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The Effect of Income Taxation on Consumption and Labor Supply

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Author Info
James P. Ziliak (University of Kentucky)
Thomas J. Kniesner (Syracuse University)

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Abstract

We estimate the incentive effects of income taxation in a life-cycle model of consumption and labor supply without intratemporal strong separability. We find that consumption and hours worked are direct complements in utility; both increase with a compensated increase in the net wage. The compensated net wage elasticity is about 0.3, nearly double estimates for U.S. men from a linear labor supply specification. Estimated intertemporal elasticities indicate significant intertemporal smoothing of utility. The estimated marginal welfare cost of government revenue is 6%20%, which is about half the estimated welfare cost when additivity between consumption and leisure is incorrectly imposed.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Labor Economics.

Volume (Year): 23 (2005)
Issue (Month): 4 (October)
Pages: 769-796
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:v:23:y:2005:i:4:p:769-796

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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.:
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  3. Altonji, Joseph G, 1986. "Intertemporal Substitution in Labor Supply: Evidence from Micro Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages S176-S215, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Chris Carroll & Lawrence H. Summers, 1989. "Consumption Growth Parallels Income Growth: Some New Evidence," NBER Working Papers 3090, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Attanasio, Orazio P & Weber, Guglielmo, 1995. "Is Consumption Growth Consistent with Intertemporal Optimization? Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1121-57, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Costas Meghir, 1998. "Estimating Labor Supply Responses Using Tax Reforms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(4), pages 827-862, July.
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  14. Low, Hamish & Maldoom, Daniel, 2004. "Optimal taxation, prudence and risk-sharing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 443-464, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Snow, Arthur & Warren, Ronald Jr., 1996. "The marginal welfare cost of public funds: Theory and estimates," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 289-305, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Christopher D Carroll, 1990. "Buffer-Stock Saving and the Life Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis," Economics Working Paper Archive 371, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics, revised Aug 1996.
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  23. James P. Ziliak & Thomas J. Kniesner, 1999. "Estimating Life Cycle Labor Supply Tax Effects," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(2), pages 326-359, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Shaw, Kathryn L, 1989. "Life-Cycle Labor Supply with Human Capital Accumulation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(2), pages 431-56, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Deaton, Angus, 1991. "Saving and Liquidity Constraints," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(5), pages 1221-48, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Browning, Martin & Meghir, Costas, 1991. "The Effects of Male and Female Labor Supply on Commodity Demands," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(4), pages 925-51, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  31. Cochrane, John H, 1991. "A Simple Test of Consumption Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 957-76, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Skinner, Jonathan, 1987. "A superior measure of consumption from the panel study of income dynamics," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 213-216. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  36. Heckman, James J, 1974. "Life Cycle Consumption and Labor Supply: An Explanation of the Relationship Between Income and Consumption Over the Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(1), pages 188-94, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Mathias Trabandt & Harald Uhlig, 2006. "How Far Are We From The Slippery Slope? The Laffer Curve Revisited," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2006-023, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Pablo A. Guerron, 2006. "Non-Separability, Heterogeneous Labor Supply, Investment, and the Business Cycle," Working Paper Series 005, North Carolina State University, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2006. [Downloadable!]
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