I am working on a project that requires me to distinguished between sources of market and non-market income. To do this, I need to make use of the various source variables for different income components. This includes INCOTHER. In the past, INCOTHER used to have its own source variables as well as corresponding amounts for these sources; I believe the source variable was called ‘OI_OFF’. When I search through the CPS IPUMS database in the process of creating my data extract, I was unable to find OI_OFF, but I located this entry in the user forum that makes reference to it.
Forgive me if I am simply overlooking it, but is this variable still available for download? I see that the variables designating sources of other forms of income still exist, for example survivors benefits. Is it still necessary to distinguish between other sources of income, or have the amounts of other income that correspond to these different sources just been merged into other income variables? (e.g. other income from social security merged into the INCSS variable) What was the reasoning for the discontinuation of this variable and is there still a way to access it? A reply to this this post from an IPUMS staff member suggests merging original NBER data with ASEC data extracts. Is this the only option? Any help would be appreciated.