Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/210785 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
Bank of Canada Staff Working Paper No. 2019-45
Publisher: 
Bank of Canada, Ottawa
Abstract: 
This paper examines the reliability of survey data on business incomes, valuations, and rates of return, which are key inputs for studies of wealth inequality and entrepreneurial choice. We compare survey responses of business owners with available data from administrative tax records, brokered private business sales, and publicly traded company filings and document problems due to nonrepresentative samples and measurement errors across all surveys, subsamples, and years. We find that the discrepancies are economically relevant for the statistics of interest. We investigate reasons for these discrepancies and propose corrections for future survey designs.
Subjects: 
Firm dynamics
Business fluctuations and cycles
JEL: 
C83
E22
H25
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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