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Money and gender: proxy respondents and the mismeasurement of income in surveys

When sampled individuals are not found at home, many surveys rely on a proxy respondent: another knowledgeable household member. We study the effect of proxy reporting on the measurement of labor income in Mexico. For identification, we use the panel structure of the Mexican labor force survey and compare workers’ reported earnings when they report them themselves to their reported earnings when another household member does the reporting. We find that male workers’ monthly earnings are 7.2% lower when reported by a proxy, whereas female workers’ earnings are only 1.8% lower. We provide evidence that this gender gap reflects both compositional effects, linked to men’s higher earnings, and household informational asymmetries, partly driven by men’s greater propensity to hide income from other household members. Finally, we study the implications of using proxy respondents and find that it can lead to an underestimation of the gender wage gap by 25%.

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Economía

País / Región

América Latina y el Caribe

URI

https://scioteca.caf.com/handle/123456789/2278

Date

2024-07-08

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6.1 Documentos de trabajo en investigación socioeconómica

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CC-BY-NC-ND
Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as CC-BY-NC-ND
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Money and gender. Proxy respondents and the mismeasurement of income in surveys.pdf (401.11 KB)

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CAF

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