published in: Crato N. and P. Paruolo (eds,), Data-driven Policy Impact Evaluation: How Microdata is Transforming Policy Design, Springer, 2019, 27- 45
The balance between the right to privacy and the right to freedom of information is altered when scientific research comes into play, because of its inherent needs and societal function. This paper argues that, for research purposes, microdata should be characterised as a public good. The evolution of the rules and practices in the European Union (EU) for protecting confidentiality while allowing access to microdata for research purposes is reviewed. Two key directions are identified for further improvement: remote access to confidential data and the enlargement of the notion of 'European statistics' to include microdata produced for evaluating interventions (co)financed by the EU.
We use cookies to provide you with an optimal website experience. This includes cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site as well as cookies that are only used for anonymous statistical purposes, for comfort settings or to display personalized content. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to allow. Please note that based on your settings, you may not be able to use all of the site's functions.
Cookie settings
These necessary cookies are required to activate the core functionality of the website. An opt-out from these technologies is not available.
In order to further improve our offer and our website, we collect anonymous data for statistics and analyses. With the help of these cookies we can, for example, determine the number of visitors and the effect of certain pages on our website and optimize our content.