Survey Weighting after Imperfect Linkage to an Administrative File

Abstract

This paper proposes an instrumental variable regression estimator of population totals using a sample, a set of links between the sample units and records on an administrative file, and a set of calibration totals calculated from the administrative file. This paper proposes a survey-weighted estimator of a population total that is valid when the survey non-response mechanism is non-ignorable and false negatives occur in the administrative-survey linkage. False negatives lead to measurement error in the administrative variables that are available on the survey and will lead to biased estimates if not taken into account. We show the benefit of the proposed approach in a simulation and in a case study.