The influence of geographic mobility and gender on Indiana wages

The study examines wage differentials of individuals experiencing unemployment episodes using a multivariate analysis of wage and unemployment records. The focus is the wage effect of small distance geographic mobility (micro-mobility) during job seeking. The results identify limitations on geographic micro-mobility as a source of wage disparity in the re-employment market. The study isolates persistent gender differences in geographic mobility rates and hypothesizes this as a potential source of gender-wage disparity in both the re-employment and greater labor market. The data and methods are unique. The dataset is Indiana administrative wage records over a ten-year period for individuals that experience unemployment episodes. The study assesses unemployment as an exogenous shock on wages to determine underlying influences in the labor market. The novel approach is unconstrained by limitations associated with aggregated or proxy data.

Extending current population survey linkages: Obstacles and solutions for linking monthly data from 1976 to 1988

The Current Population Survey (CPS) has been the nation’s primary source of information about employment and unemployment for decades. The data are widely used by social scientists and policy makers to study labor force participation, poverty, and other high-priority topics. An underutilized feature of the CPS is its short-run panel component. This paper discusses the unique challenges encountered when linking basic monthly data as well as when linking the March basic monthly data to the Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement in the 1976–1988 period. We describe strategies to address linking obstacles and document linkage rates.

Recent trends in wealth inequality among older Americans in two surveys

We document changes in wealth inequality across American households with a member aged 55 or older, comparing data in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with that in the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) between 1998 and 2016. We examine net wealth including housing, financial and nonfinancial assets and debt, without the cash value of insurances, DB pensions or Social Security wealth. We find very similar distributions of net wealth in the two surveys between the 25th and 90th percentiles, but substantially higher wealth in the SCF at the top of the distribution. Both surveys show an increase in wealth inequality between 1998 and 2016, first mostly due to increased wealth at the top, and, after 2012, due to an increase in the share of households with very little wealth as well. Both surveys agree that wealth inequality by education and race, already substantial in 1998, increased further by 2016.

Methodological issues in the estimation of current account imbalances1

The study outlines the main challenges in measuring external imbalances via a “current account (CA) model”, from which a CA “norm” may be derived and against which the actual CA is appraised. The selection of both the dependent and explanatory variables and technical issues in the estimation procedure are amongst the concerns raised. The impact on CA modelling of global trends, such as the expansion of MNEs, and of the COVID-19 pandemic is also discussed. The paper does not prescribe fully-fledged solutions, but rather provides awareness and hints on how to possibly tackle at least some of these challenges.

Assessing the dimensionality of food-security measures

We explore the dimensionality of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s household food security survey module among households with children. Using a novel methodological approach to measuring food security, we find that there is multidimensionality in the module for households with children that is associated with the overall household, adult, and child dimensions of food security. Additional analyses suggest official estimates of food security among households with children are robust to this multidimensionality. However, we also find that accounting for the multidimensionality of food security among these households provides new insights into the correlates of food security at the household, adult, and child levels of measurement.

Registers or surveys – does the type of microdata matter for empirical analyses of consumption behavior?

In recent years it has come into focus whether longitudinal microdata on consumption derived from administrative registers can constitute an attractive supplement to survey data. This paper explores the consistency between register-imputed and survey-based consumption figures at the household level for Denmark over the period 2002–15. Moreover, it presents estimated consumer demand functions based on the two types of microdata for the same households. The paper finds no significant differences between the marginal propensities to consume out of income estimated on the basis of the two data sources. Furthermore, it demonstrates a close match between total private consumption in the national-accounts statistics and the register-based consumption microdata aggregated over all households.

New insight into market concentration and competition: Use of Barnett’s variable profit function to measure market structure in banking

Previous research on market concentration in banking is heavily tilted towards using deposits as the underlying variable for measuring market concentration. This paper proposes a change in methodology by replacing deposits with the Variable profit function based on Barnett and Hahm’s Economic model for Financial Institutions, used in their 1994 paper. This model has also been successfully used in Dr. William A. Barnett’s successive research. Hancock 1997 also proposes using a similar methodology for modelling banks as Economic firms. Results change dramatically once deposits are substituted by variable profits, and a confounding puzzle is solved, involving one of South Asia’s thriving banking markets.

Food insecurity in the PSID: A comparison with the levels, trends, and determinants in the CPS, 1999–2017

Food insecurity, defined as a condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food, is a widely used measure of well-being in the U.S. The survey module in the Current Population Survey (CPS) that is used to generate the official U.S. food insecurity measure is also included on multiple waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), offering the first opportunity to answer key research questions on the persistence of food insecurity within and across generations. We assess the validity of the food insecurity measure in the PSID by comparing it to the CPS. We find that, although estimated food insecurity rates in the PSID are lower than those in the CPS, the trends over time in the two datasets are similar, and the rates converge from the 1999–2003 period to the 2015–17 period. Our findings lend credence to the use of the PSID for food insecurity research.

Estimating vacancies from firms’ hiring behavior: The case of a developing economy

We propose a procedure that allows recovering an estimate of vacancies from firms’ information on hires and separations. Using estimated vacancies, we analyze the aggregated behavior of vacancies for the Colombian labor market. In addition, we estimate matching functions to conclude that the matching formation process for the Colombian labor market is random; this finding support the idea that frictions are mainly due to informational restrictions, and not explained by a structural mismatch. Our method might be useful in developing economies, where there are no good official sources of information on the matter.

Central banks and external statistics: Evolution or revolution?1

Globalisation is posing important challenges to external statistics, which have been reinforced in recent decades by rapid digital innovation, the complexity and limited transparency of multinational corporate structures, and the increased importance of global financial centres. Examples of such challenges include the fragmentation of global production chains and the changing nature of foreign direct investment. One fundamental question is whether the multipurpose analytical tool provided by external statistics should be simply adapted or radically transformed to address these issues. The experience of central banks shows that a number of alternative ways can be effectively developed in the medium term to adapt the current external statistics framework, especially by: collecting supplementary data; enhancing the infrastructure supporting compilation; focusing the analysis on large and global corporate groups; presenting more granular data for the aggregates currently compiled; and revisiting the concept of foreign direct investment.