This project is designed to facilitate the conduct of comparative research on change and stability during the past two decades in patterns of economic well-being over the life course. It will also provide a baseline for measuring changes in future decades. Core A prepares a multi-year database covering the period from the late 1960s to the mid- 1980s in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain and the United States with the possible inclusion of Finland and Australia. Core B provides institutional information concerning labor market and social protection programs in the countries covered for the 1965-1985 period. The database will be available to other investigators as soon as its preparation and documentation is completed. The particular research studies proposed will explore aspects and issues of economic well-being at different phases of the life course, and compare relative economic well being during different stages as these relations have changed for cohorts of younger, middle-aged and older persons. The projects will """"""""test"""""""" the database, and to flesh out its documentation. These studies will take family income as a strategic point for understanding the distribution of economic well-being over the life course, and the changing dynamics of that distribution across time and nations. The studies will explore in particular changes over time and differences among countries in the characteristics of poor and low-income groups.
