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The tax system incidence on unemployment: A country-specific analysis for the OECD economies

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  • García, José Ramón
  • Sala, Hector

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed analysis on the incidence of the tax structure on the labor market. To do so it goes beyond the traditional examination of the ‘level’ effect of the fiscal wedge and considers a ‘composition’ effect defined as a payroll tax bias (PTB): the proportion of payroll taxes paid by employees with respect to the one paid by firms. We develop a right-to-manage model encompassing different wage bargaining systems and the incidence of different type of taxes. Controlling for demand-side and supply-side determinants of unemployment, we show that the PTB plays a significant role in explaining unemployment in the continental European countries, but not in the Nordic nor the Anglo-Saxon ones. We also show that there is no relationship between the incidence of the PTB and unemployment persistence, even though there is a positive one with respect to the level of the fiscal wedge.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Economic Modelling.

Volume (Year): 25 (2008)
Issue (Month): 6 (November)
Pages: 1232-1245

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Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:25:y:2008:i:6:p:1232-1245

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411

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Keywords: Unemployment Unemployment persistence Fiscal wedge Payroll tax bias;

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References

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Blog mentions

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  1. Ideology in action
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-04-04 09:46:31
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Cited by:
  1. García, José Ramón & Sala, Hector, 2006. "The Tax System Incidence on Unemployment: A Country-Specific Analysis for the OECD Economies," IZA Discussion Papers 2226, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Alexei Izyumov, 2010. "Human Costs of Post-communist Transition: Public Policies and Private Response," Review of Social Economy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 68(1), pages 93-125.
  3. Primož Dolenc & Suzana Laporšek, 2010. "Tax Wedge on Labour and its Effect on Employment Growth in the European Union," Prague Economic Papers, University of Economics, Prague, vol. 2010(4), pages 344-358.

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