Towards Unrestricted Public Use Business Microdata: The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database

40 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2011 Last revised: 7 Mar 2011

See all articles by Satkartar K. Kinney

Satkartar K. Kinney

RTI International

Jerome Reiter

Duke University

Arnold Reznek

U.S. Census Bureau - Center for Economic Studies

Javier Miranda

US Census Bureau — Economy-Wide Statistics Division

Ron S. Jarmin

U.S. Census Bureau

John M. Abowd

Cornell University Department of Economics; Labor Dynamics Institute; Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CREST; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: February 1, 2011

Abstract

In most countries, national statistical agencies do not release establishment-level business microdata, because doing so represents too large a risk to establishments' confidentiality. One approach with the potential for overcoming these risks is to release synthetic data; that is, the released establishment data are simulated from statistical models designed to mimic the distributions of the underlying real microdata. In this article, we describe an application of this strategy to create a public use file for the Longitudinal Business Database, an annual economic census of establishments in the United States comprising more than 20 million records dating back to 1976. The U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Internal Revenue Service recently approved the release of these synthetic microdata for public use, making the synthetic Longitudinal Business Database the first-ever business microdata set publicly released in the United States. We describe how we created the synthetic data, evaluated analytical validity, and assessed disclosure risk.

Suggested Citation

Kinney, Satkartar K. and Reiter, Jerome and Reznek, Arnold and Miranda, Javier and Jarmin, Ron S. and Abowd, John, Towards Unrestricted Public Use Business Microdata: The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database (February 1, 2011). US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP 11-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1759422 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1759422

Satkartar K. Kinney

RTI International ( email )

PO Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, 27709
United States

Jerome Reiter

Duke University ( email )

100 Fuqua Drive
Durham, NC 27708-0204
United States

Arnold Reznek

U.S. Census Bureau - Center for Economic Studies ( email )

United States

Javier Miranda (Contact Author)

US Census Bureau — Economy-Wide Statistics Division ( email )

Washington, DC
United States

Ron S. Jarmin

U.S. Census Bureau ( email )

4700 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
United States

John Abowd

Cornell University Department of Economics ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://blogs.cornell.edu/abowd/

Labor Dynamics Institute ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/LDI/

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/LDI/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

CREST ( email )

92245 Malakoff Cedex
France

HOME PAGE: http://www.crest.fr/

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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