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Taxing Human Capital Efficiently: The Double Dividend of Taxing Non-Qualified Labour More Heavily Than Qualified Labour

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  • Richter, Wolfram F.

    () (TU Dortmund)

Abstract

Assuming decreasing returns to education and the endogenous supply of qualified and non-qualified labour it is shown to be efficient to supplement a consumption tax with positive incentives for education. If the return from education is isoelastic and if the choice is between (i) subsidizing the monetary cost of education and (ii) taxing non-qualified labour income more heavily than qualified labour income while keeping the effective cost of education constant, the latter policy is shown to be second-best efficient. In particular, any tax distortions should be constrained to labour choices while the choice of education should remain undistorted. The result holds for arbitrary utility functions.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2328.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2328

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Related research

Keywords: human capital investment; efficient taxation; endogenous choice of labour and education; double dividend hypothesis;

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References

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  1. Berthold U. Wigger, 2004. "Are Higher Education Subsidies Second Best?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(1), pages 65-82, 03.
  2. Huizinga, H.P. & Nielsen, S.B., 1997. "Capital income and profit taxation with foreign ownership of firms," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-73857, Tilburg University.
  3. Nerlove, Marc & Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim & von Weizsacker, Robert K., 1993. "Comprehensive income taxation, investments in human and physical capital, and productivity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 397-406, March.
  4. Bovenberg, A Lans & Jacobs, Bas, 2005. "Human Capital and Optimal Positive Taxation of Capital Income," CEPR Discussion Papers 5047, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(114), pages 175-208, April.
  6. Fredrik Andersson & Kai A. Konrad, 2002. "Human Capital Investment and Globalization in Extortionary States," CESifo Working Paper Series 703, CESifo Group Munich.
  7. Lans Bovenberg, A. & Jacobs, Bas, 2005. "Redistribution and education subsidies are Siamese twins," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2005-2035, December.
  8. Heckman, James J, 1976. "A Life-Cycle Model of Earnings, Learning, and Consumption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages S11-44, August.
  9. Schön, Wolfgang & Schreiber, Ulrich & Spengel, Christoph & Wiegard, Wolfgang, 2006. "Reform der Einkommens- und Unternehmensbesteuerung durch die duale Einkommensteuer," Wirtschaftsdienst – Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik (1998 - 2007), ZBW – German National Library of Economics / Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 86(3), pages 147-151.
  10. Bas Jacobs & A. Lans Bovenberg, 2005. "Human Capital and Optimal Positive Taxation of Capital Income," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-035/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  11. Lawrence Goulder, 1995. "Environmental taxation and the double dividend: A reader's guide," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 157-183, August.
  12. Trostel, Philip A, 1993. "The Effect of Taxation on Human Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 327-50, April.
  13. A. Lans Bovenberg & Bas Jacobs, 2005. "Redistribution and Education Subsidies are Siamese Twins," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-036/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  14. Garcia-Penalosa, Cecilia & Walde, Klaus, 2000. "Efficiency and Equity Effects of Subsidies to Higher Education," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 702-22, October.
  15. Nielsen, Soren Bo & Sorensen, Peter Birch, 1997. "On the optimality of the Nordic system of dual income taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 311-329, February.
  16. Bas Jacobs & A. Lans Bovenberg, 2005. "Human Capital and Optimal Positive Taxation of Capital Income," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-035/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  17. A. Lans Bovenberg & Bas Jacobs, 2005. "Redistribution and Education Subsidies are Siamese Twins," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-036/3, Tinbergen Institute.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Wolfram F. Richter, 2007. "Efficient Tax Policy Ranks Education Higher than Saving," CESifo Working Paper Series 2106, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Wolfram F. Richter, 2009. "Taxing Education in Ramsey's Tradition," Ruhr Economic Papers 0140, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
  3. Bas Jacobs & A. Lans Bovenberg, 2011. "Optimal Taxation of Human Capital and the Earnings Function," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 13(6), pages 957-971, December.
  4. De Grauwe, Paul & Rovira Kaltwasser, Pablo, 2006. "A behavioural finance model of the exchange rate with many forecasting rules," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/103684, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
  5. Wolfram F. Richter & Christoph Braun, 2010. "Efficient Subsidization of Human Capital Accumulation with Overlapping Generations and Endogenous Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 2982, CESifo Group Munich.

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