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Optimal Design of Earned Income Tax Credits: Evidence from a British Natural Experiment

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Author Info
Andrew Leigh

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Abstract

With many countries considering the adoption of a system of earned income tax credits, it is useful to analyze how different types of credits affect labor supply and earnings. This paper focuses on a 1999 reform to the UK tax credit system, which increased the value of the credit and reduced the phase-out rate. Using panel data, with individual fixed effects, I compare eligibles and ineligibles within five groups: all individuals; those whose demographic characteristics predict that they will have low earnings; single women; women in couples; and men in couples. Over a 15-month period, boosting the credit appears to have raised the labor participation rates, hours, and earnings of those who were eligible to receive it.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 488.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:488

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Related research
Keywords: working families’ tax credit; earned income tax credit; wage subsidies; labor supply; earnings; self-reported health status;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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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. Paul Gregg & Susan Harkness, 2003. "Welfare Reform and Lone Parents Employment in the UK," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 03/072, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  2. Eissa, Nada & Hoynes, Hilary Williamson, 2004. "Taxes and the labor market participation of married couples: the earned income tax credit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1931-1958, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2000. "Using the EITC to Help Poor Families: New Evidence and a Comparision with the Minimum Wage," NBER Working Papers 7599, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Richard Dickens & Alan Manning, 2002. "Has The National Minimum Wage Reduced UK Wage Inequality?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0533, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Bruce D. Meyer, 2002. "Labor Supply at the Extensive and Intensive Margins: The EITC, Welfare, and Hours Worked," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 373-379, May. [Downloadable!]
  6. Hausman, Jerry A., 1985. "Taxes and labor supply," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 213-263 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Michalopoulos, Charles & Robins, Philip K. & Card, David, 2005. "When financial work incentives pay for themselves: evidence from a randomized social experiment for welfare recipients," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 5-29, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Brewer, Mike & Duncan, Alan & Shephard, Andrew & Suarez, Maria Jose, 2006. "Did working families' tax credit work? The impact of in-work support on labour supply in Great Britain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 699-720, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Julian McCrae & Costas Meghir, 2000. "The labour market impact of the working families’ tax credit," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 75-103, March. [Downloadable!]
  10. Stephen Machin & Joan Wilson, 2004. "Minimum wages in a low-wage labour market: Care homes in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages C102-C109, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Andrew Leigh, 2005. "Who Benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit? Incidence Among Recipients, Coworkers and Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 494, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
  12. Eissa, Nada & Liebman, Jeffrey B, 1996. "Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(2), pages 605-37, May. [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. Ghazala Azmat, 2006. "The Incidence of an Earned Income Tax Credit: Evaluating the Impact on Wages in the UK," CEP Discussion Papers dp0724, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  2. Ghazala Azmat, 2006. "The Impact of Tax Credits on Labour Supply," Economics Working Papers 979, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
  3. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2005. "Distributional Impacts of the Self-Sufficiency Project," NBER Working Papers 11626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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