August 6, 2009

 

The Luxembourg Income Study is pleased to announce the availability of a NEW online table-making service called the LIS Web Tabulator – known as the “webtab”. The webtab enables registered LIS users to design and generate cross-national descriptive tables based on the underlying LIS datasets without the need for programming.

If you wish to use the webtab and are not currently registered, follow this link and register: http://www.lisproject.org/data-access/data-access-registration.html 

The current version of the webtab includes datasets from LIS' Wave V (approximately 2000) and Wave VI (approximately 2004). For now, it includes household-level data only. The webtab contains standardized indicators, including multiple measures of real household income, poverty, and income distribution, as well as demographic and labor market variables.

We suggest that you review the on-line documentation carefully to learn about the features of the webtab  to discover the features of the new LISSY system.

The webtab will grow and change over time. Later this year, we will introduce a streamlined registration process, designed specifically for webtab users. Stay tuned to our website for announcements and updates! 

August 05, 2009

Revision of LWS data set: DE01

Two more data sets have been added to the LWS data archive: USS03 and USS06

Correction of weights

The weights in LWS DE01 have been corrected to account for the multiple imputations of the wealth variables. For users who want to estimate only simple statistics such as means and medians ignoring the effects of imputation error on the standard errors of these estimates, it will probably be sufficient to use the weights provided, which have been divided by 5. Software to compute means and medians and their associated standard errors with respect to imputation and sampling error is provided in the section on sampling error in the SCF 2001 codebook http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/2001/codebk2001.txt. Users who want to estimate more complex statistics, particularly regressions, should be cautious in their treatment of the implicates. Many regression packages will treat each of the five implicates as an independent observation and correspondingly inflate the reported significance of results. Users who want to calculate regression estimates, but who have no immediate use for proper significance tests, could either average the dependent and independent values across the implicates or multiply their standard errors by the square root of five. For an easily understandable discussion of multiple imputation in the SCF from a user's point of view, see 
Catherine Montalto and Jaimie Sung, "Multiple Imputation in the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances," Financial Counseling and Planning, Volume 7, 1996, pages 133-146 

(or on the Internet at http://www.hec.ohio-state.edu/hanna/imput.htm). 
That article also contains a set of simple SAS macros to use to compute correct standard errors from multiply-imputed data. Two alternatives for processing general model estimates are offered in the SCF 2001 codebook, one written in SAS (MACRO MISECOMP) and the other in Stata (StataMIcode.do). 

The imputation procedure is described in "Multiple Imputation in the Survey of Consumer Finances" (Arthur B. Kennickell, September 1998, http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/method.html).

July 15, 2009

New Summer Lecture Series - 2009 - Larry Mishel :"Waging Inequality in America"

In 2009, the Luxembourg Income Study and the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy launched an annual lecture series, to be known as the LIS Summer Lecture Series. The inaugural lecture, co-hosted jointly by the Luxembourg Competitiveness Observatory, the Luxembourg Chambre des Salariés and the Luxembourg Income Study, took place on July 7, 2009 at the Abbaye Neumünster (Luxembourg)

    
                                                                                              Janet Gornick (LIS), Lawrence Mishel (EPI),
                                                                                                          Serge Allegrezza (Statec/ODC)

July 09, 2009

New LWS data sets are available. Some revisions of the current data structure had been applied.

New Data

Changes to Data Naming Convention

The LWS naming convention has been changed so that the data set name refers to the income reference year, as is the case with LIS. As a result, the following data sets have been renamed:

• DE01 is now DE00;
• USP01 is now USP00; and
• USS01 is now USS00; 

The new data sets (USS03 and USS06) all refer to the income reference year. There has been no change to UK00, which already refers to the income reference year. Please note that as we continue to update current data sets, other names may be affected.

New and Redefined Variables

The definition of the variable TD has been changed to better reflect the goals of LWS comparability.  TD is now only computed if all of the components of both housing debt (HSD) and non-housing debt (NHD) are available.  A new variable, TD_cs, has been created to incorporate any and all information available regarding housing and non-housing debt, and is computed even if components are missing.  The new variable (and the changed TD) are available in the newest release of data (i.e., US SCF and Germany) and will also be created in other data sets as they are updated.

The variable OA_cs was created as the sum of all “other” assets (i.e., those not classified in the main components of either financial or non-financial assets).  These assets include pension assets, life insurance, durables, and collectibles.  OA_cs has been calculated for all existing and new data sets.

Summary Wealth Variables

In keeping with the “comparable” and “country-specific” definitions of the summary wealth variables, when data sets are added or updated, the “comparable“ variables will only be created if all of the individual components are available. The country-specific variables will be created with all available components in the country.  (See “LWS Variable List and Variable Definitions” at http://www.lisproject.org/lws/varlistvardef.xls for more information.)  These more stringent definitions were already applied to the US SCF and German data sets.

