IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ese/iserwp/2009-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Benefits and problems of linking micro and macro models – evidence from a flat tax analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Peichl, Andreas

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe the state-of-the-art in simulation and to illustrate benefits and problems of linking micro and macro models by analysing flat tax proposals for Germany. The analysis shows that a personal income flat tax can indeed overcome the fundamental equity efficiency trade-off while simultaneously increasing the tax revenue. However, this result does not hold for a flat tax combining a personal income flat tax with a corporate cash flow flat tax, even when allowing for an ex-post loss in revenue as the top of the distribution still gains the most.

Suggested Citation

  • Peichl, Andreas, 2009. "Benefits and problems of linking micro and macro models – evidence from a flat tax analysis," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2009-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/files/working-papers/iser/2009-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stokey, Nancy L & Rebelo, Sergio, 1995. "Growth Effects of Flat-Rate Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 519-550, June.
    2. Stefan Boeters & Michael Feil & Nicole Gürtzgen, 2007. "Discrete Working Time Choice in an Applied General Equilibrium Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 427-427, May.
    3. François Bourguignon & Amedeo Spadaro, 2006. "Microsimulation as a tool for evaluating redistribution policies," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(1), pages 77-106, April.
    4. Martin Feldstein, 1987. "The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld87-1.
    5. Paulus, Alari & Peichl, Andreas, 2008. "Effects of flat tax reforms in Western Europe on equity and efficiency," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Kehoe, Timothy J & Prescott, Edward C, 1995. "Introduction to the Symposium: The Discipline of Applied General Equilibrium," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Marta González-Torrabadella & Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2006. "Flat tax reforms: a general equilibrium evaluation for Spain," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 30(2), pages 317-351, May.
    8. Dunbar, Amy & Pogue, Thomas F., 1998. "Estimating Flat Tax Incidence and Yield: A Sensitivity Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(2), pages 303-324, June.
    9. Paulus, Alari & Peichl, Andreas, 2009. "Effects of flat tax reforms in Western Europe," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 620-636, September.
    10. David Altig, 2001. "Simulating Fundamental Tax Reform in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 574-595, June.
    11. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    12. Cororaton, Caesar B. & Cockburn, John & Corong, Erwin, 2005. "Doha scenarios, trade reforms, and poverty in the Philippines : a computable general equilibrium analysis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3738, The World Bank.
    13. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Klara Sabirianova Peter, 2009. "Myth and Reality of Flat Tax Reform: Micro Estimates of Tax Evasion Response and Welfare Effects in Russia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(3), pages 504-554, June.
    14. Rutherford, Thomas F. & Böhringer, Christoph, 2006. "Combining Top-Down and Bottom-up in Energy Policy Analysis: A Decomposition Approach," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-007, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Søren Bo Nielsen & Niels Kleis Frederiksen & David Dreyer Lassen, 1999. "Would the Flat Tax Fall Flat in Denmark?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Torben M Andersen & Svend E Hougaard Jensen & Ole Risager (ed.), Macroeconomic Perspectives on the Danish Economy, chapter 4, pages 106-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    16. van Soest, Arthur & Das, Marcel & Gong, Xiaodong, 2002. "A structural labour supply model with flexible preferences," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1-2), pages 345-374, March.
    17. John Cockburn & Luc Savard & Luca Tiberti, 2014. "Macro-Micro Models," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Handbook of Microsimulation Modelling, volume 127, pages 275-304, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    18. Luc Savard, 2003. "Poverty and Income Distribution in a CGE-Household Micro-Simulation Model: Top-Down/Bottom Up Approach," Cahiers de recherche 0343, CIRPEE.
    19. Ugo Colombino & Steinar Strøm & Rolf Aaberge, 2000. "Labor supply responses and welfare effects from replacing current tax rules by a flat tax: Empirical evidence from Italy, Norway and Sweden," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(4), pages 595-621.
    20. Steven P. Cassou & Kevin J. Lansing, 2004. "Growth Effects of Shifting from a Graduated-rate Tax System to a Flat Tax," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 194-213, April.
    21. Brennan,Geoffrey & Buchanan,James M., 2006. "The Power to Tax," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521027922, September.
    22. François Bourguignon & Anne-Sophie Robilliard & Sherman Robinson, 2003. "Representative versus real households in the macro-economic modeling of inequality," Working Papers DT/2003/10, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    23. Mervyn A. King, 1987. "The Cash Flow Corporate Income Tax," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation, pages 377-400, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. N/A, 1985. "General Policy," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 41(1), pages 74-79, January.
    25. François Bourguignon & Maurizio Bussolo & Luis Pereira, 2008. "The Impact of Macroeconomic Policies on Poverty and Income Distribution," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00754864, HAL.
    26. Cogneau, Denis & Robilliard, Anne-Sophie, 2000. "Growth, distribution and poverty in Madagascar," TMD discussion papers 61, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    27. Javier Diaz-Gimenez & Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2006. "Flat Tax Reforms in the U.S.: a Boon for the Income Poor," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 400, Society for Computational Economics.
