Revisiting the shape of earnings nonresponse

摘要

Previous research shows a "U-shaped" relationship between earnings and survey earnings non-response. We demonstrate that this pattern depends upon the treatment of individuals who worked according to tax data but lack work in surveys. Including these individuals reveals a wave of earnings nonresponse that is increasing in the tails and decreasing for middle earnings quantiles. We illustrate that individuals with positive earnings in tax data yet survey reports of nonemployment lie disproportionately at the bottom of the earnings distribution, bending down the left tail of the traditional "U-shaped" earnings nonresponse pattern. The reporting behavior of survey nonworkers can have important implications for evaluating inequality estimates based on survey data. Published by Elsevier B.V.