NEW LIS & LWS documentation: Contents of LIS and LWS flow variables and LWS assets and liabilities variables
In order to provide more detailed documentation about the construction of flow variables in the LIS and LWS Databases, and assets and liabilities variables in the LWS Database, LIS has published detailed content tables for each dataset on our website, available in two Excel documents for LIS and three for LWS. In all documents, the information is organised by country and within each country by year, giving a comprehensive overview to the users. These documents will be updated every time LIS releases new datasets with the new countries added, additional years for existing countries, and any revisions to previous data that might occur.
How to read the tables:
These tables show the mapping of content at the level of each LIS/LWS flow variable and LWS asset and liability variable. If a field is empty, no data was mapped at the level of that variable for that specific country in that year. However, due to the nesting system in LIS/LWS databases (see the variable list), an empty field for a lower-level variable means that either the information was not collected at all or that it was not collected at that level of detail. For example, if all pension data is collected in one variable, only pipension variable will be filled, and not the lower-level variables (universal pensions, assistance pensions, public contributory pensions, occupational and individual pensions). Consequently, the total pension income is available, but detailed information on the types of pensions is not.
If an upper-level flow variable (e.g., pilabour) field is empty, no data was mapped directly at that level. Nevertheless, if the lower-level variables that constitute the components of this upper-level variable (in this example, wage income (pi11), self-employment income (pi12), and fringe benefits (pi13)) are filled, the upper-level variable contains all the contents of these lower-level variables. If, in addition to the lower-level variables, there is content in the field of an upper-level variable (e.g., in pilabour, the content ‘income from secondary labor market activities’), this content describes the differential amounts in the microdata to which is added the content of the lower level variables that enter in its composition.
In the contents_combined documents that exist both for LIS (contents_combined_LIS) and LWS (contents_combined_LWS), the users can find the original content that was mapped in each LIS/LWS flow variable (at the detail level provided by the data provider) from the main flow variables blocks: Current Income (with details on labour income, capital income, pensions, other public social benefits, and private transfers), Extraordinary Income, Income Deductions Transfers Paid and Loans Repayments (with details on income taxes and contributions, other direct taxes, inter-household transfers paid, mortgage and other loans instalments paid), Consumption Expenditure (by 12 categories), and Imputed Rent. The details are particularly useful for the content of public social benefits in which are listed the original benefits included in the original variables at the level provided by the original data source. The document details what is mapped at the individual level for the variables provided at the individual level and at the household level for all variables.
The contents_iua_combined documents, which exist both for LIS (contents_iua_combined_LIS) and LWS (contents_iua_combined_LWS), provide the contents of the alternative set of variables that splits the benefits by type in insurance-based (contributory) – p/hpub_i, universal benefits (non-contributory and non-means tested) – hpub_u, and assistance benefits (means and/or assets tested) – hpub_a. Please note that this breakdown might not be available for all datasets or all benefits (e.g., some of the original variables could contain more benefits of different types). In the cases where the original variable contains a mix of benefits of different types, or if for other reasons the benefit type cannot be determined, these variables are mapped at the upper level in the hpublic variable. Additionally, a benefit type may change over time; for example, policymakers can restrict eligibility for an initial universal benefit to only those in need, effectively transforming it into a means-tested benefit.
In the contents_balance_combined_LWS document, users can find the contents of LWS assets and liabilities variables. For example, under Investment Funds and Alternative Investments (hafii), users can find detailed information about country-specific financial assets categorised there (e.g., the market value of managed accounts, value of unit and investment trusts, value of tax-free bond mutual funds, etc.). The same approach applies to other assets and liabilities variables. The contents for all assets and liabilities variables refer to household‐level information, except for Pension Assets and Other Long‐Term Savings variables, available at both household and individual levels.
Note:These documents will be updated every time LIS releases new datasets with the new countries added, additional years for existing countries, and any revisions to previous data that might occur.