Anchoring Effects in the HRS: Experimental and Nonexperimental EvidenceThe Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and a number of other major household surveys use unfolding brackets to reduce item nonresponse. However, the initial entry point into a bracketing sequence is likely to act as an anchor or point of reference to the respondent: The distribution of responses among those bracketed would be influenced by the entry point. For example, when the initial entry point is high the distribution will be shifted to the right one to believe that holdings of the particular asset are greater than they truly are. This paper has two goals. The first is to analyze some experimental data on housing value from HRS wave 3 for anchoring effects. The second is to compare the distributions of assets in HRS waves 1 and 2 for evidence about any anchoring effects that may have been caused by changes in the entry points between the waves. Both the experimental data on housing values and the nonexperimental data from HRS waves 1 and 2 on assets show anchoring effects. The conclusion is that to estimate accurately wealth change in panel data sets, we need a method of correcting for anchoring effects such as random entry into the bracketing sequence. |
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anchor increases anchor point anchoring effects Angrist answered RF asset change bracket interval bracketed median bracketed responses bracketing questions bracketing sequence Bureau of Economic certificates of deposit change in self-selection Cointegration Covariance Matrix Crépon data on housing Diebold Distribution of housing distribution of responses Economic Research eight asset categories entry point increased entry was $150k experimental modules financial respondents Francis Francis X Housing value thousands HRS wave http://www.nber.org Imbens imputation increased from $100k indicator variables initial entry point inside the back instructions inside Instrumental Variables Instrumental Variables Estimation item nonresponse Kahneman Kenneth L list of NBER main survey median among continuous median and mean Michael D Models National Bureau NBER Working Papers nonfinancial respondents Number Author(s ownership rates panel Papers and Reprints partial subscriptions percentage question format random range card regression Reprints with searchable searchable abstracts T-bills Technical Working Paper unbalanced format uncertainty unfolding brackets wave 1 wave World Wide Web