Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14730
Authors: Erich Battistin; Michele De Nadai; Nandini Krishnan
Abstract: While household well-being derives from long-term average rates of consumption, welfare comparisons typically rely on shorter-duration survey measurements. We develop a new strategy to identify the distribution of these long-term rates by leveraging a large-scale randomization that elicited repeated short-duration measurements from diaries and recall questions. Identification stems from diary-recall differences in reports from the same household, does not require reports to be error-free, and hinges on a research design with broad replicability. Our strategy delivers cost-effective suggestions for designing survey modules that yield the closest measurements of consumption well-being, and offers new insights to interpret and reconcile diary-recall differences in household surveys.
Keywords: household surveys; measurement of inequality and poverty; modes of data collection
JEL Codes: C81; D31; D63; E21; I32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| diary errors (Y60) | misleading conclusions about household welfare (D10) |
| recall data (Y10) | more reliable figures for aggregate statistics (C80) |
| overreporting in recall data (C83) | systematic bias in consumption recall (D12) |
| variability in survey measurements (C83) | changes in usual consumption (D12) |
| average acquisition of same-income households (D19) | variability in survey measurements (C83) |
| continuous variable affecting survey measurements (C83) | nonparametric identification of usual consumption distributions (D12) |
| conditional independence of survey measurements (C83) | nonparametric identification of usual consumption distributions (D12) |