IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v86y2024ics1043951x24000919.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The hidden cost of corporate tax cuts: Evidence from worker health in China

Author

Listed:
  • He, Fan
  • Zeng, Xin
  • Xue, Jingwen
  • Xu, Jianbin

Abstract

Despite extensive research on the impact of corporate tax cuts on firm-level outcomes, their effects on worker health have yet to be examined. This study aims to address this research gap by utilizing individual-level panel data from the China Family Panel Studies between 2010 and 2018, and by exploiting exogenous shock in the corporate effective tax burden stemming from accelerated depreciation. Our results yield three key findings: first, that corporate tax cuts significantly reduce worker health; second, that this effect may be driven by increased working hours and poor health behaviors; third, that corporate tax cuts exacerbate health inequalities based on gender, education level, executive positions, and employed company. These findings shed light on the wider implications of tax incentives for corporate investment and contribute to stimulating interest in the welfare of workers in a global wave of tax cuts.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Fan & Zeng, Xin & Xue, Jingwen & Xu, Jianbin, 2024. "The hidden cost of corporate tax cuts: Evidence from worker health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:86:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x24000919
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2024.102202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X24000919
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2024.102202?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christine L. Dobridge & Paul Landefeld & Jacob Mortenson, 2021. "Corporate Taxes and the Earnings Distribution: Effects of the Domestic Production Activities Deduction," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-081, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Carbonnier, Clément & Malgouyres, Clément & Py, Loriane & Urvoy, Camille, 2022. "Who benefits from tax incentives? The heterogeneous wage incidence of a tax credit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    3. Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato & Owen Zidar, 2016. "Who Benefits from State Corporate Tax Cuts? A Local Labor Markets Approach with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(9), pages 2582-2624, September.
    4. Shao, Lin & Sohail, Faisal & Yurdagul, Emircan, 2023. "Are working hours complements in production?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Loren Brandt & Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Luhang Wang & Yifan Zhang, 2017. "WTO Accession and Performance of Chinese Manufacturing Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2784-2820, September.
    6. Daphne Chen & Shi Qi & Don Schlagenhauf, 2018. "Corporate Income Tax, Legal Form of Organization, and Employment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 270-304, October.
    7. Emmanuel Saez & Benjamin Schoefer & David Seim, 2019. "Payroll Taxes, Firm Behavior, and Rent Sharing: Evidence from a Young Workers' Tax Cut in Sweden," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1717-1763, May.
    8. Shang-Jin Wei & Xiaobo Zhang, 2011. "The Competitive Saving Motive: Evidence from Rising Sex Ratios and Savings Rates in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 511-564.
    9. Alok Bhargava & Dean T. Jamison & Lawrence J. Lau & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Modeling the effects of health on economic growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Econometrics, Statistics And Computational Approaches In Food And Health Sciences, chapter 20, pages 269-286, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2018. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages? Micro Evidence from Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 393-418, February.
    11. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    12. Fan, Ziying & Liu, Yu, 2020. "Tax Compliance and Investment Incentives: Firm Responses to Accelerated Depreciation in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 1-17.
    13. Pham, Anh, 2020. "Effects of temporary corporate income tax cuts: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus & Schünemann, Johannes, 2024. "Health and economic growth: Reconciling the micro and macro evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    15. Zee, Howell H. & Stotsky, Janet G. & Ley, Eduardo, 2002. "Tax Incentives for Business Investment: A Primer for Policy Makers in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1497-1516, September.
    16. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    17. Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Taxation and Innovation in the Twentieth Century," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(1), pages 329-385.
    18. Daniel G. Garrett & Eric Ohrn & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, 2020. "Tax Policy and Local Labor Market Behavior," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 83-100, March.
    19. Ku, Hyejin & Schönberg, Uta & Schreiner, Ragnhild C., 2020. "Do place-based tax incentives create jobs?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    20. Arulampalam, Wiji & Devereux, Michael P. & Maffini, Giorgia, 2012. "The direct incidence of corporate income tax on wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1038-1054.
    21. Guofu Tan & Justin Yifu Lin, 1999. "Policy Burdens, Accountability, and the Soft Budget Constraint," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 426-431, May.
