IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/somere/v6y1977i2p241-280.html

Response Error in Earnings Functions for Nonblack Males

Author

Listed:
  • William T. Bielby

    (University of California-Santa Barbara)

  • Robert M. Hauser

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Abstract

Biases due to measurement errors in an earnings function for nonblack males are assessed by estimating unobserved variable models with data from the Income Supplement Reinterview program of the March 1973 Current Population Survey and from the remeasurement program of the 1973 Occupational Changes in a Generation-II survey. We find that reports of social origins, educational and occupational attainments, labor supply, and earnings of nonblack males are subject to primarily random response errors. Logarithmic earnings is one of the most accurately measured indicators of socioeconomic success. Further, retrospective reports of status variables are as reliable as contemporaneous reports. When measurement errors are ignored for nonblacks, the total economic return to schooling is underestimated by about 16% and the effects of some background variables are underestimated by as much as 15%. The total effects offirst and current job status are underestimated by about 20% when measurement errors are ignored, as are the unmediated effects of current job status. Conflicting evidence is presented on whether respondents tend to understate the consistency between their earnings and educational attainments in the Current Population Survey. If there is such a tendency, unmediated effects of education are modestly understated when response errors are ignored, and they are overstated if no such tendency exists.

Suggested Citation

  • William T. Bielby & Robert M. Hauser, 1977. "Response Error in Earnings Functions for Nonblack Males," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 6(2), pages 241-280, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:6:y:1977:i:2:p:241-280
    DOI: 10.1177/004912417700600207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/004912417700600207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/004912417700600207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark R. Rosenzweig, 1976. "Nonlinear Earnings Functions, Age, and Experience: A Nondogmatic Reply and Some Additional Evidence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 11(1), pages 23-27.
    2. Bowles, Samuel, 1972. "Schooling and Inequality from Generation to Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(3), pages 219-251, Part II, .
    3. Alan S. Blinder, 1976. "On Dogmatism in Human Capital Theory," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 11(1), pages 8-22.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grawe, Nathan D., 2003. "Life Cycle Bias in the Estimation of Intergenerational Earnings Persistence," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2003207e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    2. G. Warriner, 1991. "Accuracy of self-reports to the burdensome question: survey response and nonresponse error trade-offs," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 253-269, August.
    3. Sajid Amin Javed & Mohammad Irfan, 2014. "Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from Pakistan Panel Household Survey," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 175-203.
    4. René Böheim & Christina Judmayr, 2014. "Chancengleichheit in Österreich," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 134, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    5. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Larry J. Griffin, 1978. "On Estimating the Economic Value of Schooling and Experience," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 6(3), pages 309-336, February.
    2. Luis Riveros, 1983. "El Retorno Privado y Social de la Educación en Chile," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 20(60), pages 191-210.
    3. Baffoe-Bonnie, John & Ezeala-Harrison, Fidelis, 2005. "Incidence and duration of unemployment spells: Implications for the male-female wage differentials," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-5), pages 824-847, September.
    4. John Baffoe-Bonnie, 2004. "Interindustry part-time and full-time wage differentials: regional and national analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 107-118.
    5. Johannes Schwarze, 1990. "Ausbildung und Einkommen: eine vergleichende Humankapitalanalyse für beide deutsche Staaten," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 12, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4924 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Rachid Boumahdi & Jean-Michel Plassard, 1992. "Note à propos du caractère endogène de la variable éducation dans la fonction de gains," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 43(1), pages 145-156.
    8. Eisenhauer, Philipp & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm, 2008. "Assessing intergenerational earnings persistence among German workers," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 119-137.
    9. Manik Kumar & Nicky Naincy & Rahul Ranjan, 2018. "Elementary Education in India in the Era of Universalization of Education: Instrument of Access or the Perpetuation of Inequality," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 4(2), pages 218-231, November.
    10. Ramses Abul Naga, 2008. "Biases of the ordinary least squares and instrumental variables estimators of the intergenerational earnings elasticity: Revisited in the light of panel data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(4), pages 323-350, December.
    11. Kim, Younoh & Sikoki, Bondan & Strauss, John & Witoelar, Firman, 2015. "Intergenerational correlations of health among older adults: Empirical evidence from Indonesia," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 44-56.
    12. Rosen, Harvey S, 1982. "Taxation and On-the-Job Training Decisions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 442-449, August.
    13. Jan Stuhler, 2018. "A Review of Intergenerational Mobility and its Drivers," JRC Research Reports JRC112247, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Christopher Dougherty, 2005. "Why Are the Returns to Schooling Higher for Women than for Men?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 969-988.
    15. Guyonne Kalb, 1998. "An Australian Model for Labour Supply and Welfare Participation in Two-Adult Households," Discussion Papers 0082, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    16. Lakshmi K. Raut, 1996. "Signalling equilibrium, Intergenerational mobility and long-run growth," GE, Growth, Math methods 9603002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Pablo Celhay & Sebasti�n Gallegos, 2015. "Persistence in the Transmission of Education: Evidence across Three Generations for Chile," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 420-451, August.
    18. Olivier Bargain & Maria Lo Bue & Francesco Palmisano, 2022. "Dynastic Measures of Intergenerational Mobility," Working Papers hal-03896551, HAL.
    19. Elisa Jácome & Ilyana Kuziemko & Suresh Naidu, 2021. "Mobility for All: Representative Intergenerational Mobility Estimates over the 20th Century," Working Papers 302, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    20. Cabus, Sofie J. & De Witte, Kristof, 2011. "Does school time matter?—On the impact of compulsory education age on school dropout," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1384-1398.
    21. Merz, Joachim, 1993. "Market and Non-market Labor Supply and Recent German Tax Reform Impacts - Behavioral Response in a Combined Dynamic and Static Microsimulation Model," MPRA Paper 7235, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:6:y:1977:i:2:p:241-280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.