June 11, 2009

 Five new datasets from Latin America (Wave VI) data are available

We are pleased to announce that, as of today, five new datasets from Latin America have been added to Wave VI of the LIS database:

Brazil           Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios (PNAD) 2006
Colombia      Encuesta Continua de Hogares (ECH) 2004
Guatemala    Encuesta Nacional de Condiciones de Vida (ENCOVI) 2006
Uruguay       Encuesta Continua de Hogares (ECH 2004)
Peru            Encuesta Nacional de Hogares (ENAHO) 2004

The addition of these five datasets marks the end of the first pilot phase of a larger project underway – the Luxembourg Middle-Income Countries Study (LMICS) – which we will launch in phases over the next three years. The LMICS project will add 15-20 middle-income countries to our data archive. The current LIS database contains a large number of high-income countries, and just a few middle-income countries (i.e., Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia). The integration of a substantial number of middle-income countries will necessitate major changes to the LIS template. Stay tuned for more information!

These five Latin American datasets constitute an early phase in the LMICS project. These datasets were “lissified” (harmonized) into the current LIS template, so including them in cross-national comparative projects based on the LIS data will be straightforward. We are still learning about how well the current LIS data template, designed for high-income countries, fits these datasets. These five datasets will be re-harmonized once the new LMICS template has been completed. We have made this first release available for public use in order to allow a wider set of researchers to begin to use the datasets. 

In general, the tax and transfer data are not as complete or as disaggregated as in most of our datasets, but our staff– and a team of Latin American consultants – worked extensively to make these datasets as comparable as possible to the other LIS datasets. In addition, the dataset from Uruguay departs from our usual dataset selection criteria in that it covers urban households only (although that constitutes about 92% of the population). In the fall of 2009, we will complete an internal assessment of these five datasets, which includes a comparison of results based on the microdata with national statistics; we will make that document publicly available. In the meantime, we enthusiastically invite feedback, especially from researchers with expertise in these countries. 

If and when it is appropriate, over time, we will revise these datasets. As always, revision announcements are made available in this section of our website.

A team at the World Bank helped us enormously throughout the process of acquiring, harmonizing, and documenting these five datasets. We especially thank Jose Molinas Vega, Senior Economist, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM), Latin America and the Caribbean Region. We also thank Horacio Levy (ISER, University of Essex) and Jose Ricardo Nogueira (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco), who constructed a microsimulation program used to complete the tax-and-transfer components in the Brazilian dataset. 

We are grateful to the U.S. National Science Foundation and the European Commission EUROsociAL Programme for financial support for this project. 

Finally, we are delighted to welcome representatives from the statistical offices of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Peru  into “the LIS family”. We have had the opportunity to meet some of them and we look forward to meeting the others soon. 

March 18, 2009

 

The Luxembourg Income Study is pleased to announce the availability of a new version of the LISSY system (release 8).

From now on, LISSY provides a secure remote access to LIS micro-databases through TWO submission paths:
  1. an email client software such as Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.
  2. a Job Submission Interface

The Job Submission Interface (JSI) is a user-friendly secure Java application that allows researchers to not only write and submit job requests but also to: 
  - view job requests and their corresponding output 
  - trace the status of the job requests in process ('received', 'processing', 'set to review' etc.) and 
  - access the history of all job requests ever sent.

Please, look carefully at the on-line documentation to discover the features of the new LISSY system.

WARNING

While your past and future job requests are still following up the same syntax, one change must be applied to submit jobs to LISSY. NOW PASSWORDS ARE NOW CASE SENSITIVE. Please keep this in mind when accessing LISSY in future.

March 08, 2009

NEW GENDER KEY FIGURES.  
Coinciding with International Women's Day, LIS is pleased to announce the launch of the LIS Gender Key Figures. The LIS Gender Key Figures consist of 10 separate tables of national-level indicators that highlight women's economic outcomes and gender inequality in poverty and employment.

Similar to the longstanding LIS Inequality and Poverty Key Figures, the LIS Gender Key Figures are available to the general public through a search engine and downloadable Excel workbook. Registered LIS users may also access the microdata used to create the Gender Key Figures.

This project was initiated with support from the World Bank, specifically the Gender and Development unit in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management network. We thank Elena Bardasi, at the World Bank, for invaluable support and guidance. Later this month, the World Bank will also launch a website that makes these indicators available.

March 08, 2009

WINNER OF THE FIRST WORLD BANK/LIS GENDER RESEARCH AWARD.  
Congratulations to Michelle Budig and Joya Misra for winning the first World Bank/LIS Gender Research Award for their Working Paper #499, "How Care Work Shapes Earnings in a Cross-National Perspective".

