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Taxes and the Labor Supply of Older Americans: Recent Evidence From the Social Security Earnings Test

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  • Gary V. Engelhardt
  • Anil Kumar

Abstract

This paper summarizes recent work on the impact of taxation on the labor supply of older individuals, with a focus on the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000, which abolished the Social Security earnings test for those ages 65 to 69. For men age 65 to 69, the repeal increased earnings by 8 to 20 percent and hours by 5 to 16 percent. For women claiming Social Security benefts on their own earnings history, the repeal increased earnings by 20 percent. Estimates of the compensated elasticity of earnings with respect to the net-of-tax share range from 0.05 to 0.12. Labor supply is very inelastic, even accounting for adjustment costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary V. Engelhardt & Anil Kumar, 2014. "Taxes and the Labor Supply of Older Americans: Recent Evidence From the Social Security Earnings Test," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(2), pages 443-458, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:67:y:2014:i:2:p:443-458
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2014.2.06
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "Changes in the Labor Supply Behavior of Married Women: 1980–2000," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 393-438.
    2. Raj Chetty, 2012. "Bounds on Elasticities With Optimization Frictions: A Synthesis of Micro and Macro Evidence on Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(3), pages 969-1018, May.
    3. Engelhardt, Gary V. & Kumar, Anil, 2009. "The repeal of the retirement earnings test and the labor supply of older men," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 429-450, October.
    4. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Tore Olsen & Luigi Pistaferri, 2011. "Adjustment Costs, Firm Responses, and Micro vs. Macro Labor Supply Elasticities: Evidence from Danish Tax Records," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 749-804.
    5. Jeffrey R. Brown & Arie Kapteyn & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2011. "Framing Effects and Expected Social Security Claiming Behavior," NBER Working Papers 17018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Eric French & John Bailey Jones, 2017. "Health, Health Insurance, and Retirement: A Survey," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 383-409, September.
    2. Alexander M. Gelber & Damon Jones & Daniel W. Sacks, 2013. "Earnings Adjustment Frictions: Evidence From Social Security Earnings Test," Working Papers 13-50, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Itay Saporta-Eksten & Ity Shurtz & Sarit Weisburd, 2021. "Social Security, Labor Supply, and Health of Older Workers: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Reform [Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 2168-2208.
    4. Begley, Jaclene & Chan, Sewin, 2018. "The effect of housing wealth shocks on work and retirement decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-195.
    5. Alexander Gelber & Damon Jones & Daniel W. Sacks & Jae Song, 2022. "The Employment Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(2), pages 341-371.
    6. Damon Jones & Alexander M. Gelber & Daniel W. Sacks & Jae Song, 2017. "Using Kinked Budget Sets to Estimate Extensive Margin Responses: Method and Evidence from the Social Security Earnings Test," Working Papers 2017-034, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    7. Jones, John Bailey & Li, Yue, 2018. "The effects of collecting income taxes on Social Security benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 128-145.
    8. Zhixiu Yu, 2021. "Why Are Older Men Working More? The Role of Social Security," Working Papers 2021-041, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    9. Laun, Lisa, 2017. "The effect of age-targeted tax credits on labor force participation of older workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 102-118.
    10. Alexander M. Gelber & Damon Jones & Daniel W. Sacks & Jae Song, 2017. "Using Non-Linear Budget Sets to Estimate Extensive Margin Responses: Method and Evidence from the Social Security Earnings Test," NBER Working Papers 23362, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Tengjiao Chen & Yajie Sheng & Yu Xu, 2020. "The Anticipation Effect of the Earnings Test Reform on Younger Cohorts," Public Finance Review, , vol. 48(4), pages 387-424, July.
    12. Yu, Zhixiu, 2024. "Why are older men working more? The role of social security," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).

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