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Economic Measurement in the Health and Retirement Study

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  • Venti Steven

    (Dartmouth College and NBER, steven.venti@dartmouth.edu)

Abstract

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is widely use for research on the well-being of the elderly. This paper assesses the quality of economic and financial variables in the HRS. I find the coverage is comprehensive and the quality of the data is uniformly high. Thus the HRS has earned its position as the most widely used data source for research on retirement, saving adequacy, pension policy and a host of other aging-related topics. I identify two general areas that continue to merit special attention. The first is measurement error, particularly errors arising from item non-response and from inaccurate respondent reports of the ownership and level of assets. The second is the quality of the pension data. Where appropriate, I make suggestions for improving economic measures in the HRS.

Suggested Citation

  • Venti Steven, 2011. "Economic Measurement in the Health and Retirement Study," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:fhecpo:v:14:y:2011:i:3:n:2
    DOI: 10.2202/1558-9544.1273
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Karl Scholz & Ananth Seshadri & Surachai Khitatrakun, 2006. "Are Americans Saving "Optimally" for Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(4), pages 607-643, August.
    2. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier & Nahid Tabatabai, 2010. "What the Stock Market Decline Means for the Financial Security and Retirement Choices of the Near-Retirement Population," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 161-182, Winter.
    3. Bound, John & Brown, Charles & Mathiowetz, Nancy, 2001. "Measurement error in survey data," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 59, pages 3705-3843, Elsevier.
    4. Irena Dushi & Marjorie Honig, 2008. "How Much Do Respondents in the Health and Retirement Study Know About Their Tax-deferred Contribution Plans? A Crosscohort Comparison," Working Papers wp201, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    5. Daniel H. Hill, 2006. "Wealth dynamics: reducing noise in panel data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 845-860.
    6. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto & Anthony Webb & Francesca Golub-Sass & Dan Muldoon, 2008. "Health Care Costs Drive Up the National Retirement Risk Index," Issues in Brief ib2008-8-3, Center for Retirement Research, revised Mar 2008.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bucks, Brian & Pence, Karen, 2015. "Wealth, pensions, debt, and savings: Considerations for a panel survey," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 1-4, pages 151-175.
    2. Christian Philipp Rudolf Schmid, 2017. "Unobserved health care expenditures: How important is censoring in register data?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1807-1812, December.
    3. Andy Sharma, 2015. "Divorce/Separation in Later-Life: A Fixed Effects Analysis of Economic Well-Being by Gender," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 299-306, June.
    4. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2014. "The Nexus of Social Security Benefits, Health, and Wealth at Death," NBER Chapters, in: Discoveries in the Economics of Aging, pages 159-182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. James Poterba & Steven Venti & David A. Wise, 2013. "Health, Education, and the Postretirement Evolution of Household Assets," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 297-339.
    6. Fabrice Kämpfen & Iliana V Kohler & Alberto Ciancio & Wändi Bruine de Bruin & Jürgen Maurer & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2020. "Predictors of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in the US: Role of economic concerns, health worries and social distancing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-13, November.
    7. James M. Poterba, 2014. "Retirement Security in an Aging Society," NBER Working Papers 19930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Poterba, James & Venti, Steven & Wise, David A., 2018. "Longitudinal determinants of end-of-life wealth inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 78-88.
    9. Raun Ooijen & Rob Alessie & Adriaan Kalwij, 2015. "Saving Behavior and Portfolio Choice After Retirement," De Economist, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 353-404, September.

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    Health and Retirement Study;

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