TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaestner,Robert
AU  - Joyce,Theodore
AU  - Wehbeh,Hassan
TI  - The Effect of Maternal Drug Use on Birth Weight: Measurement Error in Binary Variables
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5434
PY  - 1996
Y2  - January 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5434
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5434.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert Kaestner
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois
815 West Van Buren Street, Suite 525
Chicago, IL  60607
Tel: 312/996-8227
E-Mail: kaestner.robert@gmail.com

Theodore J. Joyce
Baruch College & Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave, 5th Fl
New York, NY 10016-4309
Tel: 212/817-7960
Fax: 212/817-1597
E-Mail: theodore.joyce@baruch.cuny.edu

Hassan Wehbeh
AB  - This paper develops a method to correct for non-random measurement error in a binary indicator of illicit drugs.  Our results suggest that estimates of the effect of self reported prenatal drug use on birth weight are biased upwards by measurement error -- a finding contrary to predictions of a model of random measurement error.  We show that more accurate estimates of the true effect of drug use on birth weight can be obtained by using the predicted probability of falsely reporting drug use.  This suggests that out-of-sample information on drug use may improve estimates of the effect of reported drug use in other settings.
ER  -