    28. Fuest, Clemens & Peichl, Andreas & Schaefer, Thilo, 2005. "Aufkommens-, Beschäftigungs- und Wachstumswirkungen einer Steuerreform nach dem Vorschlag von Mitschke [Revenue, employment and growth effects of the tax reform proposal by Mitschke]," FiFo Reports - FiFo-Berichte 5, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    29. Franz, Wolfgang & Guertzgen, Nicole & Schubert, Stefanie & Clauss, Markus, 2007. "Reformen im Niedriglohnsektor: Eine integrierte CGE-Mikrosimulationsstudie der Arbeitsangebots- und Beschäftigungseffekte," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-085, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    30. Auerbach, Alan J., 2006. "The Choice between Income and Consumption Taxes: A Primer," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt9q85f6qz, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    31. Hausman, Jerry A., 1985. "Taxes and labor supply," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 213-263, Elsevier.
    32. Andreas Peichl & Thilo Schaefer, 2009. "FiFoSiM - an integrated tax benefit microsimulation and CGE model for Germany," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-15.
    33. Boeters Stefan & Gürtzgen Nicole & Schnabel Reinhold, 2006. "Reforming Social Welfare in Germany: An Applied General Equilibrium Analysis," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 7(4), pages 363-388, December.
    34. Ventura, Gustavo, 1999. "Flat tax reform: A quantitative exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 23(9-10), pages 1425-1458, September.
    35. Rolf Aaberge & Ugo Colombino, 2014. "Labour Supply Models," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Handbook of Microsimulation Modelling, volume 127, pages 167-221, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    36. Rutherford, Thomas & Tarr, David & Shepotylo, Oleksandr, 2005. "Poverty effects of Russia's WTO accession : modeling"real"households and endogenous productivity effects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3473, The World Bank.
    37. Ballard, Charles L. & Fullerton, Don & Shoven, John B. & Whalley, John, 2009. "A General Equilibrium Model for Tax Policy Evaluation," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226036335, April.
    38. Dawkins, Christina & Srinivasan, T.N. & Whalley, John, 2001. "Calibration," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 58, pages 3653-3703, Elsevier.
    39. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    40. James B. Davies, 2004. "Microsimulation, CGE and Macro Modelling for Transition and Developing Economies," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2004-08, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    41. Daniel T. Slesnick, 1998. "Empirical Approaches to the Measurement of Welfare," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2108-2165, December.
    42. Bergman, Lars, 2005. "CGE Modeling of Environmental Policy and Resource Management," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1273-1306, Elsevier.
    43. Arntz, Melanie & Boeters, Stefan & Gurtzgen, Nicole, 2006. "Alternative approaches to discrete working time choice in an AGE framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1008-1032, December.
    44. Arntz, Melanie & Boeters, Stefan & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Schubert, Stefanie, 2008. "Analysing welfare reform in a microsimulation-AGE model: The value of disaggregation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 422-439, May.
    45. Christian Schmidt & Thomas Straubhaar, 1996. "Bevölkerungsentwicklung und Wirtschaftswachstum. Eine Simulationsanalyse für die Schweiz," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 132(III), pages 395-414, September.
    46. Heer, Burkhard & Trede, Mark, 2003. "Efficiency and distribution effects of a revenue-neutral income tax reform," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 87-107, March.
    47. Schaefer, Thilo & Peichl, Andreas, 2006. "Documentation FiFoSiM: integrated tax benefit microsimulation and CGE model," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 06-10, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    48. Nicolas Herault, 2007. "Trade Liberalisation, Poverty and Inequality in South Africa: A Computable General Equilibrium‐Microsimulation Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(262), pages 317-328, September.
    49. Daniel Kahneman & Jack L. Knetsch & Richard H. Thaler, 1991. "Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 193-206, Winter.
    50. Robert S. Chirinko & Steven M. Fazzari & Andrew P. Meyer, 2004. "That Elusive Elasticity: A Long-Panel Approach to Estimating the Capital-Labor Substitution Elasticity," CESifo Working Paper Series 1240, CESifo.
    51. Mervyn A. King, 1987. "The Cash Flow Corporate Income Tax," NBER Chapters, in: Taxes and Capital Formation, pages 109-110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    52. Michael Keen & Yitae Kim & Ricardo Varsano, 2008. "The “flat tax(es)”: principles and experience," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(6), pages 712-751, December.
    53. Gerhard Wagenhals, 2004. "Tax-benefit microsimulation models for Germany: A Survey," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 235/2004, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    54. Bohringer, Christoph & Boeters, Stefan & Feil, Michael, 2005. "Taxation and unemployment: an applied general equilibrium approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 81-108, January.
