"THE LUXEMBOURG WEALTH STUDY (LWS): A PROGRESS REPORT"

The new Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS - see http://www.lisproject.org/lws.htm) will for the first time create a harmonized cross national wealth and asset database. The aim of this paper is to summarize the initial findings and outline conceptual and practical issues that will be addressed in preparing harmonized and comparable wealth data across countries. The analysis focuses on countries participating in the initial phase of the Luxembourg Wealth Study: Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. By July initial sets of harmonized definitions and some limited output will be available.