What Do Survey Data Tell Us about U.S. Businesses?

This paper examines the reliability of survey data for research on pass-through businesses activities. Pass-through businesses account for over half of all net income to businesses in the United States and most of the rise in top income shares. We examine all surveys that ask questions about these businesses and compare outcomes across surveys and with aggregated administrative data. We document large inconsistencies in business incomes, receipts, and number of returns. We highlight problems due to non-representative samples and measurement errors. Non-representativeness is reflected in undersampling of businesses, especially in categories of owners with low total incomes. Measurement errors arise because respondents do not refer to relevant documents when answering survey questions and also because some questions are framed in a manner that is confusing to respondents. Finally, we discuss measurement issues for statistics of interest, such as returns and valuations of ongoing private businesses, that are inherently latent and cannot be recovered using either survey or administrative data.