Data
The code books are detailed data dictionaries for the Mincome files.
The data are in Excel format with two header rows – the first variable numbering corresponding to the numbering in the code books and the second a variable name. Users may change the name, but should retain the original file with numbering to ensure data checking.
Warning! It is imperative that users of these data read the technical manuals and code books. These are complex panel data, requiring careful attention to attrition and other sample selection biases common to longitudinal data.
MINC1 – Baseline Summary File
MINC1 contains 91 variables constructed from data in the first major survey undertaken by the Mincome guaranteed annual income experiment – the “Baseline” Survey. The file contains three types of variables: those pertaining to the household (size, composition, etc.), those pertaining to the male head, and those pertaining to the female head. For double-headed households, information on both heads exists.
MINC2 – Payments Summary File
MINC2 contains 495 variables constructed from the payments database of the Mincome guaranteed annual income experiment. The file consists of a header record of 14 variables for each household, followed by 37 months of records covering the months of December 1974 to December 1977 inclusive, each month repeating the same 13 variables.
MINC3 – Baseline-Payments Data
MINC3 concatenates the Baseline (MINC1) and Payments (MINC2) data. This file contains 750 observations and 596 variables (91 from the Payments data and 494 from the Baseline survey, with some additional header/record information. A family was included in MINC3 only if Baseline information existed and if it had received 24 months of payments.
MINC4 – Longitudinal Labour Data File
MINC4 contains 338 variables constructed from the 11 major surveys (conducted approximately every three months) used to track labour market and other behavioural data. The data comprise 26 household variables, 154 variables tracking 14 variables for male heads for 11 surveys, and 154 variables tracking the 14 variables for female heads for 11 surveys. Double-headed households have information on both heads.
MINC5 – Income and Net Worth
MINC5 contains 445 variables constructed from the data in the 11 major surveys undertaken between December 1977 and December 1977. The surveys tracked changes in financial assets, real property, and income for each of the 11 surveys, conducted approximately every 3 months.
MINC6 – Family Composition and Attitudes
MINC6 has data only from the Winnipeg site and includes 1408 variables constructed from the 11 surveys. There are 287 variables on family composition, 411 variables on male and female head attitudes, and 327 variables on double-headed households. There are 11 recurring cycles of about 35 attitudinal variables for male and female Heads. Mincome collected attitudinal data on such issues as locus of control, housing satisfaction, weekend activity, awareness/understanding of the Mincome experiment, attitudes toward work, and decision-making in the household.
Economic Council Report
This is the major study emerging from the Mincome experimental data.
Hum, Derek and Simpson, Wayne, Income maintenance, work effort and the Canadian income maintenance experiment, Economic Council of Canada, 1991