Blog
GHAMOD launch and training: A tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ghana
Better social protection coverage and greater benefits in developing countries would certainly be welcomed by many. More and better forms of social...
Technical Note
Full-year adjustment for modelling COVID-19 policies in SOUTHMOD tax-benefit microsimulation models
This technical note presents a modelling approach used in Lastunen et al. (2021) where tax and benefit policies are scaled to reflect their actual duration during a single calendar year. It can be applied to tax-benefit microsimulation models...
Working Paper
Towards greater poverty reduction in Zambia
A large share of the population in Zambia is living below the national poverty line. To reduce poverty, in 2019, the government initiated the Cash Plus reform, which aims to build on the existing Social Cash Transfer as a floor benefit with...
Blog
From sub-Saharan Africa to Viet Nam and Ecuador, how one model is used to improve social protection
Are there enough tax payers to generate the revenue needed by governments to reduce poverty? How adequate are the social security arrangements that...
Blog
An African in Africa: New perspectives on travelling for research
Working for an international organisation presents a host of challenges, given the vast nature of tasks that one must surmount in a fast paced and...
Blog
The pandemic and Africa's social safety net
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that African tax and social-benefit systems are currently ill-equipped to protect households from sudden income losses...
Journal Article
Income distribution and the potential of redistributive systems in Africa
Redistributive systems in Africa are still in their infancy but are expanding in order to finance increasing public spending. This study aims at characterising the redistributive potential of six African countries: Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania...
Journal Article
Analysis of the distributional effects of COVID-19 and state-led remedial measures in South Africa
This study explores the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa on income poverty and inequality in South Africa. Using a static tax-benefit microsimulation model with input datasets that were adjusted to reflect people’s...
Working Paper
Tax-benefit microsimulation model in Rwanda
This paper assesses the feasibility of developing a tax and benefit microsimulation model in Rwanda. Tax-benefit microsimulation can be used to explore ways in which national development goals can be achieved in a cost-effective manner, and to assess...
Technical Note
Exploring the quality of income data in two South African household surveys which underpin SAMOD
This note has set out several data processes that have been undertaken using the income data in dataset(s) that underpin SAMOD. Section 1 describes various data-cleaning steps that were undertaken when preparing the LCS 2014/15 as an underpinning...
Technical Note
Dealing with the oversimulation of taxes and benefits in SOUTHMOD microsimulation models
SOUTHMOD tax-benefit microsimulation models may in some cases oversimulate taxes or benefits, generating greater expenditure, a greater number of beneficiaries, or greater amounts of taxes or taxpayers than reported in administrative data. Drawing on...
Blog
SOUTHMOD family extended: Welcome to the three new Latin American teams
How would progressive income taxation affect income inequality in Bolivia? What are the costs and benefits of implementing a state pension in Colombia...
Blog
Teamwork and capacity strengthening to promote development: The case of Mozambique
Designing and implementing public policies requires caution to guarantee the best use of scarce resources, especially in middle- and lower-income...
Blog
Lives can be improved when policymakers and researchers collaborate
by
Isabelle Beyera
September 2022
My motivation for doing economics research comes from the wish to see every human being have their basic needs met and enjoy their life. My interest...
Blog
Studying COVID-19 through the lens of microsimulation: The role of tax and benefit policies in alleviating poverty and inequality
As the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, developing nations are struggling to deliver economic assistance and public services to their...
Journal Article
The impact of indirect tax on income distribution and poverty in Tanzania
This study analyses the impacts of indirect tax benefits policy reforms on income distribution and poverty in Tanzania by applying a standard static microsimulation model TAZMOD v1.8. The simulations model two indirect tax reforms involving changes...
Working Paper
Analysis of the distributional effects of COVID-19 and state-led remedial measures in South Africa
This paper explores the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa on income poverty and inequality in South Africa. Using a static tax–benefit microsimulation model with input datasets that were adjusted to reflect people’s...
Technical Note
How to implement sub-national poverty lines in a SOUTHMOD country model using conditional constants
This note describes how to incorporate sub-national poverty lines into a SOUTHMOD country model using conditional constants within the constants function in such a way that the Statistics Presenter can generate national-level poverty statistics. The...
Working Paper
Exploring the quality of income data in two African household surveys for the purpose of tax-benefit microsimulation modelling
The quality of data on employment income is explored using Tanzanian and Zambian household survey datasets. The extent of missing and implausible income data is assessed and four different methods are applied to impute missing or implausible values...
Policy seminar
Cash Plus dissemination event
5 October 2021
Hotel Southern Sun Ridgeway, Lusaka, online, Zambia
Past event
Policy seminar
Distributional Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Zambia
14 October 2021
Sarovar Premiere Hotel, online, Lusaka, Zambia
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD work presented at the Mozambique Social Protection Week
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Action (MGCAS) organises a Social Protection theme week in Mozambique 11-15 October 2021. During the week, on 15 October, The Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) with Internation Labour...
15 October 2021
Radisson Blu, Mozambique
Past event
Workshop
Developing a tax-benefit microsimulation model for Rwanda
As part of the SOUTHMOD project, the national team at the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), in collaboration with UNU-WIDER and SASPRI, are organizing a training event to prepare for the development of a dedicated tax-benefit microsimulation model for...
24 August 2021
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26 August 2021
Online, Rwanda
Past event
Project meeting
Cash Plus work in progress meeting
UNU-WIDER's SOUTHMOD tax-benefit microsimulation team, in collaboration with the senior partners from Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI) and Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR), as well as the...
26 April 2021
Online, Lusaka, Zambia
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at the IAB seminar series
The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is hosting an online seminar series "Corona - leveler or amplifier of social and economic inequality?". The weekly seminar series aims to bring together empirically rigorous contributions from the fields of...
19 May 2021
Online, Nuremberg, Germany
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at an SA-TIED Policy dialogue event
UNU-WIDER's SA-TIED programme organized an online policy dialogue event on 19 April. The topic of the event was 'Tax and benefit responses to COVID-19 in South Africa'. The event introduced research results of studies using the SOUTHMOD tax-benefit...
19 April 2021
Online, South Africa
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at the CeMPA General Meeting
CeMPA, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis, organized its yearly general meeting for experts working in the area of tax-benefit microsimulation on 12 May 2021. The meeting was held virtually. SOUTHMOD microsimulation models and ongoing...
12 May 2021
Online, United Kingdom
Past event
Project workshop
2021 SOUTHMOD workshop
On 24-25 May 2021, 35 participants from six different time zones and eleven different countries gathered for a two-day virtual SOUTHMOD workshop to exchange experiences and knowledge on tax-benefit microsimulation modeling in developing countries...
24 May 2021
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25 May 2021
Online, Helsinki, Finland
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at a UNU-WIDER conference
UNU-WIDER organized a two-day online conference on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Africa on 11-12 February 2021. The preliminary results of an ongoing SOUTHMOD study were presented on the second day of the conference. The conference Development...
12 February 2021
Past event
Workshop
Third training on GHAMOD – a tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ghana
The third training on the use of GHAMOD, a tax-benefit microsimulation programme for Ghana, introduced participants to the latest version of the programme. Altogether 15 professionals and researchers working on tax and social protection issues in...
9 March 2021
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11 March 2021
University of Ghana at Legon, Accra, Ghana
Past event