Differences Between Household Income from Surveys and Registers and How These Affect the Poverty Headcount: Evidence from the Austrian SILC

Stefan Angel,Richard Heuberger,Nadja Lamei

doi:10.1007/s11205-017-1672-7

Stefan Angel, Richard Heuberger + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1672-7

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Abstract

We take advantage of the fact that for the Austrian SILC 2008–2011, two data sources are available in parallel for the same households: register-based and survey-based income data. Thus, we aim to explain which households tend to under- or over-report their household income by estimating multinomial logit and OLS models with covariates referring to the interview situation, employment status and socio-demographic household characteristics. Furthermore, we analyze source-specific differences in the distribution of household income and how these differences affect aggregate poverty indicators based on household income. The analysis reveals an increase in the cross-sectional poverty rates for 2008–2011 and the longitudinal poverty rate if register data rather than survey data are used. These changes in the poverty rate are mainly driven by differences in employment income rather than sampling weights and other income components. Regression results show a pattern of mean-reverting errors when comparing household income between the two data sources. Furthermore, differences between data sources for both under-reporting and over-reporting slightly decrease with the number of panel waves in which a household participated. Among the other variables analyzed that are related to the interview situation (mode, proxy, interview month), only the number of proxy interviews was (weakly) positively correlated with the difference between data sources, although this outcome was not robust over different model specifications.

Highlights

IntroductionThe policy relevance of social indicators has risen with the latest financial and economic crisis
Introduction and Review of the LiteratureThe policy relevance of social indicators has risen with the latest financial and economic crisis
By estimating multinomial logit and linear models with covariates referring to the income and employment structure, the interview situation (e.g. CATI vs. CAPI) and other household characteristics, we try to explain whether certain types of households tend to under- or over-report their household income when asked via the survey method

Summary

Introduction

The policy relevance of social indicators has risen with the latest financial and economic crisis. The European Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) are one of the pillars of social statistics in the European Statistical System and the most relevant household survey at the European level in the field of household income, living standards and poverty. We focus on the measurement of household income in EU-SILC and investigate differences between data collected using surveys and data collected from registers. Using the differences in these measurements for households at the micro level, we aim to provide explanations for changes in different income-based poverty indicators by investigating the underlying changes in the distribution of household income as a consequence of using register data. We ask which component (income type, weighting) contributes most to the change in the poverty measurement if register data are used instead of survey data

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