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

As part of the SOUTHMOD project, the national team at Instituto de Altos Estudios Naciaonales in collaboration with UNU-WIDER and University of Essex organizes the third 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.

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.

ECUAMOD model, was launched in 2016, and is continuously updated. The newest available version of ECUAMOD v1.4 is based on the National Income and Expenditure Survey in Rural and Urban households (Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de Hogares Urbanos y Rurales, ENIGHUR) 2011/12 allowing for representative results on the national and sub-national level. Policies are simulated for 2011 through 2018 (based on updated household-level data from 2011/2012).