Tipping points in uninsured benefit systems
The project will build upon RILSA’s previous long-term research concerning uninsured social benefits, especially their connection with tax relief from the point of view of distribution policies and labour market incentives. It will focus on the narrowly defined area of housing allowances (the housing allowance and the housing supplement) and will apply previously applied NSD impact assessment methods (redistribution and incentives) for analysis purposes. The outputs of the project will help to develop analytical skills in the area of housing benefits and the improve the ability to assess the impacts of their alternative settings. This will allow for significant practical application in the future design of housing-related social measures.
The project will employ OKsystem data on the recipients of the respective social benefits, as well as SRÚ and SILC research data. The project will include the simulation of the impacts of the alternative setting of benefits on model families.
The project will further include the identification of other suitable data sources that will allow for the more sensitive parameterisation of the respective social benefits (e.g. the use of regional data on housing costs, the refinement of the specification of the inputs currently used to calculate the amount of the benefit, etc.). The methodology will be based on the analysis of available data on claims for, and recipients of, housing benefits. Foreign experience in this area will be assessed taking into account the implementation conditions and potential for application in the Czech Republic. In addition, the project will include the simulation and microsimulation assessment of alternative housing benefit settings. The second year of the research will encompass the conducting of an institutional and implementation study aimed at identifying potential for the enrichment of the database and data sources. The project will involve intensive consultation with the project provider concerning the alternative setting of the housing allowance in the context of the project findings.