About the database

The need to move from descriptive to causal analyses of social change has long been recognized in the social sciences. Due to the difficulties of conducting experimental studies, social scientists use comparisons between countries and over time as fruitful strategies to analyze central processes in modern societies.

Background

Photo: Elin Sahlin

Comparative research was long constrained by a lack of relevant and reliable data, particularly in the field of social policy where expenditure data were often used. More precise indicators on the institutional design of social policies in areas that are crucial for living conditions and capabilities of citizens are not easily extracted, codified, and harmonized from official sources and policy documents. A considerable amount of basic research is required concerning both conceptualization and measurement of institutional structures embedded within the welfare state.

The establishment of the path breaking Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) at the Swedish Institute for Social Research provided considerable momentum towards better understanding of the ways in which countries had organized their welfare states. SPIN is a development of the advancements made possible by the SCIP-database. SPIN is organized in data modules covering different policy areas or geographical regions. Besides the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP), the SPIN database stores seven different data modules, and also carries out ongoing projects that will add additional modules.

SPIN data can be used for a number of different research purposes, where a few examples of research areas are worth mentioning:

Targeting versus universalism

SPIN includes detailed quantitative information about the structure of several different types of cash benefit programs, facilitating more detailed assessments of the causes and consequences of various institutional designs in policymaking.

Intergenerational relations and social justice

SPIN takes on an explicit life cycle perspective, facilitating analyses of inter-generational relations. Do countries satisfy the demand for social protection of all generations or are the needs of the young, middle-aged and the elderly in opposition and differently favored by the welfare state?

Public services

SPIN is not only oriented towards cash benefit programs, but also addresses the interplay between cash and care. We are in the process of establishing new comparative data on child care arrangements, including financing, coverage and quality of services.

Fiscal arrangements

SPIN involves efforts to measure the “hidden” welfare state of fiscal policy, including the extent to which countries have introduced various forms of tax allowances and credits, not least for families with children.

Social class and gender relations

SPIN is designed to address how welfare states affect class and gender relations, for example by our focus on family policy, parental leave benefits and degree of income protection across earnings-levels.

Global social policy

SPIN is broadened beyond longstanding OECD-member countries and collects comparative social policy data for all EU countries, North America and parts of Oceania, Asia and Latin America. The following countries are in different ways included in SPIN: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Publications using SPIN

A full publication list, also containing publications using early and preliminary versions of SPIN data modules, such as SSIB (Svensk socialpolitik i internationell belysning), can be found here:

Funding

As a longstanding project and research infrastructure, SPIN and its precursor, the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP), has received numerous grants from various sources.

Currently, SPIN is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation) and Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) with co-financing from the Swedish Institute for Social Research.