About the Book
Microsimulation as a modelling tool in social sciences has increased in importance over the last few decades. Once restricted to a handful of universities and government departments, as a scientific field it has achieved a new dynamism during the last decade. As computing power increases and data availability becomes more widespread, microsimulation models can be put to hitherto unprecedented uses.
Edited by leading experts in the field, this book illustrates recent advances, methodologies and uses of socioeconomic microsimulation in social sciences around the world. It does so by analysing new grounds covered in microsimulation and exploring new applications in traditional fields. As such, the chapters - grouped into five sections: new methods and methodology; pensions; financial crisis and austerity measures; health; and poverty - present recent, innovative and challenging work in various fields that is not just relevant for those in that field, but that might also inspire scholars from the other disciplines to broaden their minds to new and exciting uses of this established methodology.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction, Gijs Dekkers, Cathal O’Donoghue and Marcia Keegan; Estimating the small area effects of austerity measures in the UK, Ben Anderson, Paola De Agostini and Tony Lawson; Microsimulation estimates of the inequality impact of the economic crisis in Ireland, Cathal O’Donoghue, Jason Loughrey and Karyn Morrissey; Simulating the need for health- and elderly care in Sweden - a model description of SESIM-LEV, Lisa Brouwers, Lina Maria Ellegård, Nils Janlöv, Pontus Johansson, Karin Mossler and Anders Ekholm; An Australian disease and long-term care microsimulation model, Richard Cumpston; Projection of the supply of nurses in France: a microsimulation model, Muriel Barlet and Marie Cavillon; Gender aspects of the Norwegian pension system, Dennis Fredrikson and Nils Martin Stølen; The redistributive features of Italian pension system: the importance of being neutral, Roberto Leombruni and Michele Mosca; Simulating policy alternatives for public pensions in Japan, Seiichi Inagaki; On the construction of early warning indicators of old-age poverty: the index-building versus the microsimulation approach, Georg P. Mueller; How sensitive is old-age poverty to financial crisis? A microsimulation experiment for Sweden, Elisa Baroni, Thomas Lindh and Gustav Öberg; Going regional. The effectiveness of different tax-benefit policies in combating child poverty in Spain, Olga Cantó, Marta Adiego, Luis Ayala, Horacio Levy and Milagros Paniagua; Combining EUROMID and LIASM tools for the development of dynamic cross-sectional microsimulation models: a sneak preview, Philippe Liégeois and Gijs Dekkers; An overview of binary alignment methods in microsimulation, Jinjing Li and Cathal O’Donoghue; Simulating the expenditures of Scottish households: a two-step microsimulation approach to the Cairngorms National Park, Eveline van Leeuwen; Using Excel as a front end to a microsimulation model on energy and water concession pricing, Robert Tanton, Marcia Keegan and Quoc Ngu Vu; Modelling sequences of events with chain graph models, Marcus Wurzer and Reinhold Hatzinger; Education in the Norwegian microsimulation model MOSART, Hege Marie Gjefsen; What are the driving forces behind trends in inequality among pensioners? Validating MIDAS Belgium using a stylized model, Gijs Dekkers; An investigation of the sensitivity of a dynamic microsimulation model of urban neighbourhood dynamics, Mark Birkin and Nicolas Malleson; Index.
About the Author :
Gijs Dekkers is Senior Researcher at the Directorate General of the Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium, Research Associate at the Centre for Sociological Research CESO, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and Affiliated Senior Researcher at CEPS/INSTEAD in Luxembourg. He is also chief editor of the International Journal of Microsimulation. Dr Marcia Keegan is a Research Fellow and member of the Income & Wealth Team at NATSEM, University of Canberra, Australia. She is Vice President of the International Microsimulation Association and President of Young Economists Australia. Cathal O'Donoghue is the Head of the Rural Economy Research Centre of Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. He is convenor of the UK Department of Work and Pensions' Expert Group on Economic Demography and President of the International Microsimulation Association. Gijs Dekkers, Cathal O'Donoghue, Marcia Keegan, Ben Anderson, Paola De Agostini , Tony Lawson, Jason Loughrey, Karyn Morrissey, Lisa Brouwers, Lina Maria Ellegard, Nils Janlov, Pontus Johansson, Karin Mossler, Anders Ekholm, Richard Cumpston, Muriel Barlet, Marie Cavillon, Dennis Fredrikson, Nils Martin Stolen, Roberto Leombruni, Michele Mosca, Seiichi Inagaki, Georg P. Mueller, Elisa Baroni, Thomas Lindh, Gustav Oberg, Olga Canto, Marta Adiego, Luis Ayala, Horacio Levy, Milagros Paniagua, Philippe Liegeois, Eveline van Leeuwen, Robert Tanton, Quoc Ngu Vu, Marcus Wurzer, Reinhold Hatzinger, Hege Marie Gjefsen, Mark Birkin, Nicolas Malleson.
Review :
'New Pathways in Microsimulation is an extremely useful reference for those involved in the design and the evaluation of tax-benefit systems. Beyond methodological advances, it contains valuable examples from different policy domains, for example from the very timely field of pension reform in light of demographic and budgetary pressures. The authors demonstrate the substantial added value of microsimulations over purely aggregate or representative agent models.' Alain Jousten, University of Liege, Belgium and Maastricht University, Holland 'This volume illustrates the powerful approach of microsimulation in policy evaluation and design. There is a broad review of current applications including the effectiveness of tax-benefit policy, the analysis of poverty, health status, population ageing and the spatial effects of VAT-increases on household expenditures. Those interested in pension issues will for instance benefit from an analysis of the impact of the financial crisis on old-age poverty in Sweden using a model, which allows an interaction between the pension system, the labour market and an endogenous tax policy. Also recommended is a chapter on a stylized model of the pension system in Belgium, which brings out a number of basic properties of the system. However, a comparison demonstrates the advantages of a fully developed microsimulation model. Model builders will for instance enjoy contemplating how far the ideas of estimating block recursive models, and validating models by backwards simulation of a historical period will take us. This book is highly recommended to policy analysts, model builders and readers with a general interest in economics and social science.' Anders Klevmarken, Professor Emeritus, Uppsala University, Sweden.
