Directory: Social policy simulation database and model - Version 16.1 

License: Access restricted to University of Saskatchewan faculty, staff and students for 
non-commercial study and research by DLI license agreement. 

		https://library.usask.ca/data/dli/dlilicense
        
Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M)

Version 16.1, based on 2004 microdata, is now available. The most recent
SPSD/M can be used to study the impacts of changes to federal and
provincial tax and benefit programs on families and governments from
1991 through 2013.

The SPSD/M is a tool designed to analyze the financial interactions of
governments and individuals/families in Canada. It allows estimation of
the income redistributive effects or cost implications of changes in the
personal taxation (including the goods and services tax and other
commodity taxes) and cash transfer systems. The SPSD/M assists analysts
examining the potential impacts of changes in taxes, earnings,
demographic trends, and a wide range of other factors.

The SPSD/M allows analysts to answer "what-if" types of questions. What
if there were changes to the taxes Canadians paid or transfers they
received, who would gain and who would lose? Would single parent
households in a particular province be better off? By how much? How much
extra money would federal or provincial governments collect or pay out?

As its name implies, the SPSD/M is comprised of both a database (SPSD)
and a model (SPSM). The SPSD is a statistically-representative database
of individuals in their family context, with enough information on each
individual to compute taxes paid to and cash transfers received from
federal and provincial governments. It is created by statistically
combining data from survey and administrative sources. The SPSM is a
static accounting model, which processes each individual and family on
the SPSD, calculates transfers and taxes (including income, payroll, and
commodity taxes) using legislated or proposed programs and algorithms,
and reports on the results. This microsimulation model can be run using
a visual interface. Extensive documentation on both SPSD and SPSM is
included. 

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3889. 

When the zipped file is uncompressed (spsdm-v16_1.zip), run 

X:\setup\setup.exe 

Download date:
22 January 2009
RA