Skip to main content
February 25, 2025

TXRDC Data in Action Series: Upcoming Events

TXRDC Data In Action Series

 UPCOMING EVENTS

DATE:

PRESENTER(S)

SEMINAR TITLE:
March 7, 2025

Friday

12:00 – 1:00PM

Christopher R. Bollinger,

University of Kentucky

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Measurement Error, Non-response and Administrative Mismatch in the CPS (Hybrid)
RSVP HERE

Join us EITHER in person in Teague 326 or on Zoom.

Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.

Abstract:
Using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) matched to Social Security Administration Detailed Earnings Records (SSA DER), we link observations across consecutive years to investigate a relationship between item non-response and measurement error in the earnings questions. Linking individuals across consecutive years allows us to observe switching from response to non-response. We estimate OLS, IV, and finite mixture models that allow for various assumptions separately for men and women. We find that those who respond in both years of the survey exhibit less measurement error than those who respond in one year. Our findings suggest a trade off between survey response and data quality that should be considered by survey designers, data collectors, and data users.

 

DATE:

PRESENTER(S)

SEMINAR TITLE:

April 24, 2025Friday12:00 – 1:00PM		 Brielle Bryan,

Rice University

Spatial Determinants of Post-Conviction Health
Seminar Abstract:
The aftermath of criminal justice involvement extends beyond the confines of incarceration, influencing long-term health and wellbeing. The widespread and legally sanctioned practice of housing discrimination against individuals with criminal records through tenant screening practices potentially filters them to neighborhoods with harmful health implications. The quality of residential environments—defined by varying levels of exposure to hazards and access to health-promoting resources—plays a critical role in shaping health outcomes, underscoring the need to examine spatial determinants of health among formerly incarcerated individuals and those with felony convictions. We link spatial data capturing multiple dimensions of exposure and access to restricted-use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to analyze the degree to which incarceration spells and felony convictions shape place and health outcomes for individuals with these forms of criminal justice contact. We use individual fixed effects models, and a host of covariates related to selection into both neighborhood type and criminal justice contact to estimate how conviction and incarceration relate to changes in neighborhood-based exposures and access consequential to health. We further examine how these relationships differ by race-ethnicity, homeownership status, and parental status.

 

DATE:

PRESENTER(S)

SEMINAR TITLE:
May 7 – 8, 2025

Wednesday, Thursday

Seminar:

May 7

12-1pm

Workshop:

May 7

2-5pm

May 8

9-12pm

2-5pm

 Hannah Wich,

Stephen F. Austin State University

The Effect of SNAP Participation on Mental Health: Using Marginal Effects to Bound Average Effects
Seminar Abstract
This study introduces a novel nonparametric approach to partially identify the causal average treatment effect (ATE) of SNAP participation on mental health, such as nonspecific psychological distress (NPD). In our application, the ATE reveals how the fraction of low-income adults in good mental health would differ if all participated in SNAP versus all not participating. Point-identifying the ATE requires strong, and arguably untenable, assumptions about the data, how participants behave, and the factors leading to SNAP participation. Most importantly, respondents are not randomly assigned into the program. A selection problem arises because the choice to participate depends on unobserved factors such as financial stability, human capital characteristics, disability, and motivation toward work, all thought to be jointly related to SNAP participation and mental health outcomes. Instead of attempting to point-identify the ATE, we establish bounds on this quantity by leveraging state-level variation in SNAP program eligibility rules. These rules, which affect the difficulty in joining the program, plausibly affect participation without otherwise affecting mental health status. Our approach partially identifies the ATE by extrapolating from the population of SNAP compliers – i.e., those who respond to the variation in eligibility rules. Partial identification in this setting relies on two assumptions: (i) costs associated with receiving SNAP – such as stigma or administrative burdens – are monotonically related to psychological distress, and (ii) SNAP participation does not, on average, exacerbate psychological distress. We extend our approach to partially identify policy relevant treatment effects (PRTE) and bound the effect on mental health of a change in the propensity to participate in SNAP by loosening income eligibility requirements and increasing the proportion of states that exclude cars from the asset test.

 

DATE:

PRESENTER(S)

SEMINAR TITLE:
June 13, 2024 Mary Campbell,

Director – TXRDC,

Texas A&M University

Karin Johnson,

TXRDC Administrator

US Census Bureau

 TXRDC Informational Session
Abstract:
In this ZOOM presentation Drs. Campbell and Johnson will discuss restricted-access demographic, economic, and business data, what the TXRDC is and how it provides access to restricted data, and how researchers can apply for access to restricted federal statistical data.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Fall 2025

DATE:

PRESENTER(S)

SEMINAR TITLE:
August 2025 Sherecce Fields,

Texas A&M University

 TBD:
September 2025 Trent Alexander,

University of Michigan

 TBD:
October 2025 Stephanie Potochnik,

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 Health and healthcare among Hispanic children and families
November 2025 Katie Genadek,

U.S. Census Bureau

 TBD:
October 2025 Walter Peacock,

Texas A&M University

Bethany DeSalvo,

US Census Bureau

 Considerations for using the RDC for disaster-related research