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Money or Joy

Author

Listed:
  • Alstadsæter, Annette

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

  • Kolm, Anne-Sofie

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

  • Larsen, Birthe

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of taxes on the individuals' choices of educational direction, and thus on the economy.s skill composition. A proportional labour tax induces too many workers with high innate ability to choose an educational type associated with high consumption value and low effort. This increases the skill mismatch and aggregate unemployment in the economy. The government can correct for this distortion by use of differentiated tuition fees or tax rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Alstadsæter, Annette & Kolm, Anne-Sofie & Larsen, Birthe, 2005. "Money or Joy," Working Papers 23-2005, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2005_023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Pissarides, Christopher A., 1998. "The impact of employment tax cuts on unemployment and wages; The role of unemployment benefits and tax structure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 155-183, January.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Debora Di Gioacchino & Paola Profeta, 2014. "Lobbying for Education in a Two-Sector Model," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 212-236, July.
    2. Annette Alstadsæter & Hans Henrik Sievertsen, 2009. "The Consumption Value of Higher Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 2871, CESifo.
    3. Sieuwerd Gaastra, 2020. "Personal Income Taxation and College Major Choice: A Case Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act," Public Finance Review, , vol. 48(1), pages 3-42, January.
    4. Dur, Robert & Glazer, Amihai, 2008. "Subsidizing Enjoyable Education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 1023-1039, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; matching; education; optimal taxation; tuition fees;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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