Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Aggregation in the presence of data-processing lags distorts the information content of data, violating orthogonality restrictions that hold at the individual level. Though the phenomenon is general, it is illustrated here for the life-cycle-permanent-income model. Cross-section and pooled-panel data induce information-aggregation bias akin to that in aggregate time series. Calculations show that information aggregation can seriously bias tests of the life-cycle model on aggregate time series, cross-section, and pooled-panel data. Copyright 1992 by American Economic Association.