All of us at LIS are delighted that the New York Times (NYT) chose to launch their exciting new venture — The Upshot — with an extensive report, Losing the Lead, based on the LIS data. The Upshot, led by Pulitzer Prize winning economics journalist David Leonhardt, premiered today. The NYT report includes additional information about the data and a note on the process that led them to LIS.
At the request of the NYT, a team at LIS — Janet Gornick, Thierry Kruten, and Branko Milanovic — produced entirely new results, drawing on 164 LIS datasets from 23 countries, covering the period 1979 to 2010. The NYT-LIS study deals with the distribution and growth of household income across countries.
The detailed results underlying the NYT report are available in a new database, known as the “LIS/New York Times Income Distribution Database.” This database is for public use; if used it should be cited by its full name. All results are based on the standard LIS variable, disposable household income (DHI), which includes income from wages, self-employment, and capital, plus social transfers, minus direct taxes paid. Our team produced the results in three formats (per capita, per equivalent unit, per household) and in two different currency measures (national currencies and 2005 international dollars). As explained in their report, the NYT converted the 2005 international dollars to 2014 international dollars, using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.
The file contains five sheets:
1 definitions
2 income at different percentiles of the distribution, in national currencies
3 mean income by decile, in national currencies
4 income at different percentiles of the distribution, in 2005 international dollars
5 mean income by decile, in 2005 international dollars
Dear LIS Colleagues and Friends, It is with distinct pleasure that I am sharing exciting news from the LIS Center, our satellite office at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Noted American economist Paul Krugman, 2008 winner of the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, and a keynote speaker at [...]
Branko Milanovic, Senior Scholar in the LIS Center and Visiting Presidential Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, presented the 2014 LIS Summer Lecture: “Global Income Inequality: Current Trends, Issues of Justice and Politics.” The presentation touched on issues regarding between- and within- country inequality, as well as the political implications of current trends in income [...]
We are excited to announce that we have added a new country to the LIS Database. Three datasets from Iceland, IS04 (Wave VI), IS07 (Wave VII) and IS10 (Wave VIII), are now available. The datasets are from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions from Statistics Iceland.
Two new datasets from Denmark, DK07 (Wave VII) and DK10 (Wave VIII), have been added to the LIS Database. The datasets are from the Law Model of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Interior, which is based on data from Statistics Denmark. In addition, DK95, DK00 DK04 (Waves IV- VI) have been revised for [...]
Two new datasets from Brazil, BR09 and BR11 (both Wave VIII), have been added to the LIS Database. The datasets are from the 2009 and 2011 data of the National Household Sample Survey from the Brazilian Geographical and Statistical Institute. In addition, BR06 (Wave VII) has been revised using updated Census weights.
Two new datasets from Norway, NO07 (Wave VII) and NO10 (Wave VIII), have been added to the LIS Database. The datasets are from the 2007 and 2010 data of the Household Income Statistics from Statistics Norway. In addition, NO95, NO00, and NO04 (Waves IV – VI) have been revised for consistency.