About LIS
LIS, the Early Years
A half-hour video about the creation of LIS, including interviews with key people involved in its creation – Lee Rainwater, Robert Erikson, Tim Smeeding, Serge Allegrezza, Marc Cigrang, and John Coder.
Gaston Schaber, also a founder of LIS, was not able to be recorded before his death in 2010.
Our Mission
Our mission is to enable, facilitate, promote, and conduct cross-national comparative research on socio-economic outcomes and on the institutional factors that shape those outcomes.
LIS at a Glance
LIS, formerly known as The Luxembourg Income Study, is a data archive and research center dedicated to cross-national analysis and is home to two databases:
- The Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) is the largest available income database of harmonised microdata collected from about 50 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia spanning five decades.
- The Luxembourg Wealth Study Database (LWS), is the only cross-national wealth microdatabase in existence.
The LIS office, located in Esch-Belval (Luxembourg) and directed by Professor Peter Lanjouw, houses a team of professionals who perform the essential roles of the organisation: data acquisition, harmonisation; documentation; technical and user support; instruction; and core administration. Many of the staff conduct research using the LIS and LWS microdata.
The US LIS Satellite Office contained within the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality located at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (US), is overseen by Janet Gornick, Professor of Political Science and Sociology at CUNY. The US LIS Satellite Office plays a key role in providing support and liaison services to the team in Luxembourg.
The UK LIS Satellite Office at the International Inequalities Institute (III) is located at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and coordinated by Dr. Nora Waitkus. The satellite office will be launched on the 6th of December 2021 to promote the usage of the LIS Database in the UK and elsewhere, and to serve as the reference point for the liaison between LIS and the community of LIS data users in the UK.
Who We Are
LIS is a non-profit organisation registered in Luxembourg, with an international Board of Directors. Funders, data providers and other contributors to LIS are eligible to become members of the Board of Directors. Additionally, there is an Advisory Board, comprised of individuals invited to advise the organisation and its directors. LIS is fortunate to profit from the participation of the Advisory Board members at our regular board meetings. As LIS was envisioned with an international cooperative model of governance, the Board members are charged with upholding this model while promoting LIS on an international level.
LIS also benefits from a Local Advisory Board that is comprised of individuals from the Luxembourg community who share a synergy with LIS and serve to promote LIS within Luxembourg.
LIS’ daily operations are guided by two directors:
- Peter Lanjouw, Professor in development economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, as Director oversees all aspects of LIS’ work.
- Teresa Munzi, is the Director of Operations. At LIS, she is responsible for managing and overseeing all operations in the Luxembourg office.