Luxembourg Income Study
Lead Research Organisation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Department Name: Economics
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| Frank Cowell (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | LIS Cross-National Data Center (LIS), formerly the Luxembourg Income Study, is an ongoing social science research infrastructure project that has received funding through the ESRC for many years. Funding from the ESRC, along with a matching grant from the ONS, contributes to LIS' overall core funding which funds data harmonization of datasets from high- and middle-income countries. Those datasets are lodged in the Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) and the Luxembourg Wealth Study Database (LWS). LIS provides regulated access to these high-quality microdata to eligible researchers around the world; approximately 8% of eligible users are from the UK. LIS also generates Poverty and Inequality Key Figures, which are aggregated results based on the microdata, and that are available to a more general audience. This general audience includes individuals in the commercial sector, journalists, researchers in NGO's, and the like. Key Findings In this five year grant, LIS set out to achieve the following: - expand LIS, adding Waves IX (2013) and X (2016), and add new middle-income countries; - develop LWS, adding another wave of datasets to existing countries; acquire new wealth datasets for 14 more countries in cooperation with the European Central Bank (based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey); - create a state-of-the-art metadata search and storage system; - maintain international standards in data security and data infrastructure systems; - provide high-quality harmonised household microdata to researchers around the world; - enable interdisciplinary cross-national social science research covering 45+ countries, including the UK; - aim to broaden its reach and impact in academic and non-academic circles through focused communications strategies and collaborations. As the ESRC provides support for an ongoing infrastructure, key findings refers more directly to what LIS has achieved of its stated goals: - Expansion of LIS: Approximately 37% of LIS Wave IX (2013) dataset harmonization is under way - Development of LWS: in 2014, LIS applied to the U.S. National Institute on Aging for a 2-year grant specifically to develop the Luxembourg Wealth Study Database. The grant was awarded and funded in April 2015, and will begin immediately. - The Metadata search and storage system: the project is nearing completion and is expected to be integrated and ready for use by the autumn 2015. - Reach: LIS hired a dedicated communications manager in 2014 who is systematically addressing a communications strategy with a view to augmenting new media use in particular. Impact As stated in the grant proposal, LIS actively monitors its relevance and impact. Academic impact Measuring the impact of data harmonization at LIS is visible in the (mandatory) submission of users' academic papers to the Working Papers series. LIS maintains three active series: the LIS Working Papers Series, the LWS Working Papers Series, and the Technical Working Papers Series. Submission to the working papers collection does not preclude submission to a peer-reviewed venue. Of the 28 working papers submitted to all three series in 2014, the first year of this grant, 71% included the UK microdata. This is broadly consistent with the average usage of UK data in working papers over the past grant cycle. Researchers access LIS and LWS microdata to study a number of areas. In 2014, working papers using UK data examined inequality (60%), social policy (40%), family policy (25%), gender (15%), single parents (15%), poverty (15%), and taxes/fiscal policy (15%) among other issues. Published articles based on 2014 contributions to the Working Papers Series appear in, for instance, Political Research Quarterly, European Sociological Review, World Family Map, Social Forces, Review of Income and Wealth, and Journal of Economic Inequality. LIS directors and staff participate actively in the academic community. Of particular note is the Introductory Summer Workshop, which takes place each July on the campus of the University of Luxembourg. LIS directors and staff spend one week training doctoral students from all over the world to conduct research using the LIS and LWS databases. They filled the 2014 class to its 30 person capacity again. Economic and Societal impact In collaboration with the New York Times, LIS developed a new database and accompanying report in April 2014 that are available to the public on the LIS website: http://www.lisdatacenter.org/resources/other-databases/ 2014 Public programming: Along with staff contributions to symposia and conferences, the following major public lectures took place in 2014: 1. In April, the New York office of LIS located in the Graduate Center of the City University of New York hosted a public lecture by Thomas Piketty, featuring his new economic blockbuster, Capital in the Twenty-first Century. 2. In July 2014, Branko Milanovic, Senior Scholar at the LIS Center in New York, gave the LIS Summer Lecture in Luxembourg, which is open to the public, to a full house. 3. In October, at the same venue, LIS hosted Angus Deaton for a public lecture on health and wealth inequality. 4. In October, LIS co-hosted a day-long research workshop with the Russell Sage Foundation and the Century Foundation in New York to discuss next avenues for research inequality with lessons from the Great Recession. 5. In October, LIS Director Janet Gornick addressed the United Nations General Assembly: http://www.lisdatacenter.org/news-and-events/gornick-un/. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |