Volume 33, Number 2 (Spring) 1998: Attrition in Longitudinal Surveys
Van den Berg, Gerard J., and Maarten Lindeboom. 1998. "Attrition in Panel Survey Data and the Estimation of Multi-State Labor Market Models." Journal of Human Resources 33(2):458-478.
In the analysis of labor market transitions, spells that are incomplete due to panel survey attrition are treated as spells that are subject to independent right-censoring. It is likely, however, that the unobserved characteristics affecting individual transitions on the labor market are related to those affecting the attitude toward survey participation. In that case, the transition rate estimates are inconsistent. In this paper we analyze the relation between durations spent in labor market states and the duration of panel survey participation, by explicitly modeling and estimating both stochastic processes. We use multi-state multi-spell models which allow for stochastically related unobserved determinants.
Gerard J. van den Berg is a professor of economics at Free University, Amsterdam, De Boelelaan and a researcher at the Tinbergen Institute, and at CEPR. Maarten Lindeboom is a professor of economics and law at Leiden University and a researcher at the Tinbergen Institute. The authors would like to thank the participants at the PSID Conference on Nonresponse in Washington, D. C. (February 1994) for their comments. Robert Moffitt in particular gave many helpful suggestions. The data were provided by The Netherlands Organization for Strategic Labor Market Research (OSA). Gerard J. van den Berg acknowledges financial support from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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