Activities using EUROMOD in Serbia

Building SRMOD: initiative SRMOD: first tax and benefit micro-simulation model for Serbia SRMOD is based on EUROMOD platform Construction of tax and benefit model for Serbia (SRMOD) initiated in October 2009 by the Foundation for the Advancement of Economics (FREN), a research institute at the Faculty of Economics (University of Belgrade) Initiative came as a response to the growing need for ex ante public policy analysis in Serbia

SRMOD: basic facts SRMOD simulates direct taxes and cash benefits only Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS), conducted in 2007 by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia in collaboration with the World Bank, is the most reliable of all available surveys containing micro data on income and social programmes (www.worldbank.org/lsms) Year 2007 also chosen as baseline policy year

SRMOD Applied SRMOD – Applications: Simulating tax reforms Example: Introduction of flat and comprehensive income tax Benefit reform analysis FREN’s research team commissioned by the World Bank to test effects of the new Draft Social Welfare Law on income and poverty outcomes Simulation results published in a book Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion and Well-Being, Springer, 2012.

SRMOD: current activities Project: “Making work pay in Western Balkan countries: the case of Serbia and Macedonia” within Regional Research Promotion Programme for Western Balkans (supported by Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation and the University of Fribourg) Aims: to build tax and benefit model for Macedonia-MAKMOD (based on EUROMOD) Link both SRMOD and MAKMOD to labour supply models Simulate in-work benefits for both countries

SRMOD: future Re-base using SILC as input data (SILC for 2012 confirmed in Serbia) Update policies to SILC data year Continue simulating important tax and benefit policy reforms Adding indirect taxes and/or non-cash benefits into the model Inform and train people to use the model