microWELT

Comparative microsimulation of ageing and welfare state
microWELT is a dynamic microsimulation platform for the comparative study of interactions between population ageing, sociodemographic change, and the welfare state. Applications include long-term care projections, labour force forecasting, the impact of education, health, and ethnicity on workforce composition, social security sustainability, and private and public transfers within the National Transfer Accounting framework. Available for numerous EU countries and the USA, microWELT is a portable, continuous time interacting population model based on standardised cross-country data. It is designed as a modular platform, fully documented, and extensible for diverse research applications.

microWELT is a dynamic microsimulation platform developed for the comparative study of the interactions between population aging, sociodemographic change, and welfare state regimes. It is used for a wide range of studies, including long-term care projections, labour force projections, the impact of education, health, and ethnicity on the future labour force, the sustainability and adequacy of social security systems, and private and public transfers (time and money) according to the National Transfer Accounting (NTA) framework. Applications are available for many countries of the European Union and for the USA. microWELT is a portable continuous-time interacting population model based on readily available data for many countries. There also exists a refined Austrian sister model, microDEMS, built on the same platform but based on detailed longitudinal administrative records. microWELT is fully documented and designed as a modular platform that can be refined and extended for a wide range of applications. The development of microWELT is led by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) alongside international and national research programs.

WIFO Working Papers
06.03.2025
Comparing Austria and Spain
Finalization: March 2025
Project partner Austrian Institute of Economic Research, University of Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Essex, University of Ottawa
Contractor project: Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH
Specialist publication: WIFO Working Papers
JEL-Codes: C53, I11, J14
WIFO Working Papers
31.01.2025
A Novel Comparative Approach Applied in Microsimulation Projections for Austria and Italy
Finalization: January 2025
Specialist publication: WIFO Working Papers
JEL-Codes: C53, I11, J14
WIFO Working Papers
09.01.2025
Parameter Estimation for microWELT
Finalization: January 2025
Specialist publication: WIFO Working Papers
JEL-Codes: C53, I11, J14
External Working Paper/Discussion Paper
24.06.2024
Closing Gaps at the Intersection Between Race/Ethnicity and Gender in the United States
Publication series: NBER Working Papers
JEL-Codes: C5, J11, J21
WIFO Working Papers
27.05.2024
Providing a Framework to Compare Austria, Spain, UK and Canada
Finalization: May 2024
Project partner Austrian Institute of Economic Research, University of Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Essex, University of Ottawa
Contractor project: Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH
Specialist publication: WIFO Working Papers
Article in Peer-reviewed Journal
2023
Specialist publication: Journal of the Economics of Ageing
Article in Peer-reviewed Journal
September 2022
Specialist publication: Economic Analysis and Policy
JEL-Codes: E01, J11, P51, O57, C53