An Analysis of Sample Attrition in Panel Data: The Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics

By 1989 the Michigan Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) had experienced approximately 50 percent sample loss from cumulative attrition from its initial 1968 membership. We study the effect of this attrition on the unconditional distributions of several socioeconomic variables and on the estimates...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of human resources 1998, Vol.33 (2), p.251-299
Main Authors: Fitzgerald, John, Gottschalk, Peter, Moffitt, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coefficients
Constant coefficients
Datasets
Human resources
Labor
Longitudinal method
Marital status
Regression coefficients
Social aspects
Unobservables
Variable coefficients
Wage surveys
Wages
Wives
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:By 1989 the Michigan Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) had experienced approximately 50 percent sample loss from cumulative attrition from its initial 1968 membership. We study the effect of this attrition on the unconditional distributions of several socioeconomic variables and on the estimates of several sets of regression coefficients. We provide a statistical framework for conducting tests for attrition bias that draws a sharp distinction between selection on unobservables and on observables and that shows that weighted least squares can generate consistent parameter estimates when selection is based on observables, even when they are endogenous. Our empirical analysis shows that attrition is highly selective and is concentrated among lower socioeconomic status individuals. We also show that attrition is concentrated among those with more unstable earnings, marriage, and migration histories. Nevertheless, we find that these variables explain very little of the attrition in the sample, and that the selection that occurs is moderated by regression-to-the-mean effects from selection on transitory components that fade over time. Consequently, despite the large amount of attrition, we find no strong evidence that attrition has seriously distorted the representativeness of the PSID through 1989, and considerable evidence that its cross-sectional representativeness has remained roughly intact.
ISSN:0022-166X
1548-8004
DOI:10.2307/146433