2022 (LIS)²ER workshop: “Inflation, energy prices and tax policy: Effects on consumption and welfare”

LIS Cross-national Data Center and LISER convened the third international scientific workshop on Policies to Fight Inequality in the realm of the (LIS)²ER initiative.

Inflation has recently reached levels that have not been seen in many industrialized countries for decades. Spikes in energy prices, notably, raised concern about the livelihoods of families living on a tight budget. In this context, the 2022 (LIS)²ER workshop on policies to fight inequality—organized annually by the LIS Cross-national Data Center and LISER—aims to discuss research on inequality and distributive impacts of exposure to price variations. Emerging research on ‘inflation inequality’ has revealed the unequal exposure of households to price variations by income level, and notably a double pain with low income households facing higher inflation than high income households. However, knowledge remains limited as traditional measurement of inflation typically assumes that all agents face the same set of prices and detailed analysis requires fine-grain data. Vulnerability to price variations may also be linked to other dimensions such as gender, occupation or age. The workshop aims to offer a forum to discuss novel research and insights on these questions and provide scholars with an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.

The workshop took place from Thursday 1st December (mid-day) through Friday 2nd December (mid-afternoon) in the Maison des Sciences Humaines, in Esch-sur-Alzette. It consisted of 10 invited academic presentations. A connected policy roundtable took place on Friday 2nd December, early afternoon.

The workshop programme is available here.

Organizing Committee:
Teresa Munzi (LIS) – Eugenio Peluso (LISER) – Petra Sauer (LIS, LISER) – Denisa Sologon / Jules Linden (LISER) – Philippe Van Kerm (LISER, University of Luxembourg)

Please find below the list of presentations of the workshop sessions:

• The uneven impact of inflation across European households: who is paying more? Davide Villani (EC Joint Research Centre, Seville)
• Pro-rich inflation, redistribution and CO2 emissions by Eren Gürer (Middle East Technical University)
• Environmental policy and the energy crisis in the UK by Peter Levell (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)
• Decomposing the distributional impact of EU-wide carbon taxation – Comparing the role of energy expenditure, asset ownership and carbon intensity across 6 EU countries by Jules Linden (LISER)
• The distribution of household greenhouse gas emissions according to income and wealth: an exploratory analysis by Gerlinde Verbist (University of Antwerp)
• Balancing Social and Ecological Goals: Redistributive Options for Carbon Pricing in an Ecological Tax Reform by Claudia Kettner-Marx (WIFO, Vienna)
• Welfare and distributional impact of soaring prices in Europe by Denisa Sologon (LISER)
• The Redistributive Effects of Inflation and Government Interventions: a microsimulation analysis for Italy by Nicola Curci (Bank of Italy)
• Measuring and comparing consumption inequality between France and the US by Sylvérie Herbert (Banque de France)
• The Heterogeneous Impact of Inflation on Households’ Balance Sheets by Clodomiro Ferreira (Bank of Spain)