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Indexing out of poverty? Fiscal drag and benefit erosion in cross-national perspective

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  • Valentinova Tasseva, Iva
  • Paulus, Alari
  • Sutherland, Holly

Abstract

We assess how tax-benefit policy developments in 2001-2011 affected the household income distribution in seven EU countries. We use the standard microsimulation-based decomposition method, separating further the effect of structural policy changes and the uprating of monetary parameters, which allows us to measure the extent of fiscal drag and benefit erosion in practice. The results show that despite different fiscal effects, policies overall mostly reduced poverty and inequality and both types of policy developments had sizeable effects on the income distribution. We also find that the uprating of monetary parameters not only had a positive effect on household incomes, meaning fiscal drag and benefit erosion were avoided, but generally also contributed more to poverty and inequality reduction than structural policy reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentinova Tasseva, Iva & Paulus, Alari & Sutherland, Holly, 2019. "Indexing out of poverty? Fiscal drag and benefit erosion in cross-national perspective," EUROMOD Working Papers EM3/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:emodwp:em3-19
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    Cited by:

    1. Iva Valentinova Tasseva, 2021. "The Changing Education Distribution and Income Inequality in Great Britain," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(3), pages 659-683, September.
    2. Alari Paulus & Iva Valentinova Tasseva, 2020. "Europe Through the Crisis: Discretionary Policy Changes and Automatic Stabilizers," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 864-888, August.
    3. Mathias Dolls & Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Christian Wittneben, 2022. "Fiscal Consolidation and Automatic Stabilization: New Results," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(3), pages 420-450, September.
    4. Alari Paulus & Caroline Klein, 2019. "Effects of tax-benefit policies on the income distribution and work incentives in Estonia," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1570, OECD Publishing.
    5. Callan, Tim & Keane, Claire & Regan, Mark, 2019. "Assessing the distributional impact of budgetary policy: the role of benchmarks and indexation," Papers BP2020/2, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. Süssmuth, Bernd & Wieschemeyer, Matthias, 2022. "Taxation and the distributional impact of inflation: The U.S. post-war experience," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. André Decoster & Sergio Perelman & Dieter Vandelannoote & Toon Vanheukelom & Gerlinde Verbist, 2019. "Which way the pendulum swings? Equity and efficiency of three decades of tax-benefit reforms in Belgium," Working Papers 1907, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    8. Bea Cantillon; & Anna Lemmens; & Wouter Neelen; & Rebecca van den Broeck;, 2023. "Silent elements of policy change: inflation and uprating mechanisms in the Low Countries," Working Papers 2312, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

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