Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/46136 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5226
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
For policy makers and analysts, it is important to isolate the redistributive impact of tax-benefit policy changes from changes in the environment in which policies operate. When actual reforms are motivated by work incentives, it is also crucial to evaluate behavioural responses and the distributional consequences thereof. For that purpose, we embed counterfactual simulations in a formal framework based on the Shapley value decomposition and quantify the relative roles of (i) tax-benefit policy changes (direct policy effect), (ii) labour supply responses to the policy reforms (indirect effect) and (iii) all other factors affecting income distribution over time. An application to the UK shows that the redistributive reforms of the 1998-2001 period have offset the increase in inequality that would have occurred otherwise. They also contribute to a strong decline in child poverty and poverty amongst single parent households. In the latter group, a third of the headcount poverty reduction (and half of the reduction in the depth of poverty) is on account of the very large incentive effect of policy changes.
Subjects: 
tax-benefit policy
inequality
poverty
Shapley value decomposition
behavioural microsimulation
labour supply
JEL: 
H23
H53
I32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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