nonemployment lie disproportionately at the bottom of the earnings distribution, bending down the left tail of the traditional “U-shaped” earnings nonresponse pattern. The reporting behavior of survey nonworkers can have important implications for evaluating inequality estimates based on survey data.

Keywords: Administrative data; Survey data quality; Earnings; Nonresponse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 D31 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:184:y:2019:i:c:s0165176519303313

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108663

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