TY  - JOUR
AU  - Vilhuber, Lars
TI  - Adjusting Imperfect Data: Overview and Case Studies
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12977
PY  - 2007
Y2  - March 2007
DO  - 10.3386/w12977
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12977
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12977.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lars Vilhuber
Labor Dynamics Institute
275 Ives Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
E-Mail: lars.vilhuber@cornell.edu
M1  - published as Lars Vilhuber. "Adjusting Imperfect Data: Overview and Case Studies," in Edward P. Lazear and Kathryn L. Shaw, editors, "The Structure of Wages: An International Comparison" University of Chicago Press (2008)

M3  - presented at "Wage Structure, Raises, and Mobility", January 2, 2007
AB  - Research users of large administrative have to adjust their data for quirks, problems, and issues that are inevitable when working with these kinds of datasets. Not all solutions to these problems are identical, and how they differ may affect how the data is to be interpreted. Some elements of the data, such as the unit of observation, remain fundamentally different, and it is important to keep that in mind when comparing data across countries. In this paper (written for Lazear and Shaw, 2007), we focus on the differences in the underlying data for a selection of country datasets. We describe two data elements that remain fundamentally different across countries -- the sampling or data collection methodology, and the basic unit of analysis (establishment or firm) -- and the extent to which they differ. We then proceed to document some of the problems that affect longitudinally linked administrative data in general, and we describe some of the solutions analysts and statistical agencies have implemented, and explore, through a select set of case studies, how each adjustment or absence thereof might affect the data.
ER  -