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Estimating labour supply elasticities based on cross-country micro data: A bridge between micro and macro estimates?

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  • Jäntti, Markus
  • Pirttilä, Jukka
  • Selin, Håkan

Abstract

The Nordic model relies on high tax rates to finance an extensive welfare state. If labour supply elasticities are large, the burden of financing the model can be large even if, arguably, the practice of providing subsidised goods that support labour supply is likely to mitigate these effects. We utilise repeated cross sections of micro data from several countries, including the four major Nordic countries, available from the Luxembourg Income Study, LIS, to estimate labour supply elasticities, both at the intensive and extensive margins. The data span over four decades and include a large number of tax reform episodes, with tax rate variation arising both from cross-sectional and country-level differences. Using these data, we investigate whether micro and macro estimates differ in a systematic way. The results do not provide strong support for the view that elasticities at the macro level would be higher than the corresponding micro elasticities.

Suggested Citation

  • Jäntti, Markus & Pirttilä, Jukka & Selin, Håkan, 2015. "Estimating labour supply elasticities based on cross-country micro data: A bridge between micro and macro estimates?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 87-99.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:127:y:2015:i:c:p:87-99
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.12.006
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    5. Kotamäki Mauri, 2016. "Participation Tax Rates in Finland, Earnedincome Tax Credit Investigated," Discussion Papers 107, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    6. Klára Kalíšková, 2020. "Tax and transfer policies and the female labor supply in the EU," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 749-775, February.
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    8. Charlotte Bartels & Cortnie Shupe, 2023. "Drivers of participation elasticities across Europe: gender or earner role within the household?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(1), pages 167-214, February.
    9. Michael MITSOPOULOS & Theodore PELAGIDIS, 2021. "Labor Taxation And Investment In Developed Countries. The Impact On Employment," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(2), pages 13-31, June.
    10. D'ANDRIA Diego & DEBACKER Jason & EVANS Richard W. & PYCROFT Jonathan & ZACHLOD-JELEC Magdalena, 2021. "Taxing income or consumption: macroeconomic and distributional effects for Italy," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2021-13, Joint Research Centre.
    11. Malik Shukayev & Alexander Ueberfeldt, 2018. "Monetary policy tradeoffs between financial stability and price stability," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(3), pages 901-945, August.
    12. Yu‐Bong Lai, 2018. "The Feasibility of the Double‐Dividend Hypothesis in a Democratic Economy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(1), pages 211-241, January.
    13. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Fanny Dellinger, 2017. "Genderdifferenzierte Lenkungswirkungen des Abgabensystems," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60797.
    14. Valentina Bosetti & Marco Maffezzoli, 2014. "Occasionally binding emission caps and real business cycles," Working Papers 523, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    15. McKay Andy & Pirttilä Jukka & Schimanski Caroline, 2018. "The Elasticity of Formal Work in African Countries," Working Papers 1820, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Economics.
    16. He, Daixin & Peng, Langchuan & Wang, Xiaxin, 2021. "Understanding the elasticity of taxable income: A tale of two approaches," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    17. Vanessa Angst & Chiara Colesanti Senni & Markus Maibach & Martin Peter & Noe Reidt & Renger van Nieuwkoop, 2021. "Economic impacts of decarbonizing the Swiss passenger transport sector," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 21/352, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    18. Robert Darko Osei & Jukka Pirttilä & Pia Rattenhuber, 2017. "Quantifying the impacts of expanding social protection on efficiency and equity: Evidence from a behavioural microsimulation model for Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 193, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Enrico Rubolino & Daniel Waldenström, 2019. "Trends and gradients in top tax elasticities: cross-country evidence, 1900–2014," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(3), pages 457-485, June.
    20. Jorge Augusto Paz, 2019. "Envejecimiento demográfico y oferta laboral de hombres y mujeres," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 34(2), pages 53-80, October.
    21. Palviainen, Heikki, 2019. "Changing Nordic model? A policy analysis," EUROMOD Working Papers EM15/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    22. Määttänen, Niku & Salminen, Tomi, 2015. "Unemployment Accounts - A Finnish Application," ETLA Working Papers 29, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    23. Galuščák, Kamil & Kátay, Gábor, 2019. "Tax-benefit systems and differences in aggregate labour force participation: Comparative evidence from the Czech Republic and Hungary," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(3).
    24. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Fanny Dellinger, 2018. "Genderdifferenzierte Lenkungswirkungen des Abgabensystems auf das Arbeitsangebot," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 91(2), pages 105-120, February.
    25. Lundberg, Jacob & Norell, John, 2018. "Taxes, benefits and labour force participation: A survey of the quasi-experimental literature," Ratio Working Papers 313, The Ratio Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour supply; Taxation; Cross-country comparisons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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