Volume 50 - Article 17 | Pages 457–472  

Racial classification as a multistate process

By Jerônimo Muniz, Aliya Saperstein, Bernardo Lanza Queiroz

Response Letter

03 April 2026 | Response Letter

Multistate life expectancy estimates using racial transition probabilities for 5-year intervals (instead of 9-months)

by Jerônimo Muniz

Response letter by Jerônimo Muniz, Aliya Saperstein, and Bernardo Lanza Queiroz

We present alternative estimates that allow our original nine-month racial reclassification probabilities to compound across the five-year period. This approach is intended to prompt researchers to consider how temporal stability—or instability—in reclassification patterns may influence results in future applications of this method. Importantly, both estimation strategies have distinct strengths and limitations, and we interpret them as providing plausible lower- and upper-end estimates relative to a scenario in which repeated racial classification data are available throughout the full five-year period.

Back to the article