IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revint/v14y2019i1d10.1007_s11558-018-9300-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

War mobilization or war destruction? The unequal rise of progressive taxation revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Lukas Haffert

    (University of Zurich)

Abstract

This paper sheds new light on the massive increase of progressive taxation in the first half of the twentieth century. Existing studies have explained this increase with the mass mobilization during the World Wars and the call for a fair sharing of the burdens of these wars. My analysis suggests that this effect was not uniform across mobilizing countries. Instead, the call for higher taxation of the rich was curbed by allocational concerns about capital rebuilding in those countries whose capital stock had been severely damaged during the war. Therefore, these countries increased progressive taxes much less. I find some evidence for this thesis in an analysis of top income and inheritance tax rates in 20 developed economies and a case study of tax policy debates in Germany after World War II. My finding has importance for the understanding of progressive taxation as well as for the understanding of tax policies more generally. It suggests that the two World Wars affected the development of tax systems not only through a distributional but also through an allocational channel.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukas Haffert, 2019. "War mobilization or war destruction? The unequal rise of progressive taxation revisited," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 59-82, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:14:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11558-018-9300-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-018-9300-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11558-018-9300-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11558-018-9300-0?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. Maddison, Angus, 1994. "Standardised Estimates of Fixed Capital Stock: A Six Country Comparison," GGDC Research Memorandum 199409, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    2. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    3. Charles R. Frank Jr. & Kwang Suk Kim & Larry E. Westphal, 1975. "Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: South Korea," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fran75-1.
    4. repec:dgr:rugggd:199409 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Alan T. Peacock & Jack Wiseman, 1961. "The Growth of Public Expenditure in the United Kingdom," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number peac61-1.
    6. Obinger, Herbert & Petersen, Klaus, 2017. "Mass Warfare and the Welfare State – Causal Mechanisms and Effects," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 203-227, January.
    7. Mark Keese & Gérard Salou & Pete Richardson, 1991. "The Measurement of Output and Factors of Production for the Business Sector in OECD Countries (The OECD Business Sector Database)," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 99, OECD Publishing.
    8. Acemoglu,Daron & Robinson,James A., 2009. "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671422, September.
    9. Charles R. Frank Jr. & Kwang Suk Kim & Larry E. Westphal, 1975. "Economic Growth in South Korea since World War II," NBER Chapters, in: Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: South Korea, pages 6-24, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Ehrlicher, Werner, 1974. "Deutsche Finanzpolitik 1949-1974," Wirtschaftsdienst – Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik (1949 - 2007), ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 54(5), pages 239-244.
    11. Beramendi, Pablo & Rueda, David, 2007. "Social Democracy Constrained: Indirect Taxation in Industrialized Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(4), pages 619-641, October.
    12. Jens Matthias Arnold, 2008. "Do Tax Structures Affect Aggregate Economic Growth?: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 643, OECD Publishing.
    13. Gelman, Andrew & Stern, Hal, 2006. "The Difference Between," The American Statistician, American Statistical Association, vol. 60, pages 328-331, November.
    14. Charles R. Frank Jr. & Kwang Suