Forecasting with Micro Panels: The Case of Health Care Costs
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Journal of Forecasting, 2017, 36 (1), pp. 1 - 15
- Issue Date:
- 2017-01-01
Open Access
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Open Access
This item is open access.
Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Micro panels characterized by large numbers of individuals observed over a short time period provide a rich source of information, but as yet there is only limited experience in using such data for forecasting. Existing simulation evidence supports the use of a fixed-effects approach when forecasting but it is not based on a truly micro panel set-up. In this study, we exploit the linkage of a representative survey of more than 250,000 Australians aged 45 and over to 4 years of hospital, medical and pharmaceutical records. The availability of panel health cost data allows the use of predictors based on fixed-effects estimates designed to guard against possible omitted variable biases associated with unobservable individual specific effects. We demonstrate the preference towards fixed-effects-based predictors is unlikely to hold in many practical situations, including our models of health care costs. Simulation evidence with a micro panel set-up adds support and additional insights to the results obtained in the application. These results are supportive of the use of the ordinary least squares predictor in a wide range of circumstances. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: