Social scientists increasingly expect to have access to detailed data for research purposes. As the level of detail increases, data providers worry about "spontaneous recognition", the likelihood that a microdata user believes that he or she has accidentally identified one of the data subjects...

In recent years, the level of detail in confidential data made available to social scientists has increased dramatically. Much of this has been due to the growth in secure data access facilities, which allow access to the most detailed data under strictly controlled conditions. One element of...

When producing anonymised microdata for research, national statistics institutes (NSIs) identify a number of 'risk scenarios' of how intruders might seek to attack a confidential dataset. This paper argues that the strategy used to identify confidentiality protection measures can be seriously...

Traditional models of incentivising people suggest that positive incentives are more effective than negative ones. We argue that in data access the opposite can be true, as the assumptions made at the design stage can fundamentally change the user environment and hence perceptions of the...

The recent growth in research access to confidential government microdata has prompted the development of more general 'output-based statistical disclosure control' (OSDC) methods which go beyond tabular protection. Central to OSDC is the concept of 'safe/unsafe statistics', allowing researchers...

There is a popular impression that governments are resistant to change and innovation, and that this is due to a combination of overly bureaucratic processes and a culture of risk aversion. It is debatable that this is well-founded, theoretically or empirically: government bodies differ from...

This article investigates differences between perception and actual consumption of alcohol in young adults within the UK, suggesting that inaccurate information in the public domain may hamper those seeking to drink safely plus the development of moderate drinking cultures. Results confirm that...

The UK uses two major surveys as sources of earnings information to estimate the numbers on low pay. The methods for producing these figures are well established, but there are differences between employer and employee responses. These differences are accepted as a consequence of the different...

Policy initiatives in the UK targeting manufacturing industries have for a number of years been driven by a perceived importance of this sector to the economy. In order to target such policies, it is important to establish the true size of this sector and to accurately quantify its decline....

We provide empirical support for the contention that within-job wage growth relates purely to job-specific performance and that returns to general experience are assessed at the point of job change. Using the British New Earnings Survey panel data we identify job changes that take place both...