IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/lus/reveco/v65y2014i1p95-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Objections against Workfare Revised

Author

Listed:
  • Lohse Tim

    (Berlin School of Economics and Law, Berlin, Germany, and Max-Planck-Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Munich, Germany)

Abstract

Opponents of work obligations in return for transfer payments argue that workfare can crowd out private sector work, that workfare harms the welfare of the poor and thereby reduces a society’s welfare in general. This paper analyzes these objections against workfare in a discrete optimal income tax model. Workfare productivity emerges to be the crucial determinant. We identify a productivity threshold. If workfare productivity exceeds this threshold, then crowding out indeed happens, but it is second-best. Crowding out occurs entirely in the sense that workfare and private sector employment are mutually exclusive. Welfare increases due to the fact that out of the three effects workfare entails, beyond the detected threshold, the output effect and the incentive effect dominate the negative utility effect. Numerical simulations calibrated on the distribution of gross hourly wages in Germany reveal that on an individual level, the poor may even be better off under a tax-transfer scheme with workfare rather than without workfare. This is due to the fact that a higher degree of redistribution can be achieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Lohse Tim, 2014. "The Objections against Workfare Revised," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 95-118, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:lus:reveco:v:65:y:2014:i:1:p:95-118
    DOI: 10.1515/roe-2014-0106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/roe-2014-0106
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/roe-2014-0106?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. Paul Beaudry & Charles Blackorby & Dezsö Szalay, 2009. "Taxes and Employment Subsidies in Optimal Redistribution Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 216-242, March.
    2. Craig Brett, 2005. "Bunching, Time Constraints, and Workfare," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(1), pages 93-105, February.
    3. Greg Leblanc, 2004. "Optimal Income Maintenance and the “Unemployable”," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 6(3), pages 509-537, August.
    4. Fred Schroyen & Gaute Torsvik, 2005. "Work Requirements and Long‐Term Poverty," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(3), pages 427-448, August.
    5. Katherine Cuff, 2000. "Optimality of workfare with heterogeneous preferences," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 33(1), pages 149-174, February.
    6. Brett, Craig, 1998. "Who Should Be on Workfare? The Use of Work Requirements as Part of an Optimal Tax Mix," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 607-622, October.
    7. Nichols, Albert L & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1982. "Targeting Transfers through Restrictions on Recipients," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(2), pages 372-377, May.
    8. Craig Brett & Laurence Jacquet, 2015. "Workforce or workfare? The optimal use of work requirements when labour is supplied along the extensive margin," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(5), pages 1855-1882, December.
    9. Stefan Homburg, 2001. "The Optimal Income Tax: Restatement and Extensions," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 58(4), pages 363-395, November.
    10. Stefan Homburg, 2003. "Arbeitslosigkeit und soziale Sicherung," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 72(1), pages 68-82.
    11. Timothy Besley & Stephen Coate, 1995. "The Design of Income Maintenance Programmes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(2), pages 187-221.
    12. Hohendanner, Christian, 2007. "Verdrängen Ein-Euro-Jobs sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung in den Betrieben?," IAB-Discussion Paper 200708, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    14. Avinash Dixit, 2002. "# Incentives and Organizations in the Public Sector: An Interpretative Review," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(4), pages 696-727.
    15. Weymark, John A., 1986. "A reduced-form optimal nonlinear income tax problem," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 199-217, July.
    16. Kettner, Anja & Rebien, Martina, 2007. "Soziale Arbeitsgelegenheiten : Einsatz und Wirkungsweise aus betrieblicher und arbeitsmarktpolitischer Perspektive," IAB-Forschungsbericht 200702, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    17. Oliveira, Márcia & Côrte-Real, Paulo, 2006. "Poverty Alleviation Programs: Monitoring vs. Workfare," MPRA Paper 913, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Robin Boadway, 2012. "Recent Advances in Optimal Income Taxation," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 15-39, March.
    19. Homburg, Stefan, 1998. "An Axiomatic Proof of Mirrlees' Formula," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53(3/4), pages 285-295.
    20. Efraim Sadka, 1976. "On Income Distribution, Incentive Effects and Optimal Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(2), pages 261-267.
    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. Tomer Blumkin & Yoram Margalioth & Efraim Sadka, 2013. "The desirability of workfare in the presence of misreporting," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(1), pages 71-88, February.
    2. Paul Beaudry & Charles Blackorby & Dezsö Szalay, 2009. "Taxes and Employment Subsidies in Optimal Redistribution Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 216-242, March.
    3. Homburg Stefan & Lohse Tim, 2005. "Optimal Taxes and Transfers under Partial Information," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 225(6), pages 622-629, December.
    4. Blumkin, Tomer & Margalioth, Yoram & Sadka, Efraim, 2011. "The Desirability of Workfare in the Presence of Misreporting," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275760, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Robert Moffitt, 2006. "Welfare work Requirements with Paternalistic Government Preferences," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(515), pages 441-458, November.
    6. Robin Boadway, 2011. "Viewpoint: Innovations in the theory and practice of redistribution policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 1138-1183, November.
    7. Craig Brett & Laurence Jacquet, 2015. "Workforce or workfare? The optimal use of work requirements when labour is supplied along the extensive margin," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1855-1882, December.
    8. Hellwig, Martin F., 2007. "A contribution to the theory of optimal utilitarian income taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(7-8), pages 1449-1477, August.
    9. Peter Fredriksson & Bertil Holmlund, 2006. "Improving Incentives in Unemployment Insurance: A Review of Recent Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 357-386, July.
    10. Robin Boadway & Zhen Song & Jean‐François Tremblay, 2017. "Optimal Income Taxation and Job Choice," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(4), pages 910-938, October.
    11. Homburg, Stefan, 2003. "Arbeitslosigkeit und soziale Sicherung," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 68-82.
    12. Timothy F. Harris, 2018. "Do SNAP Work Requirements Work?," Upjohn Working Papers 19-297, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    13. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "The Negative Income Tax and the Evolution of U.S. Welfare Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 119-140, Summer.
    14. Alari Paulus, 2016. "The antipoverty performance of universal and means-tested benefits with costly take-up," ImPRovE Working Papers 16/12, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    15. Robin Boadway, 1998. "Redistributing Smarter: Self-Selection, Targeting and Non-Conventional Policy Instruments," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24(3), pages 365-369, September.
    16. Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Wojciech Kopczuk, 2011. "Transfer Program Complexity and the Take-Up of Social Benefits," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 54-90, February.
    17. Yui Nakamura, 2015. "A Cost‐Effective Workfare System Succeeding in Attracting Applicants to Labor Markets," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(3), pages 240-252, September.
    18. Brett, Craig & Jacquet, Laurence, 2011. "Workforce or Workfare?," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 8/2011, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    19. Claus T. Hansen & Torben Tranaes, 2000. "Optimal Workfare in a Society of Workers and Non-Workers," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0758, Econometric Society.
    20. Beaudry, Paul & Blackorby, Charles & Szalay, Dezso, 2006. "Taxes and Employment Subsidies in Optimal Redistribution Programs (Revised Version)," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 779, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.

    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:lus:reveco:v:65:y:2014:i:1:p:95-118. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.