Measuring and validating social program replacement rates

Despite similar conceptual underpinnings, estimates of program replacement rates in the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset and the Social Citizenship Indicators Project do not always correspond with each other. Understanding why these similar conceptual measures vary is important both for understanding replacement rate generosity and for promoting the comparative study of social rights. We find that major differences in estimates of replacement rates in the two projects hinge on a few operational assumptions and some less obvious measurement errors. It seems likely that many of these differences can (and should) be reconciled to produce much more closely correlated measures.