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Do more equal slices shrink the cake? An empirical investigation of tax-transfer reform proposals in Italy

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Author Info
Rolf Aaberge ()
Ugo Colombino ()
Steinar Strøm ()

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Abstract

A crucial issue in efficiency-equality evaluations of tax reforms resides in the possibility that the level as well as the distribution of welfare may change, where the household-specific measures of welfare capture the value of income as well as the value of leisure. A better-designed redistribution and income support system may not only foster equality but also improve the configuration of incentives and by this route contribute in its turn to efficiency. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the welfare effects for married couples of replacing the Italian tax system by three alternative hypothetical reforms: a flat tax, a negative income tax, and a work fare scheme. We employ a microeconometric model of household labour supply that represents partners’ simultaneous choices, allows for constraints in the choice of hours of work, and is sufficiently flexible to capture a large variety of supply responses. These features appear to be crucial in the evaluation of reform effects. The results suggest that there is scope for improving upon the current system under both the efficiency and the equality criterion. The benefits from the reforms, however, come from unexpected directions since the largest labour supply contribution come from poor and middle class households whereas rich households appear to be much less responsive to changes in the tax rates. The simulation results reveal that a crucial role in shaping the results is played by the relatively higher behavioural responsiveness of married women living in low and average income households. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2004

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00148-004-0193-2
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Population Economics.

Volume (Year): 17 (2004)
Issue (Month): 4 (December)
Pages: 767-785
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Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:17:y:2004:i:4:p:767-785

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Related research
Keywords: D19; D69; J22; Tax reforms; labour supply; welfare gains and losses; efficiency-equality trade-off; social welfare;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Weymark, John A., 1981. "Generalized gini inequality indices," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 409-430, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Aaberge, Rolf & Dagsvik, John K & Strom, Steinar, 1995. " Labor Supply Responses and Welfare Effects of Tax Reforms," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 97(4), pages 635-59, December.
  3. Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A., 1980. "A single-parameter generalization of the Gini indices of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 67-86, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Aaberge, Rolf & Colombino, Ugo & Strom, Steinar, 1999. "Labour Supply in Italy: An Empirical Analysis of Joint Household Decisions, with Taxes and Quantity Constraints," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 403-22, July-Aug.. [Downloadable!]
  5. Bourguignon, F. & O'Donoghue, C. & Sastre-Descals, J. & Spadaro, A. & Utili, F., 1997. "Eur 3: A Prototype European Tax-Benefit Model," DELTA Working Papers 97-30, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
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  6. Colombino, Ugo & Del Boca, Daniela, 1989. "The Effect Of Taxes On Labor Supply In Italy," Working Papers 89-30, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
  7. Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A., 1983. "Ethically flexible gini indices for income distributions in the continuum," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 353-358, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Fortin, Bernard & Truchon, Michel & Beausejour, Louis, 1993. "On reforming the welfare system : Workfare meets the negative income tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 119-151, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Dagsvik, John K, 1994. "Discrete and Continuous Choice, Max-Stable Processes, and Independence from Irrelevant Attributes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(5), pages 1179-1205, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Rolf Aaberge, 2000. "Characterizations of Lorenz curves and income distributions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 639-653. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. King, Mervyn A., 1983. "Welfare analysis of tax reforms using household data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-214, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Aaberge, Rolf, 2001. "Axiomatic Characterization of the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve Orderings," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 115-132, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Saez, Emmanuel, 2001. "Using Elasticities to Derive Optimal Income Tax Rates," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 68(1), pages 205-29, January.
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  14. Dickens, William T & Lundberg, Shelly J, 1993. "Hours Restrictions and Labor Supply," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(1), pages 169-92, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Rolf Aaberge & Ugo Colombino & Steinar Strøm & Tom Wennemo, 2005. "Joint Labour Supply of Married Couples: Efficiency and Distribution Effects of Tax and Labour Market Reforms," Labor and Demography 0501004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  16. Yaari, Menahem E., 1988. "A controversial proposal concerning inequality measurement," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-397, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anna Laura Mancini, 2007. "Labor supply responses of Italian women to minimum income policies," CHILD Working Papers wp14_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Colombino Ugo & Locatelli Marilena & Narazani Edlira & O'Donoghue Cathal & Shima Isilda, 2008. "Behavioural and welfare effects of basic income policies : An a simulation for European Countries," Department of Economics Working Papers 200806, University of Turin. [Downloadable!]
  3. Rolf Aaberge and Ugo Colombino, 2006. "Designing Optimal Taxes with a Microeconometric Model of Household Labour Supply," Discussion Papers 475, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Rolf Aaberge, 2006. "Gini’s Nuclear Family," Discussion Papers 491, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Colombino U & Locatelli M & Narazani E & O'donoghue C & Shima I, 2008. "Behavioural And Welfare Effects Of Basic Income Policies: A Simulation For European Countries," EUROMOD Working Papers EM5/08, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Rolf Aaberge, Ugo Colombino, Erling Holmøy, Birger Strøm and Tom Wennemo, 2004. "Population ageing and fiscal sustainability: An integrated micro-macro analysis of required tax changes," Discussion Papers 367, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Ugo Colombino & R. Aaberge & T. Wennemo, 2006. "Evaluating Alternative Representations of the Choice Sets in Models of Labour Supply," CHILD Working Papers wp17_06, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. José Labeaga & Xisco Oliver & Amedeo Spadaro, 2008. "Discrete choice models of labour supply, behavioural microsimulation and the Spanish tax reforms," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 247-273, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Rolf Aaberge & Magne Mogstad, 2009. "On the Measurement of Long-Term Income Inequality and Income Mobility," ICER Working Papers 09-2009, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  10. Rolf Aaberge & Ugo Colombino, 2005. "A microeconometric model for analysing efficiency and distributional effects of tax reforms: a review of results for Italy and Norwayƒx," Public Economics 0501002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. Aaberge, Rolf & Flood, Lennart, 2008. "Evaluation of an In-Work Tax Credit Reform in Sweden: Effects on Labor Supply and Welfare Participation of Single Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 3736, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Narazani E & Shima I, 2008. "Labour Supply Modelling In Italy When Minimum Income Scheme Is An Option," EUROMOD Working Papers EM6/08, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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