TY  - JOUR
AU  - Meyer,Bruce D.
AU  - Mok,Wallace K. C.
AU  - Sullivan,James X.
TI  - The Under-Reporting of Transfers in Household Surveys: Its Nature and Consequences
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15181
PY  - 2009
Y2  - July 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15181
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15181.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Bruce D. Meyer
Harris School of Public Policy
University of Chicago
1155 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-2712
Fax: 773/702-0926
E-Mail: bdmeyer@uchicago.edu

Wallace Mok
Chinese University of Hong Kong
E-Mail: wallacemok@cuhk.edu.hk

James X. Sullivan
Department of Economics
447 Flanner Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574/631-7587
E-Mail: James.X.Sullivan.197@nd.edu
AB  - High rates of understatement are found for many government transfer programs and in many datasets.  This understatement has major implications for our understanding of economic well-being and the effects of transfer programs.  We provide estimates of the extent of under-reporting for ten transfer programs in five major nationally representative surveys by comparing reported weighted totals for these programs with totals obtained from government agencies.  We also examine imputation procedures and rates.  We find increasing under-reporting and imputation over time and sharp differences across programs and surveys.  We explore reasons for under-reporting and how under-reporting biases existing studies and suggest corrections.
ER  -