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Long-Term Changes in Married Couples’ Labor Supply and Taxes: Evidence from the U.S. and Europe since the 1980s

In: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2018

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Bick
  • Bettina Brüggemann
  • Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln
  • Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz

Abstract

We document the time-series of employment rates and hours worked per employed by married couples in the US and seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK) from the early 1980s through 2016. Relying on a model of joint household labor supply decisions, we quantitatively analyze the role of non-linear labor income taxes for explaining the evolution of hours worked of married couples over time, using as inputs the full country- and year-specific statutory labor income tax codes. We further evaluate the role of consumption taxes, gender and educational wage premia, the educational distribution, and the degree of assortative matching into couples. The model is quite successful in predicting the time series behavior of hours worked per employed married woman, with labor income taxes being the key driving force. It also explains part of the secular increase in married women's employment rates, but the large increases among European married women in the 1980s and early 1990s are not driven by the factors considered in our study. We will make the non-linear tax codes used as an input into the analysis available as a user-friendly and easily integrable set of Matlab codes.
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Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Bick & Bettina Brüggemann & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz, 2018. "Long-Term Changes in Married Couples’ Labor Supply and Taxes: Evidence from the U.S. and Europe since the 1980s," NBER Chapters, in: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2018, pages 44-62, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14115
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2022. "Understanding the rising trend in female labour force participation," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 341-363, December.
    3. Volker Meier & Matthew D. Rablen, 2024. "Political economy of redistribution between traditional and modern families," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(4), pages 980-1008, August.
    4. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2022. "Inequality measurement and tax/transfer policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 953-984, August.
    5. Tom Günther & Ulrich C. Schneider & Fabian Stürmer-Heiber, 2023. "Working More for Less: Part-time Penalties Across the Working Hours Distribution?," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0025, Berlin School of Economics.
    6. Egor Malkov, 2021. "Welfare Effects of Labor Income Tax Changes on Married Couples: A Sufficient Statistics Approach," Papers 2108.09981, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2021.
    7. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Hangjuan & Liu, Yuanyuan & Yang, Jinyu & Zhang, Yanren, 2024. "Personal income tax and corporate innovation: The key role of inventors’ financial incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    8. Velasquez, Agustin, 2025. "The Leisure Gains from International Trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    9. Youngsoo Jang & Minchul Yum, 2022. "Nonlinear Occupations and Female Labor Supply Over Time," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 51-73, October.
    10. Hans-Martin von Gaudecker & Radost Holler & Lenard Simon & Christian Zimpelmann, 2024. "Can Work from Home Help Balance the Parental Division of Labor?," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 321, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    11. Mary Ann Bronson & Daniel Haanwinckel & Maurizio Mazzocco, 2024. "Taxation and Household Decisions: an Intertemporal Analysis," NBER Working Papers 32861, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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