Comparative Analysis of Basic Income Proposals: prospects for the use of national tax-benefit models in five European countries

The differential impact of comparable Basic Income (BI) schemes is examined for two countries by Callan et al (1996). This study uses national tax-benefit microsimulation models for Ireland (SWITCH) and the UK (POLIMOD). It finds that the relative effect of a scheme depends on the way in which it is integrated into the existing tax-benefit systems in the two countries as well as the level and structure of existing taxes and benefits, and the economic and demographic characteristics of the population. Furthermore, the types of scheme that it is possible to model for both countries is constrained by the capabilities of the two models and by the availability of suitable data in the model databases.