TAX REFORMS AND NEW SOCIAL POLICIES
Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Scientifica, Italy
The aim of the research program is to outline a set of fiscal and social policies and to evaluate their effects on the distribution of income, on employment and on social welfare.
The proposed policies, some of which have already been adopted in some european countries, will be evaluated with reference, on the one hand, to the debate on the reform of welfare state in Italy and, on the other, to economic, political and social changes which took place in Italy as as well all over Europe and determined a crisis of traditional welfare systems.
The original aim of the research will be to evaluate the joint effects of policies traditionally seen as separate being fiscal or representing social expenditures. This approach will allow to shed light on possible complementarities, conflicts and/or overlaps among individual policies. A global evaluation of the policies will require a detailed analysis, based also on qualitative variables, of the entire path of each policy from its design to its implementation.
The proposed policies are:
1) the introduction of innovative schemes of social benefits such as minimum income; this will require the carachterization of social groups on the basis of specific poverty tresholds; in addition will be considered also a much more radical reform such as basic income: a guaranted income distributed to each member of the country in susbstitution of any other intervention from the state.
2) "Greening" of the italian fiscal system; green tax reforms will be proposed with the aim of substituting existing taxes and of reducing distortions in some markets, particularly the labour market.
In implementing the proposed policies particular attention will be devoted to possible constraints in the use of fiscal or expenditure instruments imposed by European institutions.
The evaluation of the policies will be pursued within an innovative framework requiring the joint use of methodologies such as microsimulation models, social accounting matrices and computable general equilibrium models according to past experiences of each research unit of the network; the aim is to construct a common microconsistent data set to be used in the elaboration of a single model. Within this model it will be possible an evaluation of the proposed policies in terms of welfare indicators for households and of the impact on specific markets, labour market above all, in order to give a complete picture suitable for a global evaluation by the policy maker.
The proposed policies, some of which have already been adopted in some european countries, will be evaluated with reference, on the one hand, to the debate on the reform of welfare state in Italy and, on the other, to economic, political and social changes which took place in Italy as as well all over Europe and determined a crisis of traditional welfare systems.
The original aim of the research will be to evaluate the joint effects of policies traditionally seen as separate being fiscal or representing social expenditures. This approach will allow to shed light on possible complementarities, conflicts and/or overlaps among individual policies. A global evaluation of the policies will require a detailed analysis, based also on qualitative variables, of the entire path of each policy from its design to its implementation.
The proposed policies are:
1) the introduction of innovative schemes of social benefits such as minimum income; this will require the carachterization of social groups on the basis of specific poverty tresholds; in addition will be considered also a much more radical reform such as basic income: a guaranted income distributed to each member of the country in susbstitution of any other intervention from the state.
2) "Greening" of the italian fiscal system; green tax reforms will be proposed with the aim of substituting existing taxes and of reducing distortions in some markets, particularly the labour market.
In implementing the proposed policies particular attention will be devoted to possible constraints in the use of fiscal or expenditure instruments imposed by European institutions.
The evaluation of the policies will be pursued within an innovative framework requiring the joint use of methodologies such as microsimulation models, social accounting matrices and computable general equilibrium models according to past experiences of each research unit of the network; the aim is to construct a common microconsistent data set to be used in the elaboration of a single model. Within this model it will be possible an evaluation of the proposed policies in terms of welfare indicators for households and of the impact on specific markets, labour market above all, in order to give a complete picture suitable for a global evaluation by the policy maker.
Fabrizio Bulckaen
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
University of Genova, Italy
University of Pavia, Italy
University of Venezia, Italy
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Italy
University of Genova, Italy
University of Pavia, Italy
University of Venezia, Italy
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Italy
The project is still at a preliminary phase.
Back