The World Bank's Gender and Development unit and LIS jointly sponsor this new peer-reviewed award for LIS Working Papers that have a focus on gender and that include at least one middle-income country. (This award will also be granted for Working Papers submitted in 2009, 2010, and 2011.)  As recipients of this award, the authors receive a prize of 750 Euros, plus an invitation to serve as a faculty member, and to present the winning paper, at the 2009 LIS Summer Workshop.

  December 15, 2008 - Call for Papers

Inequality and Poverty: American and International Perspectives

Social Science Quarterly announces a special issue devoted to the topic of “Inequality and Poverty: American and International Perspectives.”  This is scheduled for publication in December 2010.  SSQ welcomes manuscripts from political scientists, sociologists, economists and others on this topic. 

To insure time for a thorough review process, we suggest of submission date of July 1, 2009.  This should give adequate time for a review of the paper, a revision if required, and final manuscript preparation.  We will accept papers submitted after this date, but chances of inclusion in this issue are diminished for late submissions.

SSQ prefers medium length manuscripts not exceeding 30 pages, all double spaced.  Our “Getting Published in SSQ ” document is included in each issue or is available from the Editor. 

Manuscripts can be submitted electronically to ssq@uh.edu. Include the author identification and cover letter as a separate attachment.

Robert L. Lineberry
ssq@uh.edu
Editor, Social Science Quarterly
Department of Political Science
447 PGH
University of Houston
Houston TX 77204-3011

November 18, 2008  

Key figures

We have added a new indicator for all datasets: Mean Equivalized Income

visit LIS key figures' page

November 03, 2008

LIS is pleased to announce two new publications that draw on our micro-data.

1)  Growing Unequal: Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries. 2008. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Paris: OECD.

This landmark study on inequality and poverty, which covers all 30 OECD countries, includes chapters on the main features and drivers of inequality, characteristics of poverty, and additional dimensions of inequality -- such as intergenerational mobility, the impact of publicly-provided services, and the distribution of household wealth. The report draws heavily on the LIS data and, even more so, on the LWS data.

2) Growing up in North America: The Economic Well-being of Children in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. 2008. Katherine Scott, Children in North America Project. Canada: in association with the Canadian Council on Social Development, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México.
(This report is available as LIS WP 482).

This report examines the economic security of children across North America, looking at a range of measures, including family income, access to basic goods such as housing and health care, and the scope of public resources available to improve the economic security of families with children. The findings confirm that there are tremendous disparities in the economic well-being of children across North America, both between and within the three countries.

October 27, 2008

We have added two policy reports to our Publications and Other Databases page.  

■ One is titled A Detailed Look at Parental Leave Policies in 21 OECD Countries.   

This table summarizes parental leave policies in 21 OECD countries, as of 2008. It was compiled by Rebecca Ray of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in the United States .

 The findings in this report are analyzed in a companion policy brief, also available here:  Parental Leave Policy in 21 Countries: Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality. (2008). By Rebecca Ray, Janet C. Gornick, and John Schmitt. Washington , D.C. : Center for Economic and Policy Research.

 ■ The second is titled Measures that Govern Rights to Alternate Work Arrangements. 

This table summarizes flexible working time statutes in 21 OECD countries, as of 2007. It was assembled by Ariane Hegewisch, as part of a cross-national research project on working time regulation and labor market outcomes, directed by Janet Gornick at the City University of New York, and sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  

The findings in this report are analyzed in a companion policy brief, also available here:  Statutory Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective. (2008). By Ariane Hegewisch and Janet C. Gornick. Washington , D.C. : Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

October 08, 2008
Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper #500

Today, we added the 500th paper to the LIS Working Paper series. It seems fitting that we reach this exciting milestone in the same year that we celebrate LIS’s 25th birthday. That’s one paper every 18 days, for a quarter of a century!

The 500th LIS Working Paper was submitted by Louis Chauvel –- Professor, and Director of doctoral studies in sociology, at Sciences Po in Paris . Professor Chauvel is the author of many papers on social change, social inequality, and generational change. He is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and previously served as General Secretary of the European Sociological Association. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Association Française de Sociologie and of the International Sociological Association.

Professor Chauvel’s LIS Working Paper is titled "Comparing Welfare Regime Changes: Living Standards and the Unequal Life Chances of Different Birth Cohorts". The paper, a study of Denmark , France , Italy , and the United States , assesses how different welfare state regimes provide different trade-offs between intra- and inter-cohort inequality. The primary finding is that the conservative and the familialistic welfare regimes are marked by more inter-cohort inequality, at the expense of younger generations, while the social democratic and the liberal regimes (especially the U.S. ) show less inter-cohort redistribution of resources, but increasing intra-cohort inequality.

