Research: Designing Equivalence Scales for Minimum Income Schemes: Reconciling Unitary and Collective Approaches to Account for Intra-Household Inequalities, Public In-Kind Transfers, and Cross-Border Variability
I work in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of anti-poverty measures in Italy. with a focus on the technical design of these policies, particularly the equivalence scale.
My research explores e technical design of these policies, particularly the equivalence scale. I am currently working on the theoretical foundations of equivalence scale design, incorporating public in-kind transfers and intra-household inequalities using both unitary and structural collective models. I aim to bridge these approaches by analyzing how they can complement each other, integrating different perspectives on household utility—each with its strengths and limitations. Additionally, I seek to develop methods that allow household utility functions to adjust along the income distribution and to incorporate household characteristics that influence welfare beyond the economies of scale mechanism.
Building on this theoretical foundation, I plan to estimate alternative equivalence scales based on the different theoretical frameworks outlined above, with a particular emphasis on cross-country comparisons. Specifically, I intend to estimate equivalence scales at both a macro level and for individual countries, as well as for clusters of similar countries. Finally, I will assess the impact of these alternative scales through microsimulation modeling.