Proposals for reforming the current system of taxes and transfers with a basic income and flat tax have received considerable attention in recent years in the UK and Ireland. Microsimulation models have played a central role in the formulation, the assessment, and the reformulation of these...

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...

The non take-up of means-tested benefits by pensioners has been of concern in the UK for some time. It will become all the more important to measure and to understand with the introduction of the means-tested Pension Credit in October 2003, to which about half of all pensioners are expected to...

This note updates and revises the estimates provided in Sutherland, Sefton and Piachaud (2003) (SSP henceforth) of the likely reduction in poverty rates by 2004-5 - the Government's target year for reducing child poverty by one quarter - and of the impact of policy changes since 1997 on poverty.

This paper describes how the 1994/95 Family Expenditure Survey (FES) is used to produce three of the four datasets that act as microdata input for POLIMOD. Variables used by POLIMOD are defined in terms of the FES datasets which are available through MIMAS, the national computer service run by...

This paper explores the short-term financial implications of abolishing earnings replacement social security benefits and relying on the system of means tested benefits to replace them.

Micro- level information on both expenditure and income is useful for a wide range of purposes: to conduct investigations into standards of living, for example. It is necessary for the analysis of the combined effects of direct and indirect personal taxes. However, it is unusual to have one data...

This research note describes the three national modules used in Eur3, a prototype three country microsimulation model covering France, Italy and the United Kingdom. This prototype was part of a preliminary study to investigate the feasibility of constructing a large scale 15 country model for...

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of maintaining and updating POLIMOD. It is mainly intended as a reference document, internal to the Microsimulation Unit. However, it may be of wider interest (a) as background information for POLIMOD users or (b) as a guide to all the...

Static microsimulation models like POLIMOD are designed to assess the effects of current or prospective tax and benefit reforms. Since the purpose of POLIMOD is to inform policy, the accuracy of the model ouput is a key concern. Thus, a significant problem faced in the construction of such...