ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that micro-analytical models provide important insights for policy-makers. It highlights a number of important areas where the potential of tax-benefit models is not being exploited to the full. The chapter reflects on what the users and builders of such models could do in order to maximize the contribution of the tools towards a more evidence-driven policy process. Tax-benefit models, with their underlying rich data on the household population and their detailed representation of links between household circumstances and public policy, are well-placed to inform and support policy-making by contributing forward-looking income distribution scenarios. Microsimulation models are best seen as research infrastructure. One factor that contributes to the broad accessibility and use of microsimulation models probably includes the provision of an institutional "home" for the model. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
