Privacy protection, measurement error, and the integration of remote sensing and socioeconomic survey data
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2025-07-01
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Affiliation
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of ArizonaIssue Date
2022-09Keywords
Measurement errorPrivacy protection
Remote sensing data
Spatial anonymization
Sub-Saharan Africa
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Elsevier BVCitation
Michler, J. D., Josephson, A., Kilic, T., & Murray, S. (2022). Privacy protection, measurement error, and the integration of remote sensing and socioeconomic survey data. Journal of Development Economics, 158.Journal
Journal of Development EconomicsRights
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
When publishing socioeconomic survey data, survey programs implement a variety of statistical methods designed to preserve privacy but which come at the cost of distorting the data. We explore the extent to which spatial anonymization methods to preserve privacy in the large-scale surveys supported by the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) introduce measurement error in econometric estimates when that survey data is integrated with remote sensing weather data. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we produce 90 linked weather-household datasets that vary by the spatial anonymization method and the remote sensing weather product. By varying the data along with the econometric model we quantify the magnitude and significance of measurement error coming from the loss of accuracy that results from privacy protection measures. We find that spatial anonymization techniques currently in general use have, on average, limited to no impact on estimates of the relationship between weather and agricultural productivity. However, the degree to which spatial anonymization introduces mismeasurement is a function of which remote sensing weather product is used in the analysis. We conclude that care must be taken in choosing a remote sensing weather product when looking to integrate it with publicly available survey data.Note
36 month embargo; available online: 1 July 2022ISSN
0304-3878Version
Final accepted manuscriptae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102927