IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/empiri/v52y2025i1d10.1007_s10663-024-09632-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Monetary work-incentives within the Austrian tax and benefit system

Author

Listed:
  • Dénes Kucsera

    (Agenda Austria)

  • Hanno Lorenz

    (Agenda Austria)

  • Wolfgang Nagl

    (Deggendorf Institute of Technology)

Abstract

This paper analyses incentives to take up work or to increase working hours within the Austrian tax and benefit system. We analyze the monetary work incentives for a variety of family constellations (singles, single parents, families with children) with different incomes from dependent employment, when receiving unemployment benefits, and in the system of means-tested minimum income. Moreover, the effect of different earning ceilings (childcare and unemployment) and childcare costs is additionally investigated. Insufficient and, therefore, privately provided childcare is viewed as a missing component of the benefit system. The Austrian tax and benefit system is designed to be incentive-compatible for singles. Only marginal employment without deductions in the event of unemployment creates a negative incentive to expand employment beyond this extent. However, raising children creates negative monetary incentives. On the one hand, through the upper limits on additional earnings during times of childcare allowance, but especially when childcare costs arise.

Suggested Citation

  • Dénes Kucsera & Hanno Lorenz & Wolfgang Nagl, 2025. "Monetary work-incentives within the Austrian tax and benefit system," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 39-62, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:52:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10663-024-09632-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-024-09632-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10663-024-09632-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10663-024-09632-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert McClelland & Shannon Mok, 2012. "A Review of Recent Research on Labor Supply Elasticities: Working Paper 2012-12," Working Papers 43675, Congressional Budget Office.
    2. Lea Cassar & Stephan Meier, 2018. "Nonmonetary Incentives and the Implications of Work as a Source of Meaning," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 215-238, Summer.
    3. Michael Christl & Silvia De Poli & Janos Varga, 2022. "Reducing the income tax burden for households with children: an assessment of the child tax credit reform in Austria," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 151-177, June.
    4. Daniela Ghio & Anne Goujon & Fabrizio Natale, 2022. "Assessing the demographic impact of migration on the working-age population across European territories," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(9), pages 261-272.
    5. Michael Christl & Monika Köppl-Turyna & Dénes Kucsera, 2017. "A Tax-Benefit Model for Austria (AUTAX): Work Incentives and Distributional Effects of the 2016 Tax Reform," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 10(2), pages 144-176.
    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. Sónia Cabral & Joana Garcia & Raquel Miranda & Susana Peralta & João Pereira dos Santos, 2024. "Treasure Islands, Real Jobs? Workers and Anti-Avoidance Policies in a Tax Paradise," Working Papers w202416, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    2. Robert (A.J.) Dur & Ola Kvaloy & Anja Schottner, 2018. "Non-Competitive Wage-Setting as a Cause of Unfriendly and Inefficient Leadership," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-094/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Ganghua Mei & Lei Yue, 2022. "Labor supply and time use: evidence from cohabiting women in the United States," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(44), pages 5133-5158, September.
    4. Non, Arjan & Rohde, Ingrid & de Grip, Andries & Dohmen, Thomas, 2022. "Mission of the company, prosocial attitudes and job preferences: A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Ina Ganguli & Marieke Huysentruyt & Chloé Le Coq, 2021. "How Do Nascent Social Entrepreneurs Respond to Rewards? A Field Experiment on Motivations in a Grant Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6294-6316, October.
    6. Michal Horvath & Matus Senaj & Zuzana Siebertova & Norbert Svarda, 2015. "The End of the Flat Tax Experiment in Slovakia," Discussion Papers 15/12, Department of Economics, University of York.
    7. Carbonell-Nicolau, Oriol & Llavador, Humberto, 2018. "Inequality reducing properties of progressive income tax schedules: the case of endogenous income," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), January.
    8. Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2023. "Collateralized Marriage," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 252-291, October.
    9. Maria Cotofan, 2019. "Learning from Praise: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Teachers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-082/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Kristina McElheran & J. Frank Li & Erik Brynjolfsson & Zachary Kroff & Emin Dinlersoz & Lucia Foster & Nikolas Zolas, 2024. "AI adoption in America: Who, what, and where," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 375-415, March.
    11. De Chiara, Alessandro & Engl, Florian & Herz, Holger & Manna, Ester, 2022. "Control Aversion in Hierarchies," FSES Working Papers 527, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    12. Bart Cockx & Koen Declercq & Muriel Dejemeppe, 2022. "Losing Prospective Entitlement to Unemployment Benefits. Impact on Educational Attainment," CESifo Working Paper Series 9852, CESifo.
    13. Michele Fioretti, 2022. "Caring or Pretending to Care? Social Impact, Firms' Objectives, and Welfare (former title: Social Responsibility and Firm's Objectives)," SciencePo Working papers hal-03393065, HAL.
    14. An Li & Jeffrey J. Reimer, 2021. "The US Market for Agricultural Labor: Evidence from the National Agricultural Workers Survey," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1125-1139, September.
    15. Burdin, Gabriel & Dughera, Stefano & Landini, Fabio & Belloc, Filippo, 2023. "Contested Transparency: Digital Monitoring Technologies and Worker Voice," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1340, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Ana Agúndez García & Michael Christl, 2023. "Hypothetical Tax-Benefit Reforms in Hungary: Shifting from Tax Relief to Cash Transfers for Family Support," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(6), pages 723-746, November.
    17. Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano & Robbett, Andrea & Spitzer, Matthew, 2019. "A taste for taxes: Minimizing distortions using political preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    18. Tobias Wolf & Maria Metzing & Richard E. Lucas, 2022. "Experienced Well-Being and Labor Market Status: The Role of Pleasure and Meaning," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 691-721, September.
    19. Burbano, Vanessa & Padilla, Nicolas & Meier, Stephan, 2020. "Gender Differences in Preferences for Meaning at Work," IZA Discussion Papers 13053, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Choonsung Park, 2020. "Consumption, Reservation Wages, and Aggregate Labor Supply," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 37, pages 54-80, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary work incentives; Austrian tax and benefit system; Microsimulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    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:kap:empiri:v:52:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10663-024-09632-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.