New Pathways in Microsimulation

Microsimulation as a modelling tool in social sciences has increased in importance over the last few decades. Once restricted to a handful of universities and government departments, as a scientific field it has achieved a new dynamism during the last decade. As computing power increases and data availability becomes more widespread, microsimulation models can be put to hitherto unprecedented uses. Edited by leading experts in the field, this book illustrates recent advances, methodologies and uses of socioeconomic microsimulation in social sciences around the world. It does so by analysing new grounds covered in microsimulation and exploring new applications in traditional fields. As such, the chapters - grouped into five sections: new methods and methodology; pensions; financial crisis and austerity measures; health; and poverty - present recent, innovative and challenging work in various fields that is not just relevant for those in that field, but that might also inspire scholars from the other disciplines to broaden their minds to new and exciting uses of this established methodology.

List of Figures, List of Tables, Editors’ Biographies, List of Contributors, 1. Introduction, 2. Estimating the Small Area Effects of Austerity Measures in the UK, 3. Microsimulation Estimates of the Inequality Impact of the Economic Crisis in Ireland, 4. Simulating the Need for Health- and Elderly Care in Sweden – A Model Description of SESIM-LEV, 5. An Australian Disease and Long-term Care Microsimulation Model, 6. Projection of the Supply of Nurses in France: A Microsimulation Model, 7. Gender Aspects of the Norwegian Pension System, 8. The Redistributive Features of the Italian Pension System: The Importance of Being Neutral, 9. Simulating Policy Alternatives for Public Pensions in Japan, 10. On the Construction of Early Warning Indicators of Old-Age Poverty: The Index-Building versus the Microsimulation Approach, 11. How Sensitive is Old-Age Poverty to Financial Crisis? A Microsimulation Experiment for Sweden, 12. Going Regional: The Effectiveness of Different Tax-benefit Policies in Combating Child Poverty in Spain, 13. Combining EUROMOD and LIAM Tools for the Development of Dynamic Cross-sectional Microsimulation Models: A Sneak Preview, 14. An Overview of Binary Alignment Methods in Microsimulation, 15. Simulating the Expenditures of Scottish Households: A Two-step Microsimulation Approach to the Cairngorms National Park, 16. Using Excel as a Front End to a Microsimulation Model on Energy and Water Concession Pricing, 17. Modelling Sequences of Events with Chain Graph Models, 18. Education in the Norwegian Microsimulation Model MOSART, 19. What are the Driving Forces behind Trends in Inequality among Pensioners? Validating MIDAS Belgium Using a Stylized Model, 20. An Investigation of the Sensitivity of a Dynamic Microsimulation Model of Urban Neighbourhood Dynamics, Index