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Research Article| August 01 2009

Revisiting das gupta: Refinement and extension of standardization and decomposition

Albert Chevan;

Albert Chevan

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003

chevan@soc.umass.edu

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Michael Sutherland

Michael Sutherland

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

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Demography (2009) 46 (3): 429–449.

https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.0.0060

Abstract

Standardization and decomposition are established and widely used demographic techniques for comparing rates and means between groups with differences in composition. The difference in rates and means has heretofore been resolved in terms of the contribution of variables to compositional effects for each variable and an overall rate effect. This study demonstrates that the resolution of differences is attainable at the categorical level for both compositional effects and rate effects. Refinements to Das Gupta’s equations yield a complete decomposition because of the additivity of categorical compositional and rate effects. Other refinements allow the decomposition of polytomous variables. Extensions to the method provide for the decomposition of the standard deviation and the multivariate index of dissimilarity.

Rate Effect, Compositional Effect, Labor Force Participation Rate, Composition Effect, Crude Rate

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© Population Association of America 2009

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:

Rozenberg Publishers

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1987

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.

Demography

,

24

,

291

–

95

. 10.2307/2061636

Das Gupta, P. (

1989

).

Methods of Decomposing the Difference Between Two Rates With Applications to Race-Sex Inequality in Earnings

.

Mathematical Population Studies

,

2

,

15

–

36

. 10.1080/08898488909525290

Das Gupta, P. (

1991

).

Decomposition of the Difference Between Two Rates and Its Consistency When More Than Two Populations Are Involved

.

Mathematical Population Studies

,

3

,

105

–

25

. 10.1080/08898489109525329

Das Gupta, P. (

1993

).

Standardization and Decomposition of Rates: A User’s Manual

.

Washington, DC

:

U.S. Bureau of the Census

.

Das Gupta, P. (

1994

).

Standardization and Decomposition of Rates From Cross-Classi ed Data

.

Genus

,

3

,

171

–

96

.

Durand, J.D. (

1948

).

The Labor Force in the United States

.

New York

:

Social Science Research Council

.

Jaffe, A.J. (

1951

).

Handbook of Statistical Methods for Demographers

.

Washington, DC

:

U.S. Government Printing Office

.

Kim, Y.J., & Strobino, D.M. (

1984

).

Decomposition of the Difference Between Two Rates With Hierarchical Factors

.

Demography

,

21

,

361

–

72

. 10.2307/2061165

Kitagawa, E.M. (

1955

).

Components of a Difference Between Two Rates

.

Journal of the American Statistical Association

,

50

,

1168

–

94

. 10.2307/2281213

Lichter, D.T., & Costanzo, J.A. (

1987

).

How Do Demographic Changes Affect Labor Force Participation of Women

.

Monthly Labor Review

,

110

,

23

–

25

.

Shorrocks, A.F. (

1980

).

The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures

.

Econometrica

,

48

,

613

–

26

. 10.2307/1913126

Detailed Occupation of the Experienced Civilian Labor Force by Sex for the United States and Regions: 1980 and 1970

. (

1984

).

Washington, DC

:

U.S. Government Printing Office

.

Vaupel, J.W. and V. Canudas-Romo. 2002. “Decomposing Demographic Change Into Direct Versus Compositional Components.” Demographic Research, Vol. 7, Article 1:1-14. Available online at http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol7/1/7-1.pdf.

Wang, J., Rahman, A., Siegal, H., & Fisher, J. (

2000

).

Standardization and Decomposition of Rates: Useful Analytic Techniques for Behavior and Health Studies

.

Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers

,

32

,

357

–

66

. 10.3758/BF03207806

Wolfbein, S.L., & Jaffe, A.J. (

1946

).

Demographic Factors in Labor Force Growth

.

American Sociological Review

,

11

,

392

–

96

. 10.2307/2087333