Second training round on ECUAMOD – a tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ecuador

This is the second training event on the ECUAMOD model, which will provide participants with comprehensive training to use the tax-benefit microsimulation model effectively. It is targeted for existing and potential new users of the model at governmental offices, universities, and research institutes.

In addition to providing an overview of the model, the event will include a number of case studies and practical exercises. Attendees will leave with an appreciation of how to navigate and interpret the ECUAMOD user interface; how to run ECUAMOD; and how to build and implement a basic policy reform. The training event is delivered by the country team in Ecuador in collaboration with Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales and University of Essex with the aim to encourage the participants into interactive dialogue during the practical training sessions.

Tax-benefit microsimulation models — which combine representative household-level data on incomes and expenditures and detailed coding of tax and benefit legislation — have proven to be an extremely useful tool for policy makers and researchers alike. The models apply user-defined tax and benefit policy rules to microdata on individuals and households and calculate the effects of these rules on household income. The effects of different policy scenarios on poverty, inequality, and government revenues can be analysed and compared.

Ecuador, like other developing countries, is now building up its social protection system and the financing of public spending will need to be increasingly based on domestic tax revenues. In this process, understanding the system-wide impacts of different policy choices is critically important, and tax-benefit microsimulation models are very well suited for this purpose.