Teaching uses of EUROMOD Online: microsimulation of changes in the tax-benefit system and its effects on income distribution

Abstract

This paper uses EUROMOD Online as a tool that teachers in the field of public economics can use to familiarise their students with the microsimulation of taxes and monetary transfers. EUROMOD Online, which is free to use, allows for the analysis of the effects on tax collection, redistribution, and poverty. In order to explain how the tool works and to highlight its potential in a didactic way, fifteen questions are posed that could arise for any user. The questions are answered by means of practical examples to resolve issues related to the settlement of the current tax-benefit system and to the simulation of reforms, using basic concepts associated with the measurement of changes in the distribution of income and their effects.