Journal of Economic and Social Measurement - Volume 26, issue 3-4

Authors: Crone, Theodore M. | Nakamura, Leonard I. | Voith, Richard

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Recent papers have questioned the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' methodology for measuring rent increases and changes in implicit rents for owner-occupied housing. We cross-check the BLS statistics using data on owner-occupied and rental housing from the American …Housing Survey. A hedonic approach that explicitly calculates capitalization rates produces a methodologically consistent measure of the rental equivalent of owner-occupied housing services. We find that between 1985 and 1993 the Consumer Price Index overstated the increase in the cost of owner-occupied housing services by more than 10 percentage points and underestimated the increase in rents by almost six percentage points. The increase in the cost of housing services for renters and homeowners combined was overestimated by 0.6 percent a year between 1985 and 1993. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0186

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 153-171, 2000

Authors: Pedace, Roberto | Bates, Nancy

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper analyzes income misreporting propensities and magnitudes using the 1992 SIPP longitudinal file matched to Social Security Summary Earnings Records. Specifically, we focus on wage and salary and self-employment earnings. Our findings suggest that the 1992 SIPP accurately estimates …the net number of earnings recipients, but tends to underestimate the amounts received. The misreporting pattern reveals that respondents on the lowest end of the income distribution tend to overreport earnings, while those at the higher end of the earnings distribution are more likely to underreport earnings. Additionally, it is shown that demographic characteristics can be used in a predictive model of misreporting, but they explain a larger fraction of the variation in overreporting than underreporting. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0180

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 173-192, 2000

Authors: McLaughlin, Diane K. | Melz, Heidi M. | Lichter, Daniel T. | Gardner, Erica L.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The new American Community Survey (ACS) provides a unique and unprecedented opportunity to monitor changing community social and economic conditions in the U.S. between the decennial Censuses. In this paper, we provide a description of the ACS, and we evaluate …ACS data quality for the 1996 rural test site -- Fulton County, Pennsylvania -- on the basis of response rates, allocation rates, and the comparability of ACS estimates of county population characteristics with the decennial census results and with local administrative records. Our analysis provides encouraging evidence that the ACS, when fully implemented, will provide high-quality data that allow public policy analysts, marketing firms, and social scientists to track rural and small area social and population changes during the post-censal period. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0181

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 193-230, 2000

Authors: Ramos, Pedro Nogueira

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This article highlights the efforts that have been carried out, at the European Union level and in particular in Portugal, to add a new domain to the more traditional regional accounts, a domain which concerns the institutional sector of general …government. The regional accounts of the general government aim at quantifying the impact of the regional policy, understood in the broad sense as the effect of the whole of the general government activity over the regions, that is felt in four different ways: on the regional production; on the investment; on the distribution of income; and on the wealth of the other institutional sectors. The impact on the regions' income results either of the production activity pursued by general government, or through the pure redistribution of income operated by that sector. The paper includes two appendices that enclose the results obtained for Portugal, and the main regionalising procedures and sources. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0187

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 231-252, 2000

Authors: Iceland, John

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The unit of measurement used in poverty estimation continues to receive critical scrutiny. The debate revolves around what is the most appropriate unit -- the family, the household, or some other entity. This analysis discusses the existing options and offers …a conceptually more refined alternative: the "family/couple/household" (FCH) unit, which assumes income pooling among family members, including cohabiting couples, but not among non-relatives, and takes into account the benefits from economies of scale for all household members. Poverty rates are estimated using alternative definitions. Overall, empirical results show modestly lower poverty rates when household-level economies of scale are taken into account. The difference is largest for persons living in nontraditional household arrangements, such as cohabitors and non-family members. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0189

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 253-265, 2000

Authors: Mukamel, Dana B. | Dick, Andrew | Spector, William D.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Governments and private organizations have recently begun publishing "report cards" that compare quality of hospitals, physicians and health care plans. Often these reports include quality measures based on risk adjusted health outcomes of the patients treated by each health care …provider. The use of these measures is, however, controversial due to concerns about their accuracy. To-date, concerns focused on the risk adjustment methodology and small sample sizes. We raise an additional issue related to the definition of quality measures as either the difference between observed and predicted outcome rates or the ratio between these rates. A theoretical analysis of the properties of the two measures is presented. Monte Carlo simulations quantify the effects identified in the theoretical analysis. We show that the two risk adjusted outcome measures of quality may lead to different conclusions about relative quality among providers. Which measure should be used depends on the underlying relationship between patient risks and quality of care in determining health outcomes. For the case replicating the HCFA hospital mortality statistics, the percent of true outliers identified by the incorrect measure ranges from 64% 78%. than health care, where performance is measured based on outcomes. Show more

Keywords: quality of care, risk-adjusted outcomes, quality assessment, quality measurement, quality report cards

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-2000-0190

Citation: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 267-281, 2000