Research project PE/FI/05 (Research action PE)
The ambition of this research is to ease the task of decision-makers and social matters by providing micro-simulation templates or models, inspired by the best foreign examples and adapted to the realities and institutional context of the Belgian economy.
Two micro-simulation models will be constructed. The first will principally deal with direct taxation. A common feature of the two models is their user-friendliness and the transparency of the results. They should enable users to select within quite a wide range the efficiency and inequality indicators they consider the most pertinent. It will notably be possible to quantify the impact of the measures studied on particular user-specified sub-populations, for instance pensioners or the unemployed. Special care will be given to the description of the economic and social situation of underprivileged households, the user being free to set the poverty line and equivalence scales he or she deems most appropriate. Will be included among the indicators not only the classic variables pertaining to the available income and its distribution, but also, insofar as possible, indicators pertaining to the differential participation of households in the major aspects of economic and social life, for instance housing or the capacity to receive help from those nearby.
