Tell us a bit about you - what is your background?

Eirini Andriopoulou: I am an economist specialising in labour economics, applied microeconomic analysis, and public policy both by academic and professional experience. Currently, I serve as the Head of the Unit of Experts in Employment, Social Insurance, Welfare, and Social Affairs (M.E.K.Y.) in Greece. I take pride in establishing the Unit from scratch and currently leading a team of 10 brilliant scientists. Prior to this, I held the position of the Head of the Microeconomic Policy and Microsimulations Division at the Council of Economic Advisors of the Hellenic Ministry of Finance. I act as a national delegate at various EU and OECD Committees and Working Groups such as the Ageing Working Group (AWG), the Working Group on Pension Adequacy (WGPA), the EFC Sub-Committee on Statistics (SCS-EFC), the Economic Policy Committee (EPC). 

I have coordinated the design and implementation of various public policies primarily in the fields of social welfare, social insurance, labour markets and taxation. My expertise includes conducting fiscal and distributional impact assessments. I was engaged in negotiations related to economic adjustment programs for Greece and the enhanced surveillance process, and I actively participate in European economic governance procedures and collaborate with international organisations on issues pertaining to the Greek economy and technical assistance. Moreover, I independently collaborate with the World Bank as a Lead Consultant for jobs and social safety nets. My research interests and publications focus on poverty, inequality, social policies and taxation. Lately, I also conducted research related to unemployment dynamics and the minimum wage.

I love coordinating my team in designing targeted public policies, conducting fiscal and distributional impact analyses, using microdata and innovative methods. I am continuously mentoring and also learning from them, and together, we share the same vision for the Unit: promoting evidence-based policies. 

What made you accept the proposal to participate in EUROMOD’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)?

Eirini Andriopoulou: It is an honour for me to participate in EUROMOD’s Scientific Advisory Board. This opportunity aligns with my current role as Head of the M.E.K.Y. team and my commitment to advancing evidence-based policymaking. By serving as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, I have the chance to contribute my knowledge and insights to the ongoing development of EUROMOD, a vital tool for evaluating the impact of tax and benefit policies on household incomes, poverty and inequality rates and work incentives across the European.

I am particularly excited about the prospect of collaborating with fellow experts from the EUROMOD Community, the European Commission and National Authorities, as well as policymakers to ensure that EUROMOD remains at the forefront of policy analysis, addressing emerging challenges and opportunities, and further extends its use in the context of EU policy making and in particular the European Semester. In summary, I accepted the proposal to participate in EUROMOD’s SAB because I believe in the importance of its mission in informing evidence-based policymaking.

How do you see your role in SAB? 

Eirini Andriopoulou: As a representative of National Authorities in SAB, I view my role as bringing the insights of the use of EUROMOD in applied policy making to match with the academic views in relation to the model development. I aim to facilitate the collaboration and exchange of ideas between these two spheres, ensuring that EUROMOD remains responsive to the evolving needs and priorities of policymakers while also maintaining robust scientific standards. In many cases, the pace and timing across policymaking actions and academic activities is incompatible. A role for the SAB members could be to reconcile the working methods and timing across the different activities that are involved in the EUROMOD upgrade and production of analysis in particular for the European Semester needs. For instance, given that EUROMOD is a valuable tool for the implementation of Distributional Analysis for the Draft Budgetary Plans (DBP), National Authorities could closely cooperate with National Teams in October in order to upgrade the model for the current year and also make the necessary changes for the simulation of measures presented as interventions of the DPB for the next year.

Additionally, what I see important in this role is to bring ideas on methodological advancements, data quality, and validation techniques, with the goal of enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the model's simulations. In particular, promoting the development of administrative input data as alternative to SILC for as many countries as possible in order to obtain more accurate fiscal results, enhancing the use of indirect tool for simulating policies related to consumptions and further exploring ways to make EUROMOD more dynamic with new tools such as the Labour Market Adjustment tool or the link of EUROMOD with macro models. 

If you could add/change one thing in EUROMOD, what would it be?

Eirini Andriopoulou: EUROMOD is already a very powerful tool and has incorporated amazing changes and extensions over time. A valuable addition could be to enhance its capacity to incorporate dynamic behavioral responses to policy changes. Specifically, I would aim to introduce features such as dynamic labor supply responses, where individuals may choose to adjust their labor market participation, hours worked, in response to changes in tax rates, benefit levels, or other policy parameters. This can be done manually through the Labour Market Adjustment tool, but if we have evidence from literature on how we should parametrise these responses, we could model the behavioral changes to be done in a more automatic way. In other words, develop a tool that will give us the ability to run EUROMOD with and without behavioural changes. This incorporation could help to better capture interaction of policies and their effects on work incentives, as well as their consequences on fiscal and distributional outcome, improving the model's predictive power in complex policy environments.