    55. N/A, 1985. "General Policy," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 41(1), pages 112-117, January.
    56. Dunbar, Amy & Pogue, Thomas F., 1998. "Estimating Flat Tax Incidence and Yield: A Sensitivity Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 51(n. 2), pages 303-24, June.
    57. Verboven, Frank, 1996. "The nested logit model and representative consumer theory," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 57-63, January.
    58. Schaefer, Thilo & Peichl, Andreas, 2007. "Documentation FiFoSiM: Integrated tax benefit microsimulation," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 06-10 [rev.], University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    59. Timothy J. Kehoe, 1996. "Social accounting matrices and applied general equilibrium models," Working Papers 563, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    60. Edgar K. Browning & Jacquelene M. Browning, 1985. "Why Not a True Flat Rate Tax?," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 5(2), pages 629-656, Fall.
    61. Arthur van Soest, 1995. "Structural Models of Family Labor Supply: A Discrete Choice Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(1), pages 63-88.
    62. repec:bla:germec:v:7:y:2006:i::p:363-388 is not listed on IDEAS
    63. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 1985. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    64. Peichl, Andreas & Fuest, Clemens & Schaefer, Thilo, 2005. "Dokumentation FiFoSiM: Integriertes Steuer-Transfer-Mikrosimulations- und CGE-Modell," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 05-3, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    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. Peichl, Andreas, 2008. "The benefits of linking CGE and Microsimulation Models - Evidence from a Flat Tax analysis," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 08-6, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    2. Schaefer, Thilo & Peichl, Andreas & Fuest, Clemens, 2007. "Is a Flat Tax politically feasible in a grown-up Welfare State?," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 07-6, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    3. Schaefer, Thilo & Peichl, Andreas, 2006. "Documentation FiFoSiM: integrated tax benefit microsimulation and CGE model," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 06-10, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    4. Fuest, Clemens & Peichl, Andreas & Schaefer, Thilo, 2007. "Is a Flat Tax Feasible in a Grown-up Welfare State?," IZA Discussion Papers 3142, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Peichl, Andreas, 2005. "Die Evaluation von Steuerreformen durch Simulationsmodelle," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 05-1, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    6. Stefan Boeters & Michael Feil & Nicole Gürtzgen, 2007. "Discrete Working Time Choice in an Applied General Equilibrium Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 427-427, May.
    7. Stefan Boeters & Michael Feil, 2009. "Heterogeneous Labour Markets in a Microsimulation–AGE Model: Application to Welfare Reform in Germany," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 305-335, May.
    8. Andreas Peichl & Thilo Schaefer, 2009. "FiFoSiM - an integrated tax benefit microsimulation and CGE model for Germany," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-15.
    9. Melanie Arntz & Stefan Boeters & Nicole Gürtzgen & Stefanie Schubert, 2006. "Analysing Welfare Reform in a Microsimulation-AGE Model," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 109, Society for Computational Economics.
    10. Arntz, Melanie & Boeters, Stefan & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Schubert, Stefanie, 2008. "Analysing welfare reform in a microsimulation-AGE model: The value of disaggregation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 422-439, May.
    11. Paulus, Alari & Peichl, Andreas, 2008. "Effects of flat tax reforms in Western Europe on equity and efficiency," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    12. Boeters, Stefan & Savard, Luc, 2011. "The labour market in CGE models," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-079, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Peichl, Andreas & Fuest, Clemens & Schaefer, Thilo, 2005. "Dokumentation FiFoSiM: Integriertes Steuer-Transfer-Mikrosimulations- und CGE-Modell," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 05-3, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    14. Fuest, Clemens & Heilmann, Sven & Peichl, Andreas & Schaefer, Thilo & Bergs, Christian, 2006. "Aufkommens-, Beschäftigungs- und Wachstumswirkungen einer Reform des Steuer- und Transfersystems nach dem Bürgergeld-Vorschlag von Joachim Mitschke [Revenue, employment and growth effects of the in," FiFo Reports - FiFo-Berichte 8, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    15. Arntz, Melanie & Boeters, Stefan & Gurtzgen, Nicole, 2006. "Alternative approaches to discrete working time choice in an AGE framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1008-1032, December.
    16. Paulus, Alari & Peichl, Andreas, 2009. "Effects of flat tax reforms in Western Europe," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 620-636, September.
    17. Peichl, Andreas & Schneider, Hilmar & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2010. "Documentation IZA?MOD: The IZA Policy SImulation MODel," IZA Discussion Papers 4865, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Cristián Mardones P., 2014. "Complementarity between flat tax and conditional cash transfers to improve the income distribution in Chile," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 17(3), pages 04-27, December.
    19. Clauss, Markus & Schubert, Stefanie, 2009. "The ZEW combined microsimulation-CGE model: innovative tool for applied policy analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-062, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Boeters, Stefan & Savard, Luc, 2013. "The Labor Market in Computable General Equilibrium Models," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1645-1718, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ese:iserwp:2009-02. 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: Jonathan Nears (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rcessuk.html .

    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.