This paper evaluates income distributions in four European countries (Austria, Italy, Spain and Hungary) using two complementary approaches: a standard approach based on reported incomes in survey data, and a microsimulation approach, where taxes and benefits are simulated. Given that benefit...

Little is known about the effectiveness of means-tested benefits in Bulgaria. Using individual and household level data, I analyse the performance of two social assistance and two means-tested child benefits. I find that the programmes reach a very small proportion of the households with incomes...

The "Minimum Vital Income" (IMV) constitutes a novelty in the panorama for fighting poverty by guaranteeing minimum incomes after the COVID-19 crisis. This work simulates the distributional and poverty effects of the IMV introduction across Spanish regions using EUROMOD. Our results show that...

This paper assesses the impact on household incomes of the COVID-19 pandemic and governments’ policy responses in April 2020 in four large and severely hit European countries: Belgium, Italy, Spain and the UK. We provide comparative evidence on the level of relative and absolute welfare...

We assess how tax-benefit policy developments in 2001-2011 affected the household income distribution in seven EU countries. We use the standard microsimulation-based decomposition method, separating further the effect of structural policy changes and the uprating of monetary parameters, which...

This paper describes the construction of a microsimulation model for South Africa (SAMOD), which is based upon the EUROMOD platform. The paper discusses the need for a new microsimulation model in South Africa, the reasons why EUROMOD was a particularly suitable candidate as a basis for the new...

Nowadays, Cyprus has engaged in an effort of reforming its tax-benefit system so as to adapt to the economic and social challenges of the post-crisis era. Among the most important social reforms is the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income scheme (GMI). In this paper, we construct a number...

The distributional impact of policy changes is usually considered in terms of equivalised household income, assuming that each individual within the household is being affected in the same way, as a result of complete income pooling. The aim of this paper is to extend this approach by...

This paper examines the impact on inequality and poverty of the economic crisis in four European countries, namely France, Germany, the UK and Ireland, and the contribution of tax and benefit policy changes. The period examined, 2008 to 2010, was one of great economic turmoil, yet it is unclear...

How can poverty reduction be improved and at what cost? Available evidence suggests that social investment strategies and employment policies are important but not sufficient. In order to reduce the number of people below the relative at-risk-of-poverty threshold of the EU, countries must...