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Work Costs and Nonconvex Preferences in the Estimation of Labor Supply Models

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Bradley T. Heim
Bruce D. Meyer

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Abstract

We first critique the manner in which work costs have been introduced into labor supply estimation, and note the difficulty of incorporating a realistic rendering of the costs of work. We then show that, if work costs are not accounted for in the budget and time constraints in a structural labor supply model, they will be subsumed into the data generating preferences. We show that even if underlying preferences over consumption and leisure are convex, the presence of unobservable work costs can make these preferences appear nonconvex. Absent strong functional form assumptions, these work costs are not identified in data commonly used for labor supply estimation. However, we show that even if work costs cannot be separately identified, under plausible conditions, policy relevant calculations such as estimates of the effect of tax changes on labor supply and deadweight loss calculations, are not affected by the fact that estimated preferences incorporate work costs.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9429.

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Date of creation: Jan 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9429

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
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.:
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  1. Blomquist, Sören & Selin, Håkan, 2008. "Hourly Wage Rate and Taxable Labor Income Responsiveness to Changes in Marginal Tax Rates," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2009:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Kleven, Henrik & Kreiner, Claus Thustrup, 2006. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds: Hours of Work versus Labor Force Participation," CEPR Discussion Papers 5594, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Joseph G. Altonji & Jennifer Oldham, 2003. "Vacation laws and annual work hours," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q III, pages 19-29. [Downloadable!]
  4. Olmstead, Sheila & Hanemann, Michael & Stavins, Robert, 2005. "Do Consumers React to the Shape of Supply? Water Demand Under Heterogeneous Price Structures," Working Paper Series rwp05-039, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Abul Naga Ramses & Kolodziejczyk Christophe & Muller Tobias, 2004. "The Redistributive Impact of Alternative Income Maintenance Schemes: A Microsimulation Study using Swiss Data," Cahiers du Département d'Econométrie 2004.11, Département d'Econométrie, Université de Genève. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Nada Eissa & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Claus Thustrup Kreiner, 2004. "Evaluation of Four Tax Reforms in the United States: Labor Supply and Welfare Effects for Single Mothers," NBER Working Papers 10935, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Bargain, Olivier, 2005. "On Modeling Household Labor Supply with Taxation," IZA Discussion Papers 1455, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Sören Blomquist & Håkan Selin, 2009. "Hourly Wage Rate and Taxable Labor Income Responsiveness to Changes in Marginal Tax Rates," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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