Widening and deepening the scope of Microsimulation Infrastructure to assess public policies

Both at the European and national level, the department of Economics of KU Leuven is one of the leading players in the development and use of Micro Simulation Models (MSM’s) as tools for ex ante policy evaluation. This C3-proposal wants to update, extend, and deepen the microsimulation infrastructure at KU Leuven. First, we will extend the scope of the existing MSM-infrastructure by enriching the micro-data underlying the model (mainly using administrative datasets formerly not yet available). Second, we will develop the architecture of a broader budgetary model in which MSM-results can be embedded. This will allow to assess the effect of a policy proposal, not only in terms of the detailed specific MSM-model itself, but also in terms of standard assessment criteria such as the overall government budgetary position and the long run sustainability of public finances. Finally, to foster the use of the model by interested parties in the civil society we will design a user-friendly web-based interface to provide easy access to slimmed down versions of the extended MSM.

Keywords:Microsimulation, Economic research, Government budget, Distributional effects, Policy evaluation

Disciplines:Applied economics, Economic history, Macroeconomics and monetary economics, Microeconomics, Tourism