Working Paper: NBER ID: w26770
Authors: Fabian Eckert; Andrs Gvirtz; Jack Liang; Michael Peters
Abstract: Empirical researchers often have to map data provided for a "reporting" spatial unit, say counties in 1900, to a "reference" one, say, counties in 2010. We discuss a general method to create such crosswalks: computing the share of the area of each reporting unit nested in a given reference unit. Using these shares, data can be re-aggregated from the reporting to the reference units. We apply the method to construct a crosswalk for US county-level data since 1790 to present-day counties or commuting zones. We also provide the code to generate other crosswalks given maps of reporting and reference units.
Keywords: Geographical Crosswalks; US Counties; Historical Data; Empirical Research
JEL Codes: A1; N11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| method of constructing geographical crosswalks (C49) | mapping of historical county-level data to contemporary county delineations (R23) |