We investigate the common assumption in applied research that reporting errors are negligible in variables where there is no clear incentive for misreporting. Using major medical operations, we find high misreporting rates, but the coefficients of their predictors remain unbiased.

Despite concerns about reporting biases and interpretation, self-assessed health (SAH) remains the measure of health most used by researchers, in part reflecting its ease of collection and in part the observed correlation between SAH and objective measures of health. Using a unique Australian...