Family and government insurance: Wage, earnings, and income risks in the Netherlands and the US

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: De Nardi, Mariacristina; Fella, Giulio; Knoef, Marike; Paz-Pardo, Gonzalo; Van Ooijen, Raun
• 署名单位: University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research; University of London; Queen Mary University London; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Leiden University - Excl LUMC; Leiden University; Tilburg University; European Central Bank; University of Groningen
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104327
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Wage risk; self-insurance; social insurance; progressive taxation; redistribution; life-cycle

摘要

We document new facts about risk in male wages and earnings, household earnings, and preand post tax income in the Netherlands and the United States. We find that, in both countries, earnings display important deviations from the typical assumptions of linearity and normality. Individual-level male wage and earnings risk is relatively high at the beginning and end of the working life, and for those in the lower and upper parts of the income distribution. Hours are the main driver of the negative skewness and, to a lesser extent, the high kurtosis of earnings changes. Even though we find no evidence of added-worker effects, the presence of spousal earnings reduces the variability of household income compared to that of male earnings. In the Netherlands, government transfers are a major source of insurance, substantially reducing the standard deviation, negative skewness, and kurtosis of income changes. In the U.S. the role of family insurance is much larger than in the Netherlands. Family and government insurance reduce, but do not eliminate non-linearities in household disposable income by age and previous earnings in either country. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.