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Abstract:
This paper examines how incentives for data collectors shape the selection of sampling units. We provide causal evidence that data collectors respond to variation in effort cost across survey subjects by excluding high-cost subjects, thereby breaching protocol. Exploiting the random assignment of eligibility for individual interviews across 3.4 million households in 181 surveys worldwide, we find that in 110 (39) surveys at least 5% (10%) of eligible subjects are missing from the sample. Selection out of sample is systematic: missing subjects disproportionately come from marginalised populations. Using three applications, we illustrate how this selection undermines microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis alike.
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