In this paper we describe a methodology for enriching an income dataset with information on expenditures using a semi-parametric imputation technique. Engel curves are first estimated semi-parametrically on household budget data. We then show how the technique can be used to impute expenditure...

Assessing the price evolution of houses on the basis of average sales prices, as is current practice in Belgium, might be misleading due to changing characteristics of the houses sold in the periods observed. A hedonic index which takes into account changes in characteristics is more...

The role of indirect taxes in social policy is investigated by 1) comparing the distributional pattern of indirect taxes with the one of personal income taxes and social security contributions; 2) calculating the indirect tax liabilities for recipients of social benefits; 3) assessing the...

Between 1988 and 1993 the Belgian personal income tax system and the indirect tax system have been reformed to a considerable extent. We use microsimulation models to investigate the impact of the reform on the liability progression and the redistributive effect of the combined tax system. The...

Administrative data on personal income taxes and household budget surveys differ in at least one important respect: the definition of the unit of observation. The sociological concept of a household does not coincide with the administrative definition of a fiscal unit. We investigate whether the...

In this paper we investigate the progressivity impact of various components of the Belgian personal income tax system, before and after a major reform of this system. The reform reduced the top tax rates, broadened the tax base and increased tax credits. We show that, contrary to the opinion,...

To take into account heterogeneity in a social welfare function, Ebert (1997) and Shorrocks (1995) show that the only consistent way of welfare measurement consists of either constructing an artificial distribution in which each household is weighted by the number of equivalent individuals, or...

This paper presents an ordered logit approach to model the optimal timing of buying a house during the life cycle. The model is applied to three recent Belgian household budget surveys. We find that households postpone homeownership or choose to be lifelong tenant due to an increase of the...

Microsimulation models for indirect taxation require detailed underlying demand systems, in order to be policy relevant. A possible solution for the econometric problem (lack of necessary degrees of freedom) is the separability concept and the closely related notion of two-stage budgeting. In...

In this paper we investigate the evolution of the inequality in well-being across different countries between 1975 and 2000. We treat well-being as a multidimensional concept focusing on three important dimensions of life: standard of living, health and education. Inequality in the three...