Non-response bias refers to the mistake one expects to make in estimating a population characteristic based on a sample of survey data in which, due to non-response, certain types of survey respondents are under-represented. Social scientists often attempt to make inferences about a population...

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is cross national: the questionnaire is identical across all participating countries and, because of the modest size of the sample in each country, it is usually not feasible to proceed to solely national use of the data. Moreover, as...

The diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming a central policy issue for developing countries, being identified by international policy-makers and scholars as an important driver of knowledge, innovation and economic growth. We analyze ICT access patterns in...

In the article private rate of return to higher education in the 1998-2004 period is considered. The model is based on comparative advantage theory and extended Mincerian wage equation. The extension is made to account for non-random decision to undertake studies at university level. The...

We consider the academic performance of Italian university graduates and their labor market position 3 years after graduation. Our data confirm the common finding that female students outperform male students in academia but are overcome in the labor market. Assuming that academic competition is...

Relatively few published studies apply Heckman’s (1979) sample selection model to the case of a discrete endogenous variable and those are limited to a single outcome equation. However, there are potentially many applications for this model in health, labor and financial economics. To fill in...

Much research sponsored by the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has evaluated the effects of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) and other food and nutrition programs on outcomes of interest (e.g., dietary intake or food expenditures). Of course, the problem of...

We propose a novel approach to cross-sectional equities sample selection, derived from best market practice in index construction and focused on investability. Using the U.K. market as a template, we first demonstrate how the popular Datastream dataset is plagued by data deficiencies that would...