Data Access Tools and Comparative Welfare Analysis using New Harmonized Microdata on Income and Consumption in Mali and Lao PDR

There is ever increasing demand for micro-data of high quality on incomes and consumption and on the broader livelihoods of individuals and families in all countries, but especially in poor countries. Such data sources are essential to monitor social welfare, track trends, identify vulnerable groups, gauge the impact of interventions. Such monitoring is crystallized in the well known Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the United Nations. Unfortunately, low income countries often face difficulties in building a reliable knowledge base and micro-data infrastructure. Against this backdrop, the present project proposes to gather an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers, data experts, data scientists, and IT specialists from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
to work with statistical offices in Mali and Laos with the objective to build capacity and improve data collection and comparability in these two countries, and to exploit these to conduct new research on social welfare, inequality, and poverty in these two countries in a comparative perspective within south East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.