Burkhauser, Richard V., Feng, Shuaizhang and Jenkins, Stephen P. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8305-9774
(2009)
Using the P90/P10 index to measure U.S. inequality trends with current population survey data: a view from inside the census bureau vaults.
Review of Income and Wealth, 55 (1).
pp. 166-185.
ISSN 0034-6586
Abstract
The March Current Population Survey (CPS) is the primary data source for estimation of levels and trends in U.S. earnings and income inequality. However, time-inconsistency problems related to top coding lead many CPS users to measure inequality via the ratio of the 90th to the 10th percentile (P90/P10) rather than by more traditional summary measures. With access to public use and restricted-access internal CPS data, and by applying bounding methods, we show that using P90/P10 does not completely obviate time-inconsistency problems, especially in capturing 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 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 still matters.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0034-6586 |
| Additional Information: | © 2009 The Authors |
| Divisions: | Social Policy STICERD |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HA Statistics H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Feb 2011 16:17 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2024 23:34 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/32041 |
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