The MRRC conducts various activities to facilitate access to valuable data resources. Below are links to various data sources and data analytic tools that are important for those interested in retirement and Social Security research and policy analysis.

• New Immigrant Survey
  The New Immigrant Survey (NIS) is a nationally representative multi-cohort longitudinal study of new legal immigrants and their children to the United States based on nationally representative samples of the administrative records, compiled by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), pertaining to immigrants newly admitted to permanent residence.
  
  
• The Center for State and Local Government Excellence
  The Center for State and Local Government Excellence has made available two new sets of 2006 state pension data on its website: 1) For the first time, detailed defined contribution data are available for the 20 primary plans operated by state governments. 2) Defined benefit data are available for 126 plans largely administered by the state. These data will be updated annually and filled in for previous years. Data on municipal pension plans will be released later this year.
  
  
• Social Security Administration Public-Use Microdata Files
  SSA public-use microdata files include Benefits and Earnings Public-Use File, 2004; New Beneficiary Data System (NBDS); Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Public-Use Microdata File, 2001; and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Public-Use Microdata File, 2001
  
  
• Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
  begun in 1992, and its companion study, AHEAD, conducts biennial surveys on aging and health.
  
  
• RAND HRS data files
  The RAND HRS Data file is a cleaned and easy-to-use version of data from the Health and Retirement Study. This extraordinarily user-friendly file contains a wide-ranging set of derived variables based on the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 final release and 2006 early release data. It includes RAND imputations of wealth, income, and medical expenditures. All variables have been renamed using an intuitive and consistent naming scheme, and values labels have been assigned throughout.
  
  
• Corrected HRS Home Equity Data
  Second home equity is an important component of both housing equity and net worth for the elderly population. It has been covered, implicitly or explicitly, across all waves of HRS and AHEAD surveys. The treatment of second home equity, however, has not been consistent. Data problems that have arisen from this inconsistency are addressed and corrected in this file.
  
  
• Health and Retirement Study - Apply for restricted access data
  Researchers may be eligible to receive HRS Restricted Datasets only if and when they meet specific requirements.
  
  
• MiCDA Data Enclave
  The MiCDA Data Enclave The Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging (MiCDA) Data Enclave is designed to assist a) prospective users of restricted data files who do not meet the requirements imposed by restricted data contractual agreements and b) researchers who have special data analysis needs that cannot be met under the terms of a standard restricted data agreement.
  
  
• Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
  The PSID is a longitudinal survey of a representative sample of US individuals and the families in which they reside. It has been ongoing since 1968. The data were collected annually through 1997, and biennially starting in 1999. The data files contain the full span of information collected over the course of the study. PSID data can be used for cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intergenerational analysis and for studying both individuals and families.
  
  
• Pension Estimation Program
  The program is design to estimate the pension entitlements held by respondents of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), based on the plan formulas and benefit provisions obtained from the linked sample of pension providers.
  
  
• Survey of Income and Program Participation
  The main objective of SIPP is to provide accurate and comprehensive information about the income and program participation of individuals and households in the United States, and about the principal determinants of income and program participation. SIPP offers detailed information on cash and noncash income on a subannual basis. The survey also collects data on taxes, assets, liabilities, and participation in government transfer programs. SIPP data allow the government to evaluate the effectiveness of federal, state, and local programs.
  
  
• Data Files Created by Lee Lillard
  Lillard created what he called "clean processes" to investigate a number of dynamic behaviors that are measured longitudinally in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), such as employment, marriage-divorce, and fertility. He and his programmers and research assistants put these processes into a consistent framework, and made decisions about how to resolve inconsistencies, missing items, etc. Data from the files can be entered, as appropriate, in dynamic econometric models of related and mutually causal processes: for instance, the relationships among marriage, fertility, and female labor supply. Thus, researchers can study various combinations of these behaviors without having to go through complex file creation for each project.
  
  
• Current Population Survey
  The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey has been conducted for more than 50 years.
  
  
• Consumer Expenditure Survey
  The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) program consists of two surveys—the quarterly Interview survey and the Diary survey—that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics
  
  
• Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
  The LIS database is a collection of household income surveys. These surveys provide demographic, income and expenditure information on three different levels: household, person and child.
  
  
• Stochastic Social Security Simulator
  S4-Stochastic Social Security Simulator is an online simulation of the Social Security Trust Fund which allows you to adjust tax rates, retirement ages, equities investment and other parameters.