EUROMOD, the tax benefit microsimulation model developed by a team at ISER with collaboration from experts across the European Union, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special conference on September 5 & 6 at the Essex Business School at the University of Essex.
The Conference marks achievements so far and will look forward to future developments, with plenary sessions, poster sessions, discussions and keynote presentations.
Welcoming delegates, Professor Holly Sutherland, Director of EUROMOD thanked the contribution of many academics, including Professor Sir Anthony Atkinson, in creating the model which has evolved and developed over 20 years and has been used as a basis for creating similar models for many other countries.
Barbara Kauffmann, Director of Employment and Social Governance, DG-EMPL of the European Commission
said: “EUROMOD has become an essential tool for ensuring that the Commission has a solid evidence base for country assessments and reform recommendations in the European Semester policy coordination process.”
Rudi Van Dam, Chair Indicator Subgroup Social Protection Committee said:
“EUROMOD is a key element in bringing social monitoring capacities more at par with economic monitoring capacities in Europe.”
Professor Olivier Bargain, Aix Marseille Université said:
“EUROMOD is a great tool to understand the past and to design the future. In a dream-mod(e), it would be on the laptop of every Minister of Labour in Europe!”
Gijs Dekkers, President of the International Microsimulation Association.
“The impact of EUROMOD can hardly be overstated. Besides contributing to the definitive establishment of microsimulation as an academic field, EUROMOD has brought the approach to the core of policy assessment in Europe.”
Professor John Hills from the London School of Economics said: “ We learn most about ourselves by seeing what others do, and thinking through what would happen if we did things differently. That is exactly what EUROMOD allows us to do.”
Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre in Vienna said:
“EUROMOD is more than just a technical model – it is a great international team, bridging across East and West, old and new EU member states, speaking the “same” technical language, and thus delivering an overarching instrument for evidence-based policy-making.”
Klaas De Vos from CentERdata in Tilburg said “I’m very proud to have been able to contribute to this unique project for all these years. What has been achieved in Essex in cooperation with teams from so many countries is truly amazing.”
Follow discussions at the EUROMOD 20th Anniversary Conference on twitter #EUROMOD20