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Comparing Welfare Change Measures withIncome Change Measures in Behavioural Policy Simulations

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Author Info
John Creedy
Nicolas Herault
Guyonne Kalb

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Abstract

This paper presents a method of computing welfare changes (compensating and equivalent variations) arising from a tax or social security policy change, in the context of behavioural microsimulation modelling where individuals can choose between a limited number of discrete hours of work. The method allows fully for the nonlinearity of the budget constraint facing each individual, the probabilistic nature of the labour supply model and the presence of unobserved heterogeneity in the estimation of preference functions. An advantage of welfare measures, compared with changes in net incomes, is that they take into account the value of leisure and home production. The method is applied to hypothetical income tax policy changes in Australia and comparisons are made at the individual and the aggregate level. At the aggregate level a social welfare function is specified in terms of money metric utility. It is shown that policy evaluations based on welfare changes can be substantially different from those using only individuals' net income changes.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by The University of Melbourne in its series Department of Economics - Working Papers Series with number 1030.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1030

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Postal: Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne, 5th Floor, Economics and Commerce Building, Victoria, 3010, Australia
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Related research
Keywords: Welfare change measures; equivalent variation; compensating variation; labour supplymodelling; nonlinear budget constraint;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Binh, Tran Nam & Whiteford, Peter, 1990. "Household Equivalence Scales: New Australian Estimates from the 1984 Household Expenditure Survey," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 66(194), pages 221-34, September.
  2. Creedy, J., 2001. "Quadratic Utility, Labour Supply and The Welfare Effects of Tax Changes," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 774, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Hausman, Jerry A., 1985. "Taxes and labor supply," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 213-263 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Creedy, John & Duncan, Alan, 2002. " Behavioural Microsimulation with Labour Supply Responses," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(1), pages 1-39, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Julian McCrae & Costas Meghir, 2000. "The labour market impact of the working families’ tax credit," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 75-103, March. [Downloadable!]
  6. Ian Walker & Ian Preston, 1999. "Welfare measurement in labour supply models with nonlinear budget constraints," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 343-361. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Small, Kenneth A & Rosen, Harvey S, 1981. "Applied Welfare Economics with Discrete Choice Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(1), pages 105-30, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Creedy, John, 2000. "Measuring Welfare Changes and the Excess Burden of Taxation," Bulletin of Economic Research, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(1), pages 1-47, January.
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  9. Latham, Roger W, 1980. "Quantity Constrained Demand Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(2), pages 307-13, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. John Creedy & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Discrete Hours Labour Supply Modelling: Specification, Estimation and Simulation," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 928, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Guyonne Kalb & Rosanna Scutella, 2002. "Estimation of Wage Equations in Australia: Allowing for Censored Observations of Labour Supply," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2002n08, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Guyonne Kalb, 2002. "Estimation of Labour Supply Models for Four Separate Groups in the Australian Population," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2002n24, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  13. John K. Dagsvik & Anders Karlström, 2005. "Compensating Variation and Hicksian Choice Probabilities in Random Utility Models that are Nonlinear in Income," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 72(1), pages 57-76, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Hausman, Jerry A, 1981. "Exact Consumer's Surplus and Deadweight Loss," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 662-76, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. John Creedy & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Measuring Welfare Changes In Labour Supply Models," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(6), pages 664-685, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Duncan, Alan & Weeks, Melvyn, 1997. "Behavioural tax microsimulation with finite hours choices," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 619-626, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Neary, J. P. & Roberts, K. W. S., 1980. "The theory of household behaviour under rationing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 25-42, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. John Creedy & Guyonne Kalb & Hsein Kew, 2001. "The Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS)," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2001n16, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  19. Apps, Patricia & Rees, Ray, 1999. "On the taxation of trade within and between households," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 241-263, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. John Creedy & Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2008. "Abolishing the Tax-Free Threshold in Australia: Simulating Alternative Reforms," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2008n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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