Estimating Black-White Mortality Differences by State of Birth Using Census and Vital Statistics Data: A Simple GMM Approach

Demographers are often confronted with the task of forming estimates by combining separate data sources. We propose a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator for such cases, and use the approach to estimate mortality using data from the U.S. Census and from Vital Statistics. Specifically, the GMM approach allows us to credibly estimate old-age mortality rates by race, gender, birth State, and birth cohort (with a focus of birth years 1906–1925). We show that State-of-birth effects are quite small for the white population, but are very large for the black population. The black-white mortality gap is much higher for individuals born in the Southern States than for those born in the Northern States.