Leiden LIS Budget Incidence Fiscal Redistribution Dataset on Income Inequality (2017), assembled by Jinxian Wang and Koen Caminada (Version 1, November 2017), presents the disentanglement of income inequality and the redistributive effect of social transfers and income taxes in 47 LIS countries for the period 1967-2014.

The data source for our database is the microdata accessed between August and October, 2017, through the secured remote-execution system from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database. You can also access our database via the website of the LIS: Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg. This dataset refines, updates, and extends our 2011-dataset in three ways.

• A larger number of countries (47 versus 36) and a longer period (1967-2014 versus 1967-2006);
• A more user-friendly version allowing users to easily select income inequality variables and fiscal redistribution variables for (a group of) countries and/or specific data years via pivot tables.
• Consistent time-series; all calculations of the 2011-dataset were redone using the new LIS Template (centered on 2007). The revised template increased both comparability over-time and cross-national.

• Documentation Guide LLBIFR Dataset on Income Inequality; pdf
• Dataset
  • Tables & Figures; pdf
  • Excel Sheets & Pivot Tables; xls
• Powerpoint presentation; pdf
• Working Paper; pdf
• Sensitivity analyses (August 2018); pdf
  • Inequality and fiscal redistribution of total population versus working-age population
  • Different equivalence scales methods: LIS, OECD modified, and OECD original
  • Different global income inequality indices: Gini Coefficient, Atkinson Coefficient (with e=0.5 and e = 1.0), Mean Log Deviation and Theil Coefficient.

Content
LLBIFR Dataset on Income Inequality (2017) offers measures of fiscal redistribution in the developed countries, drawing upon data from 293 Luxembourg Income Study surveys conducted in 47 countries between 1967 and 2014 (5,437,818 disposable income observations). In this dataset we have computed several kinds of results, namely income inequality before social transfers and taxes, income inequality after social transfers and taxes, the overall redistributive effect, the partial effect of redistribution by several social transfers and the partial effect of redistribution by income taxes and social security contributions (see for a specification below).

Specifically, we have computed:

1. LIS descriptives: Median and mean equivalized income, gross versus net information of income and the number of observation for each wave (= 293 datasets; 47 countries over time; 5,437,818 disposable income observations ).
   [Table A1 in Excel Spreadsheet, plus a pivot table]
    
2. A measure of overall fiscal redistribution, as reflected in the difference between the Gini indexes of pre-tax-transfer primary income and post-tax-transfer disposable income. All figures are presented for both the Total population and the Working-age population (25-65).
   [Table A2 in Excel Spreadsheet, plus a pivot table]
    
3. The average size of social transfers as a proportion of households’ gross income, and a summary index of the degree to which transfers are targeted toward low-income groups. Our measure ranges from -1.0 (the poorest recipient receives all transfer income) to +1.0 (the richest recipient receives all transfer income).
   [Table A3 in Excel Spreadsheet, plus a pivot table]
   
   In order to disentangle income inequality even further by income source two additional statistics are provided for:
    
4. The budget size that is associated with several social transfers as a proportion of households’ gross income: Old-age/disability/survivor transfers; Sickness transfers; Family/children transfers; Education transfers; Unemployment transfers; Housing transfers; General/food/medical assistance transfers; Other transfers; and Income taxes and social security contributions.
   [Table A4 in Excel Spreadsheet, plus a pivot table]
    
5. A measure of the extent of fiscal redistribution that is associated with several social transfers and income taxes and social security contributions: Old-age/disability/survivor transfers; Sickness transfers; Family/children transfers; Education transfers; Unemployment transfers; Housing transfers; General/food/medical assistance transfers; Other transfers; and Income taxes and social security contributions.
   [Table A5 in Excel Spreadsheet, plus a pivot table]

A detailed description of these data and method will come available in Koen Caminada, Jinxian Wang, Kees Goudswaard & Chen Wang (2017), Income inequality and fiscal redistribution in 47 LIS-countries (1967-2014), LIS Working Paper Series No. 724. Please cite this working paper when referring to the data set.

The LLBIFR Dataset on Income Inequality (2017) is related to another dataset, the LLBIFR Dataset on Relative Income Poverty Rates, also assembled by Koen Caminada and Jinxian Wang (Version 1, December 2017).

Questions / contact

• Jinxian Wang
• Koen Caminada

Financial support from Instituut Gak and Leiden University is acknowledged.