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A lost decade? Decomposing the effect of 2001-11 tax-benefit policy changes on the income distribution in EU countries

Author

Listed:
  • John Hills
  • Alari Paulus
  • Holly Sutherland
  • Iva Tasseva
Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which tax and benefit policy changes introduced in the period 2001-11 had a poverty- or inequality-reducing effect. We assess whether the period was indeed a “missed opportunity” for policy changes to make a difference to poverty reduction since the Lisbon Treaty, given the general lack of improvement shown by poverty indicators. Our analysis uses the tax-benefit model EUROMOD and covers seven diverse EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom. We apply the Bargain and Callan (2010) decomposition approach, extending it by separating the effect due to structural policy changes and the indexation effect. We find that the latter was typically more effective in alleviating poverty and inequality than changes to the structure of policies. In fact, most of the structural changes that governments introduced, especially in the 2007-11 crisis-onset period, had poverty and inequality-increasing effects. We find considerable variation between countries in how different policy instruments have been adjusted, and in the effects of these adjustments by income, by age and by household composition, showing the importance of understanding them together, rather than discussing just some in isolation.

Suggested Citation

  • John Hills & Alari Paulus & Holly Sutherland & Iva Tasseva, 2014. "A lost decade? Decomposing the effect of 2001-11 tax-benefit policy changes on the income distribution in EU countries," ImPRovE Working Papers 14/03, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdl:improv:1403
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Holly Sutherland & Ruth Hancock & John Hills & Francesca Zantomio, 2008. "Keeping up or Falling behind? The Impact of Benefit and Tax Uprating on Incomes and Poverty," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 467-498, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tassos Giannitsis & Stavros Zografakis, 2015. "Greece: Solidarity And Adjustment In Times Of Crisis," IMK Studies 38-2015, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    2. De Agostini, Paola & Hills, John & Sutherland, Holly, 2015. "Were we really all in it together? The distributional effects of the 2010-2015 UK Coalition government's tax-benefit policy changes: an end-of-term update," EUROMOD Working Papers EM13/15, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    3. Wang, Jinxian & Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees & Wang, Chen, 2015. "Decomposing income polarization and tax-benefit changes across 31 European countries and Europe wide, 2004-2012," MPRA Paper 66155, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard & Chen Wang & Jinxian Wang, 2019. "Income Inequality and Fiscal Redistribution in 31 Countries After the Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(1), pages 119-148, March.
    5. De Agostini, Paola & Sutherland, Holly & Hills, John, 2015. "Were we really all in it together? The distributional effects of the 2010-2015 UK Coalition government’s tax-benefit policy changes: an end-of-term update," EUROMOD Working Papers EM13/15, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Mike Brewer & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2016. "Accounting for Changes in Income Inequality: Decomposition Analyses for the UK, 1978–2008," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(3), pages 289-322, June.
    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. Tassos Giannitsis & Stavros Zografakis, 2018. "Crisis management in Greece," IMK Studies 58-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    9. Valentinova Tasseva, Iva & De Agostini, Paola & Paulus, Alari & Sutherland, Holly, 2014. "The effect of tax-benefit changes on the income distribution in EU countries since the beginning of the economic crisis," EUROMOD Working Papers EM9/14, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Ekaterina Tosheva & Iva Tasseva & Dragomir Draganov & Venelin Boshnakov, 2016. "Effects of changes in tax-transfer system on households income distribution in Bulgaria: simulation analysis using EUROMOD for 2011-2015," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 5, pages 51-71,72-91.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax-benefit policies; European Union; income distribution; income poverty; microsimulation; EUROMOD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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