In the framework of the project, realized in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, a data infrastructure for comparative social policy and welfare state research has been built up. A comprehensive machine-readable edition of sources of ILO's international inquiry "The Cost of Social Security (COSS)" has been produced. It contains aggregate data on receipts and expenditure of social protection schemes. This database covers the period 1949-1993 for most of the Western and Central European countries. It encompasses both the original documentation submitted by the national ministries in charge of social protection or the national statistical offices and the basic tables already published by the ILO. The information system in addition contains the related documentation as well as classificatory information on the social protection institutions which builds on comparative typologies.
