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The effect of changes in tax-benefit policies on the income distribution in 2008-2015

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  • Valentinova Tasseva, Iva
  • De Agostini, Paola
  • Paulus, Alari

Abstract

We apply microsimulation techniques to estimate the first-order effects of tax-benefit policy changes since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis in 2008. Using the EU tax-benefit model EUROMOD in combination with the EU-SILC 2012 micro-data, we provide comparative estimates for EU-27 in 2008-2014 as well as for 21 EU member states in 2014-2015. The analysis covers direct tax and cash benefit changes and evaluates their effects on the income distribution, poverty and inequality levels, holding population characteristics and market incomes constant, thereby, isolating direct policy effects from other factors shaping the income distribution. Two different indexation approaches are used to adjust benchmark policies over time – prices and market incomes – and explore the sensitivity of results. We find substantial cross-national variation throughout the whole period. At the EU level, policy changes in the first half of the period (2008-2011) were poverty-reducing and had a positive effect on mean incomes, while the effects were the opposite in the later period (2011-2014); and inequality-reducing in both periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentinova Tasseva, Iva & De Agostini, Paola & Paulus, Alari, 2016. "The effect of changes in tax-benefit policies on the income distribution in 2008-2015," EUROMOD Working Papers EM6/16, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:emodwp:em6-16
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Olivier Bargain & Tim Callan, 2010. "Analysing the effects of tax-benefit reforms on income distribution: a decomposition approach," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    2. François Bourguignon & Amedeo Spadaro, 2006. "Microsimulation as a tool for evaluating redistribution policies," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(1), pages 77-106, April.
    3. Tom Clark & Andrew Leicester, 2004. "Inequality and two decades of British tax and benefit reform," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 129-158, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alari Paulus & Holly Sutherland & Iva Tasseva, 2020. "Indexing Out of Poverty? Fiscal Drag and Benefit Erosion in Cross‐National Perspective," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 311-333, June.
    2. Paolo D’Imperio & Waltraud Schelkle, 2017. "What Difference Would a Capital Markets Union Make for Risk-Sharing in the EU?," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 86(2), pages 77-88.
    3. Paolo Caro, 2020. "Decomposing Personal Income Tax Redistribution with Application to Italy," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 113-129, March.
    4. Caterina Astarita & Gaetano D'Adamo, 2017. "Inequality and Structural Reforms: Methodological Concerns and Lessons from Policy," European Economy - Discussion Papers 071, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    5. Jekaterina Navicke, 2020. "Driving factors behind the changes in income distribution in the Baltics: income, policy, demography," GRAPE Working Papers 44, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    6. Elena Miola & Marco Manzo, 2021. "A Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Model for Personal Income Taxation in Italy," Working Papers wp2021-10, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    7. Alari Paulus & Iva Valentinova Tasseva, 2020. "Europe Through the Crisis: Discretionary Policy Changes and Automatic Stabilizers," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 864-888, August.
    8. Caterina Astarita & Salvador Barrios & Francesca D'Auria & Anamaria Maftei & Philipp Mohl & Matteo Salto & Marie-Luise Schmitz & Alberto Tumino & Edouard Turkisch, 2018. "Impact of fiscal policy on income distribution," Report on Public Finances in EMU, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission, pages 71-131, January.

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