Multilinks Database on Intergenerational Policy Indicators

The Multilinks Database on Intergenerational Policy Indicators is a collection of indicators on explicit and implicit intergenerational obligations as they are framed by public policies. The aim of the database is to describe how states define and regulate intergenerational obligations within the family. Indicators, therefore, include both legal norms and social policy measures from thirty European countries for the years 2004 and 2009. They cover a variety of policy fields: childcare, education, family benefits, pensions, long-term care and legal obligations to support. By means of these indicators, one should be able to assess to what degree public policies expect families to meet the financial or care needs of the very young or of the old on their own, and to what degree, on the contrary, policies support families that meet these needs either by supporting the providers through time allowances (leaves) and/or money (income transfers) or by taking up part of the responsibility through the provision of services and/or a minimum income guarantee. The database has been developed as an online tool (http://multilinks-database.wzb.eu) provided by the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung (WZB). The service is open to everybody and free of charge, but users have to register in order to access the data. The following section describes the conceptual framework and structure of the database, the scope of the database, and the accompanying services offered. In the final section, we present key findings from publications that used this collection of indicators as the basis for their inquiry.