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Austerity and distributional policy

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  • Alpino, Matteo
  • Asatryan, Zareh
  • Blesse, Sebastian
  • Wehrhöfer, Nils

Abstract

What are the effects of austerity on distributional policy? We exploit the autonomy of Italian municipalities in setting non-linear income taxes and the exogenous introduction of a fiscal rule to show that austerity increases income tax progressivity. Consistent with this evidence, we find that in a panel of countries austerity correlates with higher marginal tax rates on top- but not on average-earners. The increase in progressivity in Italy is driven by high-skilled mayors, while low-skilled mayors raise taxes uniformly. In the election after the reform, high-skill mayors have higher reelection odds than low-skill mayors, while there was no difference beforehand.

Suggested Citation

  • Alpino, Matteo & Asatryan, Zareh & Blesse, Sebastian & Wehrhöfer, Nils, 2020. "Austerity and distributional policy," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:20028
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pierre C. Boyer & Brian Roberson & Christoph Esslinger, 2024. "Public Debt and the Political Economy of Reforms," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 459-491, August.
    3. Sebastian Blesse & Florian Dorn & Max Lay, 2023. "Do Fiscal Rules Undermine Public Investments? A Review of Empirical Evidence," ifo Working Paper Series 393, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Sebastian Blesse & Florian Dorn & Max Lay, 2023. "Schwächen Fiskalregeln öffentliche Investitionen?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 76(06), pages 22-28, June.
    5. Luigi Marattin & Tommaso Nannicini & Francesco Porcelli, 2022. "Revenue vs expenditure based fiscal consolidation: the pass-through from federal cuts to local taxes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 834-872, August.
    6. Roel Beetsma & Brian Burgoon & Francesco Nicoli & Anniek de Ruijter & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2022. "What kind of EU fiscal capacity? Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in five European countries in times of corona," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(111), pages 411-459.
    7. Niklas Potrafke, 2023. "The Economic Consequences of Fiscal Rules," CESifo Working Paper Series 10765, CESifo.
    8. Gamalerio, Matteo & Trombetta, Federico, 2021. "Fiscal Rules and the selection of politicians : theory and evidence from Italy," QAPEC Discussion Papers 10, Quantitative and Analytical Political Economy Research Centre.
    9. Shani, Ron & Reingewertz, Yaniv & Vigoda-Gadot, Eran, 2023. "Intergovernmental grants and local public finance: An empirical examination in Israel," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    austerity; fiscal rules; non-linear income taxation; difference-in-discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

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