Stefanie Schurer - Survey item-response behavior as a proxy for unobserved ability: Theory and application
Melbourne Institute Seminar Room
Room 6.05, FBE Building
111 Barry St, Carlton
Title: Survey item-response behavior as a proxy for unobserved ability: Theory and application
Abstract: We develop and test an economic model of the cognitive and non-cognitive foundations of survey item-response behavior. We show that a summary measure of response behaviour - the survey item-response rate (SIRR) - varies with cognitive and less so with non-cognitive abilities, has a strong individual fixed component and is predictive of economic outcomes. We demonstrate the usefulness of SIRR as a proxy for cognitive ability to reduce omitted-variable biases in estimated wage returns. We derive both necessary and sufficient conditions under which the use of a proxy-variable approach reduces omitted-variable biases, providing a guideline for researchers who use the approach in other settings.
Presenter: Stefanie Schurer, University of Sydney
The program coordinator of these seminars is Arezou Zaresani. If you would like to subscribe to the Melbourne Institute Seminar Series email list, please contact Arezou.