Developing Comparative Databases

The paper gives a short presentation of the Center and of the comparative socio-economic databases the Center develops : the Luxembourg Income Study, with more than 40 micro-datasets on income distribution from 20 industrialized countries; the Panel Comparability Project (PACO), setting up a common database for longitudinal studies on households, presently integrating Western national panels and preparing for including nascent panels of Eastern countries; a similar comparative database project for longitudinal studies on firms, set up at a regional level. Information is included on data availability, data accessibility and data protection, data documentation, institutional documentation and electronic communication networks. Referring to these projects, the paper deals with basic issues such as production and control of comparability (ex post/ex ante), longitudinal data production and quality control, comparative analysis as well as the corresponding necessity of having training programs for young economic and social science researchers (in order to turn the enormous national investments absorbed by continuous data production into transnationally comparable, scientifically grounded and cumulative knowledge, hopefully usable for policy analysis. In relation to CIESIN's explicit concern to address to take into account the human dimensions of global change, and to initiate collaborative ventures for identifying, acquiring and harmonizing socioeconomic and environmental data, the paper also reflects on the conceptual prerequisites for transnational and interregional pilot-projects geared to develop integrated databases with selected demographic, economic, social, and environmental data, in a comparative and geo-referenced information system to be tested. Pilot-projects of this type need the support of an appropriate infrastructure, to be offered by multinationally located research centers operating together as a large-scale network facility.