This paper investigates to what extent the tax and transfer systems in Europe protecthouseholds at different income levels against losses in current income caused by economicdownturns like the present financial crisis. We use a multi country micro simulation model toanalyse how shocks on market...

Whether observed differences in redistributive policies across countries are the result ofdifferences in social preferences or efficiency constraints is an important question that pavesthe debate about the optimality of welfare regimes. To shed new light on this question, weestimate labor supply...

How do different components of the tax and transfer systems affect disposable incomeinequality? This paper explores the redistributive effects of different tax benefit instruments inthe enlarged EU based on two approaches. Inequality analysis based on the standardapproach suggests that benefits...