Les prêts à remboursement contingent dans le supérieur : plus redistributifs que l’impôt ?. Une perspective de cycle de vie

This article aims to analyze, through a dynamic microsimulation exercise, transfers induced by financing part of the cost of higher education by income-contingent loans (ICL) rather than by taxes based on household income or tuition fees coupled with ordinary student loans. The progressivity of financing is assessed with a life cycle perspective: it is based on total income of individuals during their working life and not only on their current income. The life-cycle model is based on the estimation of three equations: an activity equation, an employment equation for active individuals and an annual wage income equation for individuals in employment. Compared to the existing literature, we take into account the pooling of resources at the household level. On the financing side, we simulate a proportional tax on income (CSG), a progressive tax on household income (IR), income-contingent loans and ordinary student loans. We show that in a life-cycle perspective, ICLs are less progressive than financing with IR. Nevertheless, the progressivity of ICLs is relatively strong, stronger than a mix of IR and CSG. Classification JEL : D31, I22, D91.