This paper introduces a generalised model building platform (MMEANS) for implementing and using tax-benefit microsimulation models. It is designed to aid in the construction of single- and multi-country tax- benefit models by providing all essential components and a system by which these can be...

Tax-benefit models provide tools for policy analyses that should enable researchers to focus their attention on formulating policy scenarios and analysing their effects. From the users? and the developers? points of view, numerous characteristics and features are desirable to maximise the...

The systems of direct taxes and cash benefits in the Member States of the European Union vary considerably in size and structure. We explore their direct impacts on cross-sectional income inequality (termed "redistributive effect" for the purpose of this paper) using EUROMOD, a tax-benefit...

Household micro-datasets often do not contain information on gross incomes. We present an algorithm which exploits the tax- and contribution rules built into tax-benefit models to convert net income information into gross amounts. Using EUROMOD, a multi-country taxbenefit model covering all...

We measure the distributions of replacement rates in four European countries and consider the forces both economic and demographic that drive these measures. Going beyond simple calculated replacement rates for ?typical

This paper considers the methodology of measuring replacement rates, comparing simulation based approaches, which simulate replacement rates for a representative sample of the population, with other approaches that simulate replacement rates for "typical" families or are entirely based on...

This paper considers utilising a cross-country microsimulation tax-benefit model for Europe, EUROMOD, to simulate the distribution of replacement rates for four European countries, Denmark, France, Spain and the UK. In particular we show the important role of household composition and the...