BELMOD

BELMOD allows policy makers to assess if planned reforms will yield satisfactory results. BELMOD can be used to estimate the budgetary impact of the proposals and to identify who will be affected (either positively or negatively) and who will not – or to a lesser extent. The model simulates personal income tax, sickness and disability benefits, unemployment benefits, family benefits, social assistance schemes and the right to some cost reducing measues.

History:

BELMOD is based on MIMOSIS, the previous microsimulation model of the FPS Social Security. The main advantage of MIMOSIS is the accuracy of the results, which is mainly due to the level of detail in the input dataset. The input data is based on a large sample administrative dataset. To improve the cooperation and knowledge exchange between the main actors of static microsimulation in Belgium and Europe, a new EUROMOD based model was built together with partners from the Catholic University of Leuven, the University of Antwerp, the Universitu of Essex, the Fedral Planning Bureau, the National pension Office and the National Insitute for Sickness and Disability Insurance. The BELMOD model combines the accuracy of MIMOSIS with the user-friendliness of EUROMOD.

Current team members:

See https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/en/shaping-social-policy/belmod-project/partners-belmod for a list of project partners.

Status:

Maintained

Content accessibility:

• Private, access restricted
Notes: The model is under development

Data accessibility:

• Private
Notes: Input data based on administrative data that are not generally available.

Input data sources:

• The input data is based on the MIMOSIS dataset, which contains employment information and incomes for the year 2015 for about 335.000 families, or 996.000 individuals – about 9% of the Belgian population. This sample was taken from the Labour Market & Social Protection Datawarehouse (LM&SP DWH) of the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS). In addition, the input dataset contains data from the IPCAL database of the FPS Finance (tax data) and the STIPAD/CADNET database (real estate information).

Model documentation:

• Model is under development

Project page