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THE EFFECT OF MATERNAL DRUG USE ON BIRTH WEIGHT: MEASUREMENT ERROR IN BINARY VARIABLES
Author(s) -
Kaestner Robert,
Joyce Theodore,
Wehbeh Hassan
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1996.tb01400.x
Subject(s) - observational error , statistics , drug , binary number , random error , econometrics , birth weight , prenatal exposure , estimation , mathematics , medicine , pregnancy , economics , gestation , biology , pharmacology , arithmetic , management , genetics
We develop a method to correct for non‐random measurement error in a binary indicator of illicit drugs. Our results suggest that estimates of the effect of self‐reported prenatal drug use on birth weight are biased upwards by measurement error—a finding contrary to predictions of a model of random measurement error. More accurate estimates of the true effect of drug use on birth weight can be obtained by using the predicted probability of falsely reporting drug use. Thus out‐of‐sample information on drug use may improve estimates of the effect of reported drug use in other settings.