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Microscopic Models for Welfare Measures Addressing a Reduction of Economic Inequality

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  • Maria Letizia Bertotti
  • Giovanni Modanese

Abstract

We formulate a flexible micro-to-macro kinetic model which is able to explain the emergence of income profiles out of a whole of individual economic interactions. The model is expressed by a system of several nonlinear differential equations which involve parameters defined by probabilities. Society is described as an ensemble of individuals divided into income classes; the individuals exchange money through binary and ternary interactions, leaving the total wealth unchanged. The ternary interactions represent taxation and redistribution effects. Dynamics is investigated through computational simulations, the focus being on the effects that different fiscal policies and differently weighted welfare policies have on the long-run income distributions. The model provides a tool which may contribute to the identification of the most effective actions towards a reduction of economic inequality. We find for instance that, under certain hypotheses, the Gini index is more affected by a policy of reduction of the welfare and subsidies for the rich classes than by an increase of the upper tax rate. Such a policy also has the effect of slightly increasing the total tax revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Letizia Bertotti & Giovanni Modanese, 2014. "Microscopic Models for Welfare Measures Addressing a Reduction of Economic Inequality," Papers 1407.3749, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1407.3749
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Leigh Tesfatsion & Kenneth L. Judd (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of Computational Economics," Handbook of Computational Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    2. Tesfatsion, Leigh & Judd, Kenneth L., 2006. "Handbook of Computational Economics, Vol. 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10368, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. M. Bertotti & G. Modanese, 2012. "Exploiting the flexibility of a family of models for taxation and redistribution," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 85(8), pages 1-10, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Letizia Bertotti & Giovanni Modanese, 2015. "Economic inequality and mobility in kinetic models for social sciences," Papers 1504.03232, arXiv.org.

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