A Longitudinal Database for the Analysis of Family Incomes in New Zealand

Abstract

This paper describes the construction of a unique longitudinal family-level dataset that allows the dynamics of family incomes in New Zealand to be examined over the period, 2000 to 2017. The data are obtained from the New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure, requiring a complex linking exercise to be carried out. The dataset provides a basic resource for economic analyses of income inequality in which substantial attention is paid to the accounting period over which income is measured, and the nature of income changes over calendar time for different date-of-birth cohorts.