IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v105y2015i10p3061-3101.html

Technical Change, Wage Inequality, and Taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Laurence Ales
  • Musab Kurnaz
  • Christopher Sleet

Abstract

This paper considers the normative implications of technical change for tax policy design. A task-to-talent assignment model of the labor market is embedded into an optimal tax problem. Technical change modifies equilibrium wage growth across talents and the substitutability of talents across tasks. The overall optimal policy response is to reduce marginal income taxes on low to middle incomes, while raising those on middle to high incomes. The reform favors those in the middle of the income distribution, reducing their average taxes while lowering transfers to those at the bottom. (JEL D31, H21, H23, H24, J31, O33)

Suggested Citation

  • Laurence Ales & Musab Kurnaz & Christopher Sleet, 2015. "Technical Change, Wage Inequality, and Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3061-3101, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:10:p:3061-3101
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20140466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.20140466
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/app/10510/20140466_app.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/10510/20140466_data.zip
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/10510/20140466_ds.zip
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Heathcote & Fabrizio Perri & Giovanni L. Violante, 2010. "Unequal We Stand: An Empirical Analysis of Economic Inequality in the United States: 1967-2006," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(1), pages 15-51, January.
    2. Singh, S K & Maddala, G S, 1976. "A Function for Size Distribution of Incomes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(5), pages 963-970, September.
    3. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (I): The Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number fuss1978.
    4. Casey Rothschild & Florian Scheuer, 2013. "Redistributive Taxation in the Roy Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 623-668.
    5. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (II): Applications of the Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 2, number fuss1978a.
    6. Casey Rothschild & Florian Scheuer, 2014. "A Theory of Income Taxation under Multidimensional Skill Heterogeneity," NBER Working Papers 19822, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue nov.
    8. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780444850133.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    2. Sara Amoroso, 2015. "Profits, R&D and labour: Breaking the law of diminishing returns to labour," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2015-10, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Consumer preferences and demand systems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 210-224, December.
    4. Kala Krishna & Marie Thursby, 1994. "Structural Flexibility: A Partial Ordering," NBER Working Papers 4615, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. V. Vandenberghe, 2018. "The Contribution of Educated Workers to Firms’ Efficiency Gains: The Key Role of Proximity to the ‘Local’ Frontier," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 259-283, September.
    6. Matteo G. Richiardi & Luis Valenzuela, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and the aggregate labour share," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 38(1), pages 66-101, March.
    7. Sébastien Marchand, 2011. "Technical Efficiency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest," Working Papers halshs-00552981, HAL.
    8. Managi, Shunsuke & Opaluch, James J. & Jin, Di & Grigalunas, Thomas A., 2006. "Stochastic frontier analysis of total factor productivity in the offshore oil and gas industry," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 204-215, November.
    9. Caroline Khan & Mike G. Tsionas, 2021. "Constraints in models of production and cost via slack-based measures," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3347-3374, December.
    10. Michaelides, Panayotis G. & Vouldis, Angelos T. & Tsionas, Efthymios G., 2010. "Globally flexible functional forms: The neural distance function," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 206(2), pages 456-469, October.
    11. Antle, John M. & Aitah, Ali S., 1984. "Egypt'S Multiproduct Agricultural Technology And Agricultural Policy," Working Papers 225790, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    12. Krasachat, W., 2000. "Production Structure and Technical Change in Thai Agriculture, 1972-1994," 2000 Conference (44th), January 23-25, 2000, Sydney, Australia 123688, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    13. Bailey, Alastair & Irz, Xavier T. & Balcombe, Kelvin George, 2003. "An Appliation Of The Stochastic Latent Variable Approach To The Correction Of Sector Level Tfp Calculations In The Face Of Biased Technological Change," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25842, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Arne Henningsen & Christian Henning, 2009. "Imposing regional monotonicity on translog stochastic production frontiers with a simple three-step procedure," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 217-229, December.
    15. Guenter Lang, 2002. "Innovative Slowdown, Productivity Reversal? - Estimating the Impact of R&D on Technological Change," Discussion Paper Series 218, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    16. Simioni, Michel & Huiban, Jean Pierre & Mastromarco, Camilla & Musolesi, Antonio, "undated". "The Impact Of Pollution Abatement Investments On Production Technology: New Insights From Frontier Analysis," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 260833, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Sadorsky, P. A., 1989. "Measuring Resource Scarcity in Non-renewable Resources with Inequality Constrained Estimation," Queen's Institute for Economic Research Discussion Papers 275216, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    18. Crompton, Paul & Lesourd, Jean-Baptiste, 2008. "Economies of scale in global iron-making," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 74-82, June.
    19. Jehangir, Waqar Ahmed & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Christen, Evan, 2003. "Resource Use And Farm Productivity Under Conjunctive Water Management In Pakistan," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57899, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    20. Moschini, Giancarlo, 1991. "Testing for Preference Change in Consumer Demand: An Indirectly Separable, Semiparametric Model," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(1), pages 111-117, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • 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
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:10:p:3061-3101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.