 The paper will be published in: Ian Rees Jones, Paul Higgs, and David J. Ekerdt (eds.), 2009, Consumption and Generational Change: The Rise of Consumer Lifestyles, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick , New Jersey .

At LIS, we are delighted to share this moment in LIS’ history with Louis Chauvel. When we notified him that his paper would be LIS WP #500 -– we rang some bells and blew some whistles -– he replied by email: “Thank you for this and I am very happy to have modestly contributed to the exceptional success of your LIS project, one of the most mind-blowing social science projects in the world.” 

It is my pleasure to leave all modesty aside and to share this marvelous comment with the larger LIS community. It surely contributes to the enthusiasm that all of us at LIS maintain for the work that we do. Now we look forward to LIS Working Paper #1000! 

Janet Gornick
Director
Luxembourg Income Study

Search our Working Papers Database

August 28, 2008
 Revision notes - Taiwan 2000 & 2005 - United Kingdom 1999

Revisions to Taiwan 2000 and 2005  & United Kingdom 1999 (Wave V.2 dataset) have been made. 
 

August 26, 2008

We have updated and refined our Working Papers Policies and Practices. For example, we have clarified our policy about accomodating the needs of scholarly and other publishers. Please see http://www.lisproject.org/publications/wppolicies.htm

  July 22, 2008

We are happy to announce the availability of a new documentation file, the LIS Variable Availability Matrix. This matrix allows users to easily determine which LIS variables are available in each LIS dataset. The matrix includes the earliest LIS datasets (from the 1960s and 1970s) up through Wave VI. It will be updated regularly, as new datasets are added.

For each variable, in each dataset, the following code is used:

* cell is blank      this dataset was lissified using a template that does not contain this variable 
* cell contains 0  this dataset was lissified using a template that contains this variable but it is not available in this dataset 
* cell contains V  this dataset was lissified using a template that contains this variable and it is available in this dataset

April 29, 2008
 Revision notes - Sweden 2000 & Mexico 2002

  Revisions to Sweden 2000 & Mexico 2002 (Wave V.2 dataset) have been made. 
 

Conference Annoucement
 The Department of Economics at University of Kiel is organizing an international conference on Income Distribution and the Family
September 01-03 2008 in Kiel, Germany.

The goal of this conference is to create a forum for theoretical, empirical, policy-oriented, and methodological studies on how insights from family economics may enhance our knowledge concerning the measurement, driving forces, and evolution of economic inequality.

Deadline for paper submission is June 1.
Papers should be sent to family@economics.uni-kiel.de. 
Further information is available at: http://www.bwl.uni-kiel.de/vwlinstitute/ifs/Conference/conf_start.php

March 17, 2008
THE NEWSLETTER IS OUT! (Winter 2008 edition)

Please note that this is the LAST PAPER EDITION of our newsletter. 

Please take one minute to register to receive future LIS newsletter via e-mail.

http://www.lisproject.org/php/nl/main.php

(all email addresses will remain at LIS and will never be sold or otherwise given to other organizations for any purpose)

March 06, 2008
 Revision notes - Germany 2000

Revisions to Germany 2000 (Wave V.2 dataset) have been made. For more details, please click here
 

February 11, 2008
International Master in Social Policy Analysis by Luxembourg, Leuven and Associate Institutes (IMPALLA)

Applications for next academic year 2008-2009 now open.

For more information, see http://www.lisproject.org/links/announcement.htm

January 21, 2008
The World Bank / LIS Gender Research Award

The World Bank’s Gender and Development program and LIS will jointly sponsor a new LIS Working Paper award. The award is for papers that have a focus on gender and that include at least one middle-income country. The new award will be presented once each year to the author(s) of the best eligible LIS Working Paper submitted to LIS during the prior year. Awards will be granted for Working Papers submitted in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Eligible papers will be peer reviewed. The review committee includes Janet Gornick (LIS), Markus Jäntti (LIS), Elena Bardasi (World Bank), and Stephen Jenkins (University of Essex).

Like our other longstanding Working Paper award – the Aldi Hagenaars Award -- recipients of the Gender Research Award will receive 750 Euros, plus an invitation to serve as a faculty member, and to present the winning paper, at the following LIS Summer Workshop.

Note: As of 2007, the LIS database includes the following middle-income countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, and the Slovak Republic. LIS will be adding more middle-income countries during the course of the award. Stay tuned for announcements of new datasets.

January 11, 2008
 Revision notes - Finland 2000

Revisions to Finland 2000 (Wave V.2 dataset) have been made. To see the full list of the changes, please click here