SOUTHMOD resources

As noted on the page, "UNU-WIDER currently hosts fourteen models: eight models for countries in Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia), four in Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), one in Southeast Asia (Viet Nam), and one for the island of Zanzibar, complementing models developed previously for South Africa and Namibia. The models are continuously updated and used for research and policy analysis by UNU-WIDER and partners. The project is based on joint work with the Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI), the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and national teams based in the countries for which the models are built."

Follow the steps in the link to request access to the SOUTHMOD bundle and input datasets for the models of interest.

This open-access course is ideal for anyone new to the field of microsimulation or those seeking to refresh their knowledge, catering specifically to users of the SOUTHMOD model family, which includes models for countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The course structure includes 10 comprehensive modules featuring video lectures, multiple-choice questions, and practical modeling exercises. Participants who complete all modules and exercises will receive a SOUTHMOD Training Certificate. To participate effectively, you will need to download and use the latest version of the EUROMOD software, freely available online, and DEVMOD—a training model that uses fully synthetic data but resembles existing SOUTHMOD models.

A free Claude Code skill that turns Claude into a SOUTHMOD and EUROMOD assistant. It reads your model's own XML, configuration, output, and documentation files and explains them in a modeller's language — the policy spine, the system matrix, income lists, uprating, equivalence scales, reforms — with citations back to the exact files and lines. It works for all 14 country models (and the DEVMOD training model), because it learns each model by reading it rather than reciting fixed facts. To use it effectively, point Claude — in the CLI or the Desktop app — at a EUROMOD-based SOUTHMOD model on your own computer.

What it does. It detects what SOUTHMOD material you have open — a full bundle, a single <CC>.xml, a data-config or VarConfig.xml, an output dataset, a DRD workbook, the Stata/Python review code, or a Country Report, in any combination, even partial — and routes to the right analysis. It answers structural questions (what a policy does in a given system, how a variable is built, where a constant lives) by reading the live model and checking the correct system column of the matrix; computes the standard distributional statistics (equivalised disposable income, poverty headcount and gap, Gini) from an output dataset; and walks you through running a model or authoring a reform. When a file is missing it says what it cannot determine, instead of inventing.

How to use it. Download the skill (link above or below) and unzip it into your Claude Code skills folder — either user-wide (~/.claude/skills/) or per project (.claude/skills/ in a repository). The archive expands to a southmod/ folder, so run unzip southmod-skill.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/. Then start Claude Code in a folder containing your model and ask a SOUTHMOD question (or type /southmod); the skill activates automatically on SOUTHMOD/EUROMOD topics.

Bring your own model. Request the SOUTHMOD models and data from UNU-WIDER (you accept the SOUTHMOD Adhesion Agreement for non-commercial research use): accessing SOUTHMOD models. The EUROMOD software itself is a separate free download from the JRC.

A user manual for the harmonized SOUTHMOD model bundle, covering country models for Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mainland Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zanzibar), Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), and Southeast Asia (Viet Nam). It works both as an introduction for new users and a reference for experienced ones, covering how to run the country models and how to build new policies. To get started, request access to the bundle and the relevant input data, and download the latest EUROMOD software. The matching Country Reports and Data Requirement Documents are also worth reading.

The SOUTHMOD modelling conventions, based on the EUROMOD conventions and adapted for developing-country settings through the work of UNU-WIDER, ISER, SASPRI, and national teams. They guide how to build a model and keep it up to date, and standardize data and modelling choices across the countries in the project. The document is shared publicly for researchers building their own models on the free EUROMOD/SOUTHMOD software. Careful, systematic checking of the input data and all model elements is essential, and it remains the user's responsibility to judge how comparable the models are for a given research question. The relevant Country Report and Data Requirement Document are worth reading, and UNU-WIDER can provide the Stata do-files behind the data on request.

Find links to selected SOUTHMOD works I've co-authored below: