Conjoint Analysis

June 27, 2023

Here’s a cool thing I’m using the model for Conjoint Analysis. The idea is that you model a fiscal system, and as well as the usual costings, gainers and losers and the like, the model also gives you an indication of how popular your scheme would be with the general public.

Conjoint analyis is a survey based technique that produces estimates of how popular a scheme with multiple attributes (tax rates, poverty levels, etc.) would be with the general public. Using our model a policy maker can easily see not only the usual impacts of a policy change (gainers and losers, incentive effects, inequality, etc.) but also an indication of the overall acceptability of the scheme with the general public, and an indication of which parts of the scheme are popular and which unpopular. Conjoint Analyis is commonly used in commercial product development and political campaigning, but we believe this is its first use in a fiscal context. The model also has the capacity to model health outcomes of income changes;

This is work with colleagues from the Northumbria University. Very, very preliminary, with a huge to-do list.