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ANNOUNCEMENT The
Luxembourg Wealth Study The Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS) microdata are now available for use! On 6 December 2007, the Luxembourg Income Study released for public use the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS), a new database containing harmonized wealth microdata. After four years in development, we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to make these datasets available for use by our registered users. In this brief document, we introduce LWS, organized around a set of questions that we anticipate.
Key Facts about LWS (which we pronounce as “loose”) include the following: • The LWS database was modelled after its “sister database”, the Luxembourg Income Study, our 24-year-old database that contains harmonized income datasets. LWS operates similarly, meaning that: -- we have assembled a group of wealth microdatasets, acquired from country-level data providers; -- our staff has harmonized them ex post into a common cross-national template; -- we have documented the construction of our harmonized database; and -- we are making the harmonized data available for public use through our secure remote-access system. • This first release of LWS contains thirteen datasets from ten countries. The countries include Austria ,Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy , Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. We have included one dataset from each country, with the exception of the U.S., for which we include two datasets from different underlying surveys, and Finland and Italy , for which we include two datasets from different survey years. • In most cases, these LWS datasets are based on different surveys from those included in our LIS income database, although all of the LWS datasets contain some data on household income. The income data in the LWS datasets are less detailed but quite similar to the income data in our LIS datasets. (See http://www.lisproject.org/ for a report prepared by our staff that compares the income data in these two databases). • LWS’ overarching goal is to enable cross-national research on diverse topics related to household wealth. We hope to foster new lines of comparative research on, for example, inter- and intra-country variability in household net worth, portfolio compositions, wealth distributions, and the interplay between income and asset holding. As with LIS, our hope is that LWS will also provide opportunities for scholarly exchange and that the creation and documentation of this database will contribute to the development of better and more standardized wealth data collection practices. • LWS was originally founded and coordinated by two Project Leaders, Timothy Smeeding (of Syracuse University) and Andrea Brandolini (at the Bank of Italy). During its pilot period, LWS was staffed by economist Eva Sierminska (now at the Centre d'Etudes de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques [CEPS/INSTEAD], in Luxembourg). • During the development phase, LWS operated as an independent project, in association with the Luxembourg Income Study. LWS’ pilot phase was generously funded by contributions from research organizations and data providers in the ten participating countries. In July 2007, LWS ceased to exist as a free-standing project and the database was fully integrated into its parent organization, LIS. • Access to the LWS data operate under the same principles and practices that pertain to the LIS data. All users must register (http://www.lisproject.org/introduction/userform.htm) and are required to re-register once per year. Registered users may use the LWS microdata (and the LIS microdata) at no cost if they reside in a financially-contributing country or in a country that participates in LIS but for whom the country fee has been waived. Students, residing in any country in the world, may use the LWS and LIS data for free without limit. Other researchers will be charged a quarterly user fee. Use of the data for commercial purposes is strictly forbidden. If you have questions about your access, please contact LIS staff or . As with LIS, we have prepared a set of documentation files that accompany the LWS datasets. See http://www.lisproject.org/lwstechdoc.htm. The documentation files include: • Data availability • Quick reference guide (including variable list) • Name and label of extra variables by country • Missing values policy • Behavioral variable mapping • Variable list and variable definitions • A list of datasets • Country-specific documentation • An internal document reporting the relationship between LWS and LIS income data
Yes, we certainly will. Our main priority in the first year of LWS becoming public is to encourage use of the datasets already included in LWS. We will be gathering and incorporating feedback from users of these data. We hope that, after we have collected experiences and feedback during the first year of public operation, we can intensify the effort to expand the datasets available in the LWS database. Datasets will be added to LWS as they become available to us and as workflow at LIS permits. If you or your organization has an appropriate
wealth dataset, please alert us!
4. WILL THERE BE LWS KEY FIGURES? Yes, there will be. We
anticipate adding a set of Key Figures -– that is, standardized
country-level indicators -– relatively soon.
5. WILL THERE BE A LWS WORKING PAPER SERIES?
There already is. The new LWS WP series already contains four papers, available for download; see
http://www.lisproject.org/publications/lwswpapers.htm.
To ensure that minimal standards of clarity are met, LIS Director Janet Gornick and LIS Research Director Markus Jantti check each WP, informally, before it is placed on the LIS website. Note
that these WPS are not peer reviewed and placement on our website does not
constitute publication. LIS encourages all WP authors to seek formal
publication venues for LIS- and LWS-based research.
6. DO YOU HAVE ANY COUNTRY-LEVEL INSTITUTIONAL DATA THAT RELATE TO THE LWS MICRODATA? Yes, we do. As part of a research project sponsored the United States Social Security Administration (SSA), we have created a large set of tables, using secondary data, relevant to wealth studies. These tables contain descriptive information -– both quantitative and qualitative -– on a broad range of institutions and practices, related to, for example, public and private pensions, individual savings plans, wealth and inheritance taxes, intra-family asset transfers, housing and homeownership, health care expenditures, physical wellbeing and macroeconomic outcomes and indicators (including PPPs). On 14 December 2007 , we will make these tables available on the LIS website (see “Publications and Other Databases”). We invite and encourage all LIS and LWS researchers to make use of them. These tables include the ten countries currently in the LWS database, plus Spain, and they constitute a first version of this country-level database. We anticipate expanding and revising these tables periodically over the next six months.
Our organization will continue to be known by its original name, “the Luxembourg Income Study”, or LIS. LIS –- a data archive and research centre located in Luxembourg -- now houses three “databases”: (1) LIS, (2) LWS, and (3) LES: • The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), the oldest and largest of the three, contains harmonized income data from thirty countries at multiple points in time. See http://www.lisproject.org/techdoc.htm. • The Luxembourg Employment Study (LES), a database that was built and filled during the 1990s, contains harmonized labour force data from sixteen countries. LES was a time-limited project and is no longer updated. See http://www.lisproject.org/publications/lestechdoc.htm • The Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS) -- this new database -- contains harmonized wealth data from ten countries. To sum up, “LIS” now refers both to our organization as well as to our longstanding database containing income datasets. “LWS” is a component database of our parent organization, LIS. We understand that this terminology can be confusing, but -– like interesting people, places, and organizations the world over -- we are shaped by our history. Most important, LWS -- and researchers who use the LWS data -- will be fully integrated into the activities of the Luxembourg Income Study. We will add instruction about LWS to our annual summer workshop agenda (http://www.lisproject.org/workshop.htm); authors of LWS Working Papers will be eligible for the annual Aldi Hagenaars Memorial Award (http://www.lisproject.org/workshop/aldiaward.htm); and users of the LWS data are encouraged to apply to our Visiting Scholar Program (http://www.lisproject.org/visitingscholar/callforproposal.htm).
For user queries, contact: • , Microdata Expert and Coordinator of User Support
• , Director of LIS • , Research Director of LIS
• , LWS Coordinator, 2004-2007 • , LWS Project Leader, 2004-2007 • , LWS Project Leader, 2004-2007
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