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The Rise of Pass-Throughs and the Decline of the Labor Share

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Smith
  • Danny Yagan
  • Owen M. Zidar
  • Eric Zwick

Abstract

This paper studies the coevolution of the fall in the US corporate sector labor share and the rise of business activity in tax-preferred, pass-through form. Reallocating activity to the form it would have taken prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986 accounts for one third of the decline in the corporate sector labor share between 1978 and 2017. Our adjustments are concentrated among mid-market firms in services, leaving a larger role for the manufacturing sector and superstar firms in driving the remaining decline in the labor share. Our findings highlight the importance of tax policy when measuring factor shares.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Smith & Danny Yagan & Owen M. Zidar & Eric Zwick, 2021. "The Rise of Pass-Throughs and the Decline of the Labor Share," NBER Working Papers 29400, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29400
    Note: CF EFG ME PE PR
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    Cited by:

    1. Rolf Aaberge & Marco Francesconi & Jørgen Modalsli & Ola L. Vestad, 2024. "How Business Income Measures Affect Income Inequality and the Tax Burden," CESifo Working Paper Series 11496, CESifo.
    2. Qi Ye & Jie Yan, 2024. "The effect of service outsourcing on labor income share: Measuring labor income share from the global value chains perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Bellocchi, Alessandro & Marin, Giovanni & Travaglini, Giuseppe, 2023. "The labor share puzzle: Empirical evidence for European countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    4. Bilicka, Katarzyna & Raei, Sepideh, 2023. "Output distortions and the choice of legal form of organization," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. Campbell, Richard Cole & Robbins, Jacob A., 2025. "The value of private business in the United States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    6. Alessandro Di Nola & Georgi Kocharkov & Almuth Scholl & Anna‐Mariia Tkhir & Haomin Wang, 2025. "Taxation Of Top Incomes And Tax Avoidance," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 66(3), pages 983-1018, August.
    7. Amy Finkelstein & Casey McQuillan & Owen Zidar & Eric Zwick, 2023. "The Health Wedge and Labor Market Inequality," Working Papers 2023-01, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    8. Sebastian Zalas & Hubert Drążkowski, 2023. "The Evolution of the Labour Share in Poland: New Evidence from Firm-Level Data," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 13-33.
    9. Higo, Masahiro, 2023. "What caused the downward trend in Japan’s labor share?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Zalas, Sebastian & Drążkowski, Hubert, . "Kształtowanie się udziału płac w wartości dodanej w Polsce. Nowe szacunki z danych jednostkowych," Gospodarka Narodowa-The Polish Journal of Economics, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie / SGH Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2023(3).
    11. Stefan Bach & Charlotte Bartels & Theresa Neef, 2025. "The Distribution of National Income in Germany, 1992-2019," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1227, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Adhikari, Bibek & Alm, James & Harris, Timothy F., 2021. "Small business tax compliance under third-party reporting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    13. Catherine Laffineur & Maria Minniti & Benjamin Montmartin, 2023. "Does Knowledge in Management Foster Firm Creation and Performance?," GREDEG Working Papers 2023-19, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    14. Arrigoni, Simone, 2024. "Who gets the flow? Financial globalisation and wealth inequality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Bach, Stefan & Bartels, Charlotte & Neef, Theresa, 2024. "The distribution of national income in Germany, 1992-2019," IWH Discussion Papers 25/2024, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    16. Li, Jianqiang & Hu, Ailian & Chen, Wanyi & Fang, Shiyao, 2024. "Social security fee reduction, industrial robots, and labor income share," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Adela Luque & Vitaliy Novik, 2024. "Garage Entrepreneurs or just Self-Employed? An Investigation into Nonemployer Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 24-61, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    18. Del Carmen, Giselle & Garriga, Santiago & Ponce, Wilman & Scot, Thiago, 2025. "Two decades of top income shares in Honduras," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    19. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Antonio Falato & Mindy Z. Xiaolan, 2023. "Human Capitalists," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(1), pages 1-61.
    20. Andrew Atkeson & Jonathan Heathcote & Fabrizio Perri, 2025. "The End of Privilege: A Reexamination of the Net Foreign Asset Position of the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(7), pages 2151-2206, July.
    21. Ábrahám, Árpád & Gottardi, Piero & Hubmer, Joachim & Mayr, Lukas, 2023. "Tax wedges, financial frictions and misallocation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    22. Francesco Furno, 2021. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Corporate Tax Reforms," Papers 2111.12799, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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