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Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin >
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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/18431
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| Title: | | Using the P90/P10 Index to Measure US Inequality Trends with Current Population Survey Data: A View from Inside the Census Bureau Vaults  |
| Authors: | | Burkhauser, Richard V. Feng, Shuaizhang Jenkins, Stephen P. |
| Issue Date: | | 2007 |
| Series/Report no.: | | DIW-Diskussionspapiere 699 |
| Abstract: | | The March Current Population Survey (CPS) is the primary data source for estimation of levels and trends in labor earnings and income inequality in the USA. Time-inconsistency problems related to top coding in theses data have led many researchers to use the ratio of the 90th and 10th percentiles of these distributions (P90/P10) rather than a more traditional summary measure of inequality. With access to public use and restricted-access internal CPS data, and bounding methods, we show that using P90/P10 does not completely obviate timeinconsistency problems, especially for household income inequality trends. Using internal data, we create consistent cell mean values for all top-coded public use values that, when used with public use data, closely track inequality trends in labor earnings and household income using internal data. But estimates of longer-term inequality trends with these corrected data based on P90/P10 differ from those based on the Gini coefficient. The choice of inequality measure matters. |
| Subjects: | | inequality income earnings Current Population Survey decile ratio Gini coefficient |
| JEL: | | J3 D3 C8 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | Publikationen von Forscherinnen und Forschern des DIW DIW-Diskussionspapiere
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| dp699.pdf | | 331.35 kB | Adobe PDF |
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