TAXATION AND THE EARNINGS OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES: EVIDENCE FROM SWEDEN

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gelber, Alexander M.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00425
• 发表日期: 2014-05
• 页码: 287-305
• 关键词: marginal tax rates; taxable income; deadweight loss; FAMILY; elasticity; responsiveness; responses; REFORM; wages; panel

摘要

I examine the response of husbands' and wives' earnings to a tax reform in which husbands' and wives' tax rates changed independently, allowing me to examine the effect of both spouses' incentives on each spouse's behavior. I analyze the large Swedish tax reform of 1990-1991 and find that in response to a compensated fall in one spouse's tax rate, each spouse's earnings rise. I compare these results to those of simplified econometric models used in the typical setting in which independent variation in each spouse's tax rate is unavailable. I find that standard econometric specifications may produce substantially biased estimates.