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Microsimulation is a technique that uses the capacity of modern computers to make microunits act and interact in such a way that it is possible to aggregate to the level of interest. A microsimulation model can be seen as a set of rules, which operates on a sample of microunits such as individuals, households, and firms. Each microunit is defined and characterized by a set of properties (variables) and as the model is simulated these properties are updated for each and every microunit. The model might simply be a set of deterministic rules such as the income tax rules of a country operating on a sample of taxpayers, and used to compute the distribution of after-tax income, the aggregate income tax revenue, or other fiscal entities of interest. But the model could also include behavioral assumptions usually formulated as stochastic models. Examples are fertility models, models for household formation and dissolution, labor supply, and mobility.

By the mid-1990s the potential and usefulness of microsimulation models for researching tax-benefit systems had found widespread acceptance. Nevertheless, models were not widely available for independent or academic research in all countries of the European Union (EU). Even more important, carrying out consistent comparative tax-benefit microsimulation analysis was still an apparently impossible task. The time seemed ready for a European-Union-wide tax-benefit microsimulation model. Such a model, EUROMOD, is now available.

This chapter is devoted to a short introduction to EUROMOD, including the reasons why it was built, its added value compared to existing models, the trade-offs faced by its builders and lessons that have been learnt from developing such an integrated model. Moreover, it aims to provide an insight into the wide range of possible applications of EUROMOD, underlined by summarizing some indicative findings of studies, which have used the model.