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Forecasting with Micro Panels: The Case of Health Care Costs
Author(s) -
Fiebig Denzil G.,
Johar Meliyanni
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of forecasting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.543
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1099-131X
pISSN - 0277-6693
DOI - 10.1002/for.2409
Subject(s) - unobservable , medical expenditure panel survey , exploit , econometrics , panel data , ordinary least squares , health care , set (abstract data type) , computer science , actuarial science , fixed effects model , guard (computer science) , outcome (game theory) , economics , operations research , engineering , microeconomics , computer security , health insurance , programming language , economic growth
Abstract Micro panels characterized by large numbers of individuals observed over a short time period provide a rich source of information, but as yet there is only limited experience in using such data for forecasting. Existing simulation evidence supports the use of a fixed‐effects approach when forecasting but it is not based on a truly micro panel set‐up. In this study, we exploit the linkage of a representative survey of more than 250,000 Australians aged 45 and over to 4 years of hospital, medical and pharmaceutical records. The availability of panel health cost data allows the use of predictors based on fixed‐effects estimates designed to guard against possible omitted variable biases associated with unobservable individual specific effects. We demonstrate the preference towards fixed‐effects‐based predictors is unlikely to hold in many practical situations, including our models of health care costs. Simulation evidence with a micro panel set‐up adds support and additional insights to the results obtained in the application. These results are supportive of the use of the ordinary least squares predictor in a wide range of circumstances. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.