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Do Corporate Income Tax Rates Cuts Create Jobs? The European Experience

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  • Antonio Estache
  • Brigitta Gersey

Abstract

The paper assesses the impact of changes in the effective corporate tax rate on the unemployment rate in Europe between 1999 and 2014. The results suggest, for this sample, that a 1% decrease in the effective tax rate was associated with a 0.34% increase in the unemployment rate on average. This means that, in the region, lower corporate income taxes were linked to the replacement of labor by capital. This this substitution effect has been stronger than the output effect conservative administrations tend to focus on in their motivation for the rates cut. The substitution may be needed to achieved longer run growth payoffs, but these results suggest that transition cost are likely to be paid by workers and these should be addressed jointly with the corporate tax cut decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Estache & Brigitta Gersey, 2018. "Do Corporate Income Tax Rates Cuts Create Jobs? The European Experience," Working Papers ECARES 2018-01, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/264399
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Estache & Beni Kouevi Gath, 2019. "Corporate Income Taxes and (Un-)Employment in the OECD," Working Papers ECARES 2019-11, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    Keywords

    corporate taxation; unemployment rate; fixed effects; EU panel data;
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