Information-rich environments in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have been
built using record linkage techniques with population-based health insurance systems
and longitudinal administrative data. This paper discusses the issues in extending
population-based administrative data from health to additional topics more generally
connected with well being. The scope of work associated with a multi-faceted American
survey, the Panel Study in Income Dynamics (PSID), is compared with that of the administrative
data in Manitoba, Canada. Both the PSID and the Manitoba database go back over 30
years, include families, and have good information on residential location. The PSID
has emphasized research design to maximize the opportunities associated with expensive
primary data collection. Information-rich environments such as that in Manitoba depend
on registries and record linkage to increase the range of variables available for
analysis. Using new databases on education and income assistance to provide information
on the whole Manitoba population has involved linking files while preserving privacy,
scaling educational achievement, assessing exposure to a given neighborhood, and measuring
family circumstances. Questions being studied concern the role of the socioeconomic
gradient and infant health in child development, the comparative influence of family
and neighborhood in later well being, and the long-term effects of poverty reduction.
Issues of organization of research, gaps in the data, and productivity are discussed.