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The Impact of Short- and Long-Term Participation Tax Rates on Labor Supply

SOEPpapers 777, 44 S.

Charlotte Bartels, Nico Pestel

2015

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Published in: International Tax and Public Finance 23 (2016), 6, S. 1126–1159

Abstract

Generous income support programs as provided by European welfare states have often been blamed to hamper employment. This paper investigates the importance of incentives inherent in the tax-benefit system for the individual decision to take up work. Using German microdata over the period 1993-2010 we find that recent reforms in Germany increased work incentives at the extensive margin measured by the Participation Tax Rate (PTR), particularly for low income individuals. Work incentives are even higher if the time horizon is extended to more than one year, pointing at an overestimation of the disincentives by standard measures. Regression analysis reveals that a decrease in the PTR increases the likelihood of taking up work significantly.

Charlotte Bartels

Research Associate in the German Socio-Economic Panel study Department



Keywords: Labor force participation, work incentives, welfare, unemployment insurance, income taxation
Frei zugängliche Version: (econstor)
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/112789

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