SimAthens: A spatial microsimulation approach to the estimation and analysis of small area income distributions and poverty rates in the city of Athens, Greece

Published during a severe economic crisis, this study presents the first spatial microsimulation model for the analysis of income inequalities and poverty in Greece. First, we present a brief overview of the method and discuss its potential for the analysis of multidimensional poverty and income inequality in Greece. We then present the SimAthens model, based on a combination of small-area demographic and socioeconomic information available from the Greek census of population with data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The model is based on an iterative proportional fitting (IPF) algorithm, and is used to reweigh EU-SILC records to fit in small-area descriptions for Athens based on 2001 and 2011 censuses. This is achieved by using demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as constraint variables. Finally, synthesis of the labor market and occupations are chosen as the main variables for externally validating our results, in order to verify the integrity of the model. Results of this external validation process are found to be extremely satisfactory, indicating a high goodness of fit between simulated and real values. Finally, the study presents a number of model outputs, illustrating changes in social and economic geography, during a severe economic crisis, offering a great opportunity for discussing further potential of this model in policy analysis.