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Earned income tax credits, unemployment benefits and wages: empirical evidence from Sweden

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  • Helge Bennmarker
  • Lars Calmfors
  • Anna Seim

Abstract

Although there is a large literature on employment effects of earned income tax credits (EITCs) and unemployment benefits, less is known about wage effects. In our model, the impact is via the net (after-tax) replacement rate. Using a panel of individuals from Sweden, we find a positive relationship between the net replacement rate and wages with semi-elasticities in the range 0.2-0.4. This implies that a one per cent reduction in the unemployment benefit level or a one per cent increase in the net-of-tax rate is associated with a fall in the before-tax wage of 0.1-0.2 per cent. EITCs and unemployment benefit reductions are thus likely to induce wage moderation. Copyright Bennmarker et al.; licensee Springer. 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Helge Bennmarker & Lars Calmfors & Anna Seim, 2014. "Earned income tax credits, unemployment benefits and wages: empirical evidence from Sweden," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izalpo:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:1-20:10.1186/s40173-014-0026-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s40173-014-0026-1
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Laun, Lisa, 2019. "In-work benefits across Europe," Working Paper Series 2019:16, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    2. Emmanuel Saez & Benjamin Schoefer & David Seim, 2019. "Payroll Taxes, Firm Behavior, and Rent Sharing: Evidence from a Young Workers' Tax Cut in Sweden," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1717-1763, May.
    3. Nyman, Pär & Aggeborn, Linuz & Ahlskog, Rafael, 2022. "Filling in the blanks. How does information about the Swedish EITC affect labour supply?," Working Paper Series 2022:9, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Fredriksson, Peter & Söderström, Martin, 2020. "The equilibrium impact of unemployment insurance on unemployment: Evidence from a non-linear policy rule," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    5. Egebark, Johan & Kaunitz, Niklas, 2018. "Payroll taxes and youth labor demand," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 163-177.
    6. Seerar Westerberg, Hans, 2021. "Are payroll tax cuts absorbed by insiders? Evidence from the Swedish retail industry," HFI Working Papers 20, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    7. Skedinger, Per, 2014. "Effects of Payroll Tax Cuts for Young Workers," Working Paper Series 1031, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    J31; J38; H24; Earned income tax credit; Unemployment benefits; Wage formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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