New research from the SOUTHMOD project, the UNU-WIDER initiative to create microsimulation models for developing countries based on EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation tool developed by ISER at the University of Essex, was presented at the recent Think Development Think WIDER conference in Helsinki.
The conference, organised by UNU-WIDER, focussed on all of the main themes and findings of UNU-WIDER’s research during 2009-18 — finance, food and climate change; and transformation, inclusion and sustainability.
“For more than 30 years, UNU-WIDER has been associated with some of the most advanced thinking in development economics. Since the Institute’s start in 1985, UNU-WIDER has undertaken research on all the principal themes of development economics. It has created a global network of thousands of researchers, many from developing countries. Helsinki has become the hub of this network, producing knowledge of real value to policy makers and practitioners in the developing world, across the UN, and to the international community more broadly.
Beginning in 2009, UNU-WIDER embarked on what has proven to be its most ambitious work programmes yet. Poverty, inequality, economic transformation, development finance, climate change, gender, food security, and many other topics, have featured in its activities and work resulting in some 2000+ publications ranging across these areas of research focus. The overall volume of work has tripled, with activities and conferences now ongoing across the globe. The Institute’s international development conferences provide a major platform for the exchange of ideas and calls for action. It has actively promoted the work of both early career academics and senior researchers spanning the developing world.”
Watch the four presentations of SOUTHMOD research:
Xavier Jara: Learning from your neighbour – tax-benefit swaps in South America
Gemma Wright: The distributional impact of tax-benefit policies in six African countries
Michael Noble: Enhancing the quality of income data in surveys for microsimulation models in Africa
Remy Kampamba: Financing the Zambia social cash transfer scale-up – a tax-benefit microsimulation analysis based on Microzamod