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¿What is CRIMOD?

CRIMOD is the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Costa Rica, based on the EUROMOD platform. The model allows for the simulation of prospective changes in the policies that govern taxes and benefits, and the effect of those changes on the income of Costa Rican households. It also makes it possible to define and evaluate counterfactual scenarios of the policies implemented to analyze possible improvements in their design. CRIMOD currently uses data from the 2019 and 2022 National Household Surveys (ENAHO) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), with additional years to be added in the future.

The current version of CRIMOD includes the tax-benefit rules for 2019-2022, which allow for the simulation of the tax on wages and pensions, the tax on profits of physical persons, social insurance contributions for employees and the self-employed, non-contributory pensions, and conditional cash transfers program Avancemos. This first version of CRIMOD was developed with the support of H. Xavier Jara of the International Institute of Inequalities of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and David Rodríguez of the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad Externado de Colombia, with whom we maintain a permanent collaboration.

CRIMOD is freely accessible for non-commercial research use, and is especially useful for students, researchers and policymakers.

¿What is CRIMOD used for?

The EUROMOD platform, on which CRIMOD is built, allows for the estimation of poverty, inequality and redistribution effects of the tax-benefit system under current, former or future conditions, as well as their impact on public budgets. The harmonization of the input microdata for individuals and households, and the standardization of the rules, create a framework of analysis that’s comparable between countries, and allows for the rapid implementation of diverse policy scenarios.

CRIMOD could answer questions such as:

● ¿What is the cost of modifying the eligibility rules of an existing cash transfer or creating a new one?

● ¿What is the impact on inequality of adding a new income tax bracket with a higher tax rate?

Access to CRIMOD

To request access to CRIMOD, read carefully the “CRIMOD Terms of use” and fill out the “CRIMOD Access request form”. Send the form to info.crimod@ucr.ac.cr, where your request will be processed.

Access request form

Documents of interest

EUROMOD (EN)

Tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union

User Manual (EN)

SOUTHMOD User Manual (EN)

EUROMOD Software

EUROMOD Software download (EN)

User manual (ES)

ECUAMOD User Manual (ES)

EUROMOD Help

EUROMOD Help file (EN)

Conventions

EUROMOD Modelling Conventions (EN)

CRIMod Team

Yanira Xirinachs Salazar

“Yanira is a professor and researcher of economics at the University of Costa Rica. She teaches game theory, microeconomics, health economics, quantitative methods and introductory economics. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, and her main area of research is health economics. She is currently the director of the School of Economics at the University of Costa Rica.”

Luis Vargas Montoya

“Luis is a research fellow and professor of economics at the University of Costa Rica. He is also an economic advisor at the Economic Association of Costa Rica. His research interests are digital economy, labor market, poverty and inequality, and human capital. He likes painting, cooking, and tasting good food, wine and coffee.”

Gabriel Madrigal Quesada

“Gabriel is a researcher at the University of Costa Rica, and an economic advisor of the Economic Association of Costa Rica. His research interests include data analysis, economic geography, labor market, and regional development. He likes learning about technology, cooking, and spending time outdoors.”

Mariela Madrigal Meneses

“Mariela is a research economist at the Economic Sciences Research Institute of the University of Costa Rica. She is also a professor at the National State Distance University of Costa Rica. Her experience covers the System of National Accounts for households and the health sectors, as well as public, gender and social policies, with a focus on multidimensional poverty indices and household poverty by income or expenditure, consumption, tax justice and entrepreneurship. Mariela has provided advisory and research services to several Costa Rican public institutions, including INEC, MIVAH, IMAS, MICITT and CCSS. She has also been a consultant for NGOs such as UNDP LATAM and UNDP Somalia, FAO, UNICEF and the University of Oxford (OPHI and Wise Responder by Sophia Oxford).”

Rodrigo Sánchez Calvo

“Rodrigo is a third-year economics student at the University of Costa Rica. He has collaborated as teaching assistant to the Game Theory course, while also maintaining an active role in student activities such as the Department of Economics’ committees, assemblies, and the student association. His main interests include financial economics, econometrics, and macroeconomics.”

Kenneth Eduardo González Tenorio

“Kenneth is a professor and researcher in economics at the University of Costa Rica. He is currently part of the Academic Development Program (PDA) at the School of Economics. His interests include data analysis, public economics, financial economics, and macroeconomics. He likes programming, computing, dancing, cooking, and riding motorcycles.”