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Taxes and the Labor Market

In: Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Tommaso Monacelli

    (Università Bocconi)

  • Roberto Perotti

    (Università Bocconi)

  • Antonella Trigari

    (Università Bocconi)

Abstract

We estimate the effect of exogenous changes in taxes on the US unemployment rate and on several other labor market variables. Our estimates are based on a revised version of the Romer and Romer (2010) narrative record of exogenous tax innovations, with the additional benefit of distinguishing between capital income and labor income taxes. We first show that accounting for the difference between automatic and discretionary tax changes in the revised specification is crucial in order to obtain an unbiased measure of the tax multipliers. We then obtain the following main results. An increase in tax receipts of one percent of GDP has a sizeable positive impact on the unemployment rate, and a negative impact on hours worked, labor market tightness and job finding probability. The effect on GDP is also sizeable, but somewhat in the mid range of other values found in the literature, due to the fact that we account for the difference between discretionary and automatic changes in tax revenues. The effect on the unemployment rate of variations in business taxes is larger than that of personal income taxes. We suggest that the latter result poses interesting challenges for future research.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Tommaso Monacelli & Roberto Perotti & Antonella Trigari, 2013. "Taxes and the Labor Market," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Luis Felipe Céspedes & Jordi Galí (ed.),Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Performance, edition 1, volume 17, chapter 2, pages 27-58, Central Bank of Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:chb:bcchsb:v17c02pp27-58
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Roberto Perotti, 2008. "In Search of the Transmission Mechanism of Fiscal Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2007, Volume 22, pages 169-226, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Roberto Perotti, 2010. "The Effects of Tax Shocks on Output: Not So Large, but Not Small Either," NBER Chapters, in: Fiscal Policy (Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar, TAPES), pages 214-237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Roberto Perotti, 2002. "Estimating the effects of fiscal policy in OECD countries," Economics Working Papers 015, European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes.
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    5. Carlo A. Favero & Francesco Giavazzi, 2010. "Reconciling VAR-based and Narrative Measures of the Tax-Multiplier," Working Papers 361, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    6. Karel Mertens & Morten O. Ravn, 2012. "Empirical Evidence on the Aggregate Effects of Anticipated and Unanticipated US Tax Policy Shocks," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 145-181, May.
    7. Florin O. Bilbiie & André Meier & Gernot J. Müller, 2008. "What Accounts for the Changes in U.S. Fiscal Policy Transmission?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(7), pages 1439-1470, October.
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    3. Elizabeth C. Ekmekjian & Tricia Coxwell Snyder, 2022. "How Did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Impact Stock Prices, Business Investment, Economic Growth and Unemployment in the United States?," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 3-14.

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    More about this item

    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
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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