    22. Zhao Chen & Zhikuo Liu & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato & Daniel Yi Xu, 2021. "Notching R&D Investment with Corporate Income Tax Cuts in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2065-2100, July.
    23. Cui, Ying & Liu, Hong & Zhao, Liqiu, 2021. "Protective effect of adult children's education on parental survival in China: Gender differences and underlying mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    24. Feng, Jin & Xie, Qiang & Zhang, Xiaohan, 2021. "Trade liberalization and the health of working-age adults: Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    25. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding differences in health behaviors by education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-28, January.
    26. Gong, Jie & Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua, 2020. "The average and distributional effects of teenage adversity on long-term health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    27. Suresh Nallareddy & Ethan Rouen & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, 2022. "Do Corporate Tax Cuts Increase Income Inequality?," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 35-91.
    28. William H. Greene & Mark N. Harris & Bruce Hollingsworth, 2015. "Inflated Responses in Measures of Self-Assessed Health," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 461-493, Fall.
    29. Yann Algan & Elizabeth Beasley & Sylvana Côté & Jungwee Park & Richard E. Tremblay & Frank Vitaro, 2022. "The Impact of Childhood Social Skills and Self-Control Training on Economic and Noneconomic Outcomes: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment Using Administrative Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(8), pages 2553-2579, August.
    30. Fan, Haichao & Lin, Faqin & Lin, Shu, 2020. "The hidden cost of trade liberalization: Input tariff shocks and worker health in China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    31. Michael D. Hurd & Kathleen McGarry, 2002. "The Predictive Validity of Subjective Probabilities of Survival," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 966-985, October.
    32. James R. Hines Jr., 2020. "Corporate Taxation and the Distribution of Income," NBER Working Papers 27939, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Fu, Hongqiao & Ge, Run & Huang, Jialin & Shi, Xinzheng, 2022. "The effect of education on health and health behaviors: Evidence from the college enrollment expansion in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    34. Alan J. Auerbach, 2018. "Measuring the Effects of Corporate Tax Cuts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 97-120, Fall.
    35. Amy Finkelstein & Sarah Taubman & Bill Wright & Mira Bernstein & Jonathan Gruber & Joseph P. Newhouse & Heidi Allen & Katherine Baicker, 2012. "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1057-1106.
    36. David N. Well, 2007. "Accounting for the Effect Of Health on Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1265-1306.
    37. Huang, Wei & Liu, Hong, 2023. "Early childhood exposure to health insurance and adolescent outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    38. Dai Binh Tran & Vasileios Zikos, 2019. "The Causal Effect of Retirement on Health: Understanding the Mechanisms," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 52(4), pages 427-446, December.
    39. Huang, Wei, 2015. "Understanding the Effects of Education on Health: Evidence from China," IZA Discussion Papers 9225, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    40. Cui, Wei & Hicks, Jeffrey & Xing, Jing, 2022. "Cash on the table? Imperfect take-up of tax incentives and firm investment behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    41. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    42. Alan J. Auerbach, 1982. "The New Economics of Accelerated Depreciation," NBER Working Papers 0848, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    43. Schünemann, Johannes & Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2017. "The gender gap in mortality: How much is explained by behavior?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 79-90.
    44. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    45. Hummels, David & Munch, Jakob R. & Xiang, Chong, 2016. "No Pain, No Gain: The Effects of Exports on Effort, Injury, and Illness," IZA Discussion Papers 10036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    46. Yongzheng Liu & Jie Mao, 2019. "How Do Tax Incentives Affect Investment and Productivity? Firm-Level Evidence from China," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 261-291, August.
    47. Lei Zhang & Yuyu Chen & Zongyan He, 2018. "The effect of investment tax incentives: evidence from China’s value-added tax reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 913-945, August.
    48. Eric Zwick & James Mahon, 2017. "Tax Policy and Heterogeneous Investment Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 217-248, January.
    49. German Blanco & Carlos A. Flores & Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, 2013. "The Effects of Job Corps Training on Wages of Adolescents and Young Adults," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 418-422, May.
    50. Yu, Jinliang & Qi, Yu, 2022. "BT-to-VAT reform and firm productivity: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    51. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2021. "The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(8), pages 2550-2593, August.
    52. Collin, Daniel F. & Shields-Zeeman, Laura S. & Batra, Akansha & White, Justin S. & Tong, Michelle & Hamad, Rita, 2021. "The effects of state earned income tax credits on mental health and health behaviors: A quasi-experimental study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    53. Ma, Mingming, 2019. "Does children's education matter for parents’ health and cognition? Evidence from China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 222-240.
    54. Ohrn, Eric, 2019. "The effect of tax incentives on U.S. manufacturing: Evidence from state accelerated depreciation policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    55. Christopher L. House & Matthew D. Shapiro, 2008. "Temporary Investment Tax Incentives: Theory with Evidence from Bonus Depreciation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 737-768, June.
    56. Eric Ohrn, 2023. "Corporate Tax Breaks and Executive Compensation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 215-255, August.
    57. Zou, Jingxian & Shen, Guangjun & Gong, Yaxian, 2019. "The effect of value-added tax on leverage: Evidence from China’s value-added tax reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 135-146.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiao, Renrui & Xu, Pingguo & Huang, Baocong, 2024. "Tax incentives and firm social insurance contributions: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Tang, Meili & Wang, Yu, 2022. "Tax incentives and corporate social responsibility: The role of cash savings from accelerated depreciation policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng, 2022. "Skill biased tax policy change: Labor market effects of China’s VAT reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Liu, Xiufen & Fang, Hongsheng & Zhao, Lexin & Xu, Wenli, 2023. "Do VAT cuts help stabilize employment? Evidence from China’s VAT rate reform," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 190-207.
    5. Li, Bing & Liu, Chang & Sun, Stephen Teng, 2021. "Do corporate income tax cuts decrease labor share? Regression discontinuity evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Segundo Camino‐Mogro, 2023. "Tax incentives, private investment and employment: Evidence from an Ecuadorian reform," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 2129-2156, October.
    7. Harju, Jarkko & Koivisto, Aliisa & Matikka, Tuomas, 2022. "The effects of corporate taxes on small firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    8. Gao, Wenjing & Mao, Jie & Shi, Xinzheng, 2024. "Do firms benefit from public information services: Evidence from a tax hotline program in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Wei Cui & Mengying Wei & Weisi Xie & Jing Xing, 2021. "Corporate Tax Cuts for Small Firms: What Do Firms Do?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9389, CESifo.
    10. E. Mark Curtis & Daniel G. Garrett & Eric C. Ohrn & Kevin A. Roberts & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, 2021. "Capital Investment and Labor Demand," NBER Working Papers 29485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Feng, Jin & Xie, Qiang & Zhang, Xiaohan, 2021. "Trade liberalization and the health of working-age adults: Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    12. ORIHARA Masanori & SUZUKI Takafumi, 2021. "Windfalls? Costs and Benefits of Investment Tax Incentives due to Financial Constraints," Discussion papers 21087, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    13. Zhao, Lexin & Fang, Hongsheng, 2022. "Investment incentives and the relative demand for skilled labor: Evidence from accelerated depreciation policies in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Zhao, Zhiqi & Yue, Yong & Wang, Wangshuai, 2024. "Unintended consequences of tax incentives on firms' human capital composition: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Lerche, Adrian, 2022. "Investment Tax Credits and the Response of Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 15668, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Chen, Xiaoxiong & He, Feng & Liu, Guanchun & Ye, Yongwei, 2022. "The effect of downstream expansion on upstream employment: Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China’s Accelerated Depreciation Policy," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Peng, Fei & Peng, Langchuan & Wang, Zheng, 2021. "How do VAT reforms in the service sectors impact TFP in the manufacturing sector: Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Fan, Ziying & Liu, Yu, 2020. "Tax Compliance and Investment Incentives: Firm Responses to Accelerated Depreciation in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 1-17.
    19. Lexin Zhao & Hongsheng Fang, 2022. "Investment incentives and leverage: Evidence from China’s accelerated depreciation policy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(11), pages 3625-3649, November.
    20. Daniel G. Garrett & Eric Ohrn & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, 2020. "Tax Policy and Local Labor Market Behavior," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 83-100, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate tax cuts; Worker health; Health inequality; Accelerated depreciation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:86:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x24000919. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.