Using EUROMOD, this study investigates the size and distributional effects of tax allowances and tax credits in 6 European countries. It also examines whether instrument design matters in shaping the redistributive effect, paying attention to both categorical and explicit income targeting .With...

This paper analyzes the effect of local income taxation on taxable income, inequality and internal migration in Italy using two tax reforms and several administrative data sources. These reforms, introduced in 2007 and 2011, granted municipalities the authority to switch from a flat to a...

Assessments of whose income growth is the greatest and whose is the smallest are typically based on comparisons of income changes for income groups (e.g. rich versus poor) or income values (e.g. quantiles). However, income group and quantile composition changes over time because of income...

Life satisfaction is increasingly recognised as a desirable individual outcome. Policy attention with respect to child well-being has focused on improving the financial position of families with children. Using Understanding Society I show that child life satisfaction is not associated with...

The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate is one of the EU's 11 primary indicators of social inclusion but it has received little attention compared to the current at-risk-of-poverty rate. Using the 2008 EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database, we compare persistent income...

This paper compares consumption and income as measures of households' living standards using UK data. It presents evidence that income is likely to be under-recorded for households with low resources. It describes the different impressions one gets about trends in the level and inequality of...

How should relative poverty be defined and measured in a European Union where there are substantial variations in income between countries, as well as within countries? This paper uses objective and subjective deprivation indicators to assess the appropriate balance between national and...

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...

We provide an overview of microsimulation approaches to assess the effects of policy on the income distribution. We focus mainly on the role of tax-benefit policies and review the concept of microsimulation and how it contributes to the analysis of the income distribution in general and policy...

We consider the estimation of measures of persistent poverty in panel surveys with missing data, focusing on the persistent poverty headcount, its duration-adjusted variant, and a related measure used by the European Union as an indicator of the risk of persistent poverty. We develop a partial...