Abstract

In this paper we investigate the impact on retirement balances and retirement adequacy from various policy changes, such as the effects of changes to the Superannuation Guarantee and superannuation taxation policies.

To investigate the impact of changes to superannuation policies we create a dynamic version of the ANU PolicyMod microsimulation model and consider the distribution of expected retirement superannuation balances and retirement adequacy for various age and income groups.

To better study and model the Australian superannuation system, we incorporate information from a matched sample of the Australian Census of Population and Housing to dynamically simulate lifecycle changes to income level, labour force status, marital status and home ownership status from a baseline state based on various demographic characteristics.

PolicyMod is a microsimulation model of the Australian Tax and Transfer system developed by ANU’s Centre for Social Research and Methods, which can model most aspects of the Australia personal income taxation and welfare system including the current and alternative policy settings. The model is based on ABS survey data and uses a range of other data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other government departments to improve the accuracy and timeliness of the model. The model is a static model that considers the impact of policy on the ‘day after’, meaning that the model does not attempt to model behaviour changes that may result from policy changes.

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