Survival Analysis Using SAS®: A Practical Guide

Time in Power for Leaders of Countries: Example

The main data set that I will use to illustrate competing risks analysis was constructed by Bienen and van de Walle (1991). They identified a fairly exhaustive set of primary leaders of all countries world-wide over the past 100 years or so. For each leader, they determined the number of years in power and the manner by which he or she lost power. Each period of leadership is called a spell. The mode of exit for a leader from a position of power was classified into three categories:

• death from natural causes

• constitutional means

• nonconstitutional means (including assassination).

Clearly, it is unreasonable to treat all three types as equivalent. While constitutional and nonconstitutional exits might ...