The British Household Panel Survey and its income data

Abstract

This paper provides a self-contained introduction to the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), concentrating on aspects relevant to analysis of the distribution of household income. I discuss BHPS design features and how data on net household income are derived. The BHPS net household income definition is modelled on that used in Britain�s official personal income distribution statistics (Households Below Average Income, HBAI). I show that cross-sectional BHPS distributions track corresponding HBAI ones relatively well over time