Social Policy Simulation Database and Model

The Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M), Version 9.1, based on 1997 microdata, is now available. The SPSD/M is a static microsimulation model. It includes a database, a series of tax and transfer algorithms and models, analytical software and user documentation. The SPSD/M has been produced as an occasional product starting in 1985 and has since been in wide use by policy analysts in Canada studying virtually every change to the tax and transfer system.

The SPSD/M is a tool designed to analyze the financial interactions of governments and individuals and families in Canada. It allows estimation of the income redistributive effects or cost implications of changes in the personal taxation and cash transfer system. The SPSD/M assists researchers examining the potential impacts of changes in taxes, earnings, demographic trends, and a wide range of other factors. It can be used to study federal and provincial tax and transfer changes from 1988 through 2005.

The SPSD/M allows us to answer questions like the following: What if there were a change 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?

The Social Policy Simulation Database and Model CD-ROM, Version 9.1 (89F0002XCB, $5,000/$12,500) is now available.

To order a copy, contact Dominique Paré (613-951-1782). For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Brian Murphy (613-951-3769; spsdm@statcan.gc.ca), Social and Economic Studies Division.