Vortrag
Peer Effects in Labour Supply: Evidence from Marginal Employment

Luke Haywood, Michael Neumann


30th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association : EEA 2015
Mannheim, 24.08.2015 - 27.08.2015




Abstract:
Labour supply in the market for marginal employment in Germany is strongly influenced by nonlinearity in the tax schedule - even for individuals to whom this tax schedule does not apply. We present a simple job search model in which workers are influenced by their peers' labour supply in equilibrium. Our model includes two fundamental constraints: contract adjustment costs and limited information about offers. Together these create an incentive for firms to select contracts as a function of their expected attractiveness to workers. Every worker's labour supply thereby becomes a function of preferences among the population of job-seekers. We apply our model to the market for marginal employment in Germany. We validate our model using a reform to the tax schedule. The model allows us to perform counterfactual policy analyses, including new estimates of tax incidence.

Abstract

Labour supply in the market for marginal employment in Germany is strongly influenced by nonlinearity in the tax schedule - even for individuals to whom this tax schedule does not apply. We present a simple job search model in which workers are influenced by their peers' labour supply in equilibrium. Our model includes two fundamental constraints: contract adjustment costs and limited information about offers. Together these create an incentive for firms to select contracts as a function of their expected attractiveness to workers. Every worker's labour supply thereby becomes a function of preferences among the population of job-seekers. We apply our model to the market for marginal employment in Germany. We validate our model using a reform to the tax schedule. The model allows us to perform counterfactual policy analyses, including new estimates of tax incidence.



Keywords: Job Search, Peer Effects, Labour Supply Elasticities
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