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What the opposition suggests in this position is a
study that would be so enormous as to be impossible. Acquiring independent
verification from the thousands of people interviewed would be very
difficult, at best, and probably impossible. In those cases of persons
identified as having physical or mental impairment, it would require an
independent medical evaluation of the selected sample in order to resolve
the issue of “lack of exogeneity.” All survey research of a macro nature
lacks exogeneity, but the large sample size reduces, if not eliminates, the
supposed problem regarding exogeneity. Stern
(1989) tests for this problem by measuring labor force participation
using self-reported disability. He finds that any potential bias is small
and that “the standard disability measures are powerful and reasonably
exogenous predictors of labor force participation” (p. 392).
The CPS relies upon answers from respondents to
questions administered by trained Census personnel (self-reporting). As
such, the criteria used by the Census Bureau to classify a respondent’s
disability status depends upon
·
the respondent’s ability to
recognize the disability, and
·
the truthfulness of the response
Critics speculate that one or both of these
requirements are not met in enough cases as to skew the results. The
Current Population Survey is the primary source of employment data
for the United States. The entire survey is self-reported, or lacking
exogeneity. Despite this, it is relied upon by researchers, economists,
demographers, and other scientists across the world for measurements of
employment, earnings, education status, age, and other characteristics of
the U.S. economy.
The government does not require a CPA to verify the
income reported, employers to verify employment status, or birth
certificates to verify age. Yet, vocational and
economic experts and social scientists in general routinely rely upon
the resulting income, employment, and age statistics both in forensic and
nonforensic settings. However, when it comes to the CPS question on whether
the respondents have any physical or mental limitation in the kind or amount
of work they can do, challengers contend that respondents are incapable of
or unwilling to give an accurate response. As with the heterogeneity issue,
this is a nonsensical double standard. Those who contend that lack of
exogeneity is a problem themselves routinely use such data specific to
earnings, level of education, and age. |
