ABSTRACT
The problems of multiple units of analysis that both appear in hierarchical systems and have important relationships over space and time require a correspondingly complex database for solution. The problems of multiple units of analysis that both appear in hierarchical systems and have important relationships over space and time require a correspondingly complex database for solution. The database should include combined time-series and cross-sectional observations; that is, it should include "panel data." The database would include provisions for the attributes unique to each level of units—rather than take die naive position that a higher order unit is merely the simple aggregate of the lower order units. State and federal governments, as units of analysis, are very important as wielders of policy instruments but are unimportant as units whose characteristics are direct measures of individual, household, and community well-being. In the United States, the household is usually the unit that makes consumption decisions.
