TY - RPRT T1 - Enhancing the Quality of Data on the Measurement of Income and Wealth Y1 - 2007 A1 - Juster, F. Thomas A1 - Cao, Honggao A1 - Mick P. Couper A1 - Daniel H. Hill A1 - Michael D Hurd A1 - Joseph P. Lupton A1 - Michael M. Perry A1 - James P Smith KW - Income KW - Methodology KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - Over the last decade or so, a substantial effort has gone into the design of a series of methodological investigations aimed at enhancing the quality of survey data on income and wealth. These investigations have largely been conducted at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, and have mainly involved two longitudinal surveys: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with a first wave beginning in 1992 and continued thereafter every other year through 2004; and the Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study, begun in 1993 and continued in 1995 and 1998, then in every other year through 2004. Surveys for the year 2006 are currently in the field. This paper provides an overview of the main studies and summarizes what has been learned so far. The studies include; a paper by Juster and Smith (Improving the Quality of Economic Data: Lessons from the HRS and AHEAD, JASA, 1997); a paper by Juster, Cao, Perry and Couper (The Effect of Unfolding Brackets on the Quality of Wealth Data in HRS, MRRC Working Paper, WP 2006-113, January 2006); a paper by Hurd, Juster and Smith (Enhancing the Quality of Data on Income: Recent Innovations from the HRS, Journal of Human Resources, Summer 2003); a paper by Juster, Lupton and Cao (Ensuring Time-Series Consistency in Estimates of Income and Wealth, MRRC Working Paper, WP 2002-030, July 2002); a paper by Cao and Juster (Correcting Second-Home Equity in HRS/AHEAD: MRRC Working Paper WP 2004-081, June 2004); and a paper by Rohwedder, Haider and Hurd (RAND Working Paper, 2004). JF - Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center Research Paper PB - Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center, University of Michigan CY - Ann Arbor, MI UR - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1095815 U4 - Methodology/Data Quality/income/Wealth ER - TY - RPRT T1 - The Effect of Unfolding Brackets on the Quality of Wealth Data in HRS Y1 - 2006 A1 - Juster, F. Thomas A1 - Cao, Honggao A1 - Michael M. Perry A1 - Mick P. Couper KW - Methodology KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - A characteristic feature of survey data on household wealth is the high incidence of missing data roughly one in three respondents who report owning an asset are unable or unwilling to provide an estimate of the exact amount of their holding. A partial solution to that problem is to devise a series of questions that put the respondent s holdings into a quantitative range (less than x, more than x, or what?). These quantitative ranges are called unfolding brackets, and they represent a survey innovation that aims to improve the quality of wealth data by substituting range data for completely missing data. In this paper, we examine the effect of unfolding brackets on the quality of HRS wealth data. Special attention is given to the impact of unfolding bracket entry points on the distribution of asset holdings in HRS 1998. Although there is a small positive relationship between mean asset holdings and entry point, there are many cases where that relationship does not hold. In general, our conclusion is that entry point bias problems are not a major concern in the evaluation of quality in the 1998 HRS wealth data. PB - The University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center U4 - Assets/unfolding bracket design/Wealth ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Enhancing the Quality of Data on Income and Wealth Y1 - 2005 A1 - Cao, Honggao A1 - Daniel H. Hill A1 - Juster, F. Thomas A1 - Michael M. Perry KW - Income KW - Methodology KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - Over the last decade or so, a substantial effort has gone into the design of a series of methodological investigations aimed at enhancing the quality of survey data on income and wealth. These investigations have largely been conducted at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, and have mainly involved two longitudinal surveys: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with a first wave beginning in 1992 and continued thereafter every other year through 2004; and the Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study, begun in 1993 and continued in 1995 and 1998, then in every other year through 2004. This provides and overview of the main studies and summarizes what has been learned about correcting longitudinal inconsistencies that arise. PB - The University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center UR - http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/ U4 - Assets/income/Methodology ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Ensuring Time-Series Consistency in Estimates of Income from Wealth Y1 - 2002 A1 - Juster, F. Thomas A1 - Joseph P. Lupton A1 - Cao, Honggao KW - Income KW - Methodology KW - Net Worth and Assets PB - Ann Arbor, MI, The University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center U4 - Longitudinal Design/Income/Wealth ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Economic Status Measures in the Health and Retirement Study JF - Journal of Human Resources Y1 - 1995 A1 - Marilyn Moon A1 - Juster, F. Thomas KW - Employment and Labor Force KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Other AB - Variables measuring economic status represent a straightforward but crucial part of Round 1 of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). In addition to studies focusing directly on the economic well-being of this cohort of the population, the economic status variables are likely to be inputs into other analyses that focus on retirement and savings behavior, on variations in health status, on intrafamily transfers and support, and on poverty status. As a first look at these data, this paper has several modest goals: to offer a flavor for the major economic status variables on the HRS, to indicate some preliminary analysis of the quality of the data, and to take a preliminary look at the interrelationships among economic status measures like income and wealth and other important variables such as health status, pension rights, and health insurance coverage. PB - 30 VL - 30 IS - 0 Suppl. N1 - ProCite field 3 : U MI Survey Research Center; Urban Institute U4 - Economic Status/Distribution/Wages and Compensation ER -