Labor Taxation in Search Equililbrium with Home Production

Arbeitspapier

Conventional models of equilibrium unemployment typically imply that proportional taxes on labor earnings are neutral with respect to unemployment as long as the tax does not affect the replacement rate provided by unemployment insurance, i.e., unemployment benefits relative to after-tax earnings. When home production is an option, the conventional results may no longer hold. This paper uses a search equilibrium model with home production to examine the employment and welfare implications of labor taxes. The employment effect of a rise in a proportional tax is found to be negative for sufficiently low replacement rates, whereas it is ambiguous for moderate and high replacement rates. Numerical calibrations of the model indicate that employment generally falls when proportional labor taxes are raised. Progressive labor taxes increase labor market tightness but have ambiguous effects on search effort and employment. The numerical calibrations indicate positive employment effects.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2000:1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
• Subject: Home production ; job search ; unemployment ; taxation ; Lohnsteuer ; Einkommensteuer ; Steuerwirkung ; Theorie der Arbeitslosigkeit ; Dauer ; Arbeitsplatzsuchmodell ; Heimarbeit ; Haushaltsproduktion ; Theorie

Contributors, Location and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Holmlund, Bertil
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Uppsala University, Department of Economics
• (where): Uppsala
• (when): 2000

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/82900
• URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-2470
• Last update: 20.09.2024, 8:20 AM CEST