Codebook of Historical Dataset of Child Benefit (HDCB)

Abstract

As part of the Welfare State Information System (WeSIS), the Historical Dataset of Child Benefits (HDCB) provides data on cash transfers and tax allowance programs in support of families with children for 96 countries with a population of more than half a million inhabitants, covering the period between 1926 and 2019. The purpose of this data collection is to enhance the understanding of the global diffusion of child benefits from a historical perspective. The HDCB is a longitudinal dataset containing information on the institutional design of child benefits, from the first introduction of child benefits to the latest development, in all the countries for which it was possible to retrieve reliable data. This codebook provides the HDCB users with information regarding the content of the dataset and the data collection process. All the data included in version 1.0 of the HDCB refer to information contained in national legislative texts, thus, they describe countries’ institutional settings and not de facto situations. The HDCB was compiled in the context of the project “Formation and Diffusion of Family Policy in a Global Perspective” of the Collaborative Research Centre 1342 (CRC 1342) at the University of Bremen. This project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – Project number 374666841 – SFB 1342 from 2018 until 2021. If funding is extended, the dataset will be expanded regarding the generosity and effective coverage of the programs during the second (2022-2025) and third (2026-2029) phases of the CRC 1342.