The Department of Economics Econometrics Seminar Series presents

"The Neglected Impact of Measurement Error on Disaggregate Transportation Demand Models"
with David Brownstone, Department of Economics and Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Irvine

Monday, May 20, 2013
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112

Econometricians have known for almost a century that using variables subject to measurement errors in regression models always biases inference and frequently leads to inconsistent estimation. Nevertheless disaggregate transportation modelers frequently use variables with substantial measurement error. Route choice, mode choice, and vehicle choice models all require information about non-chosen alternatives, and these data are frequently imputed (e.g. from network skims) with substantial error. This talk reviews work in economics on measurement error in income (a common exogenous variable in transportation models), and then gives some results from attempts to model the measurement process in route choice and vehicle choice.

For further information, please contact Gloria Simpson, simpsong@uci.edu or 949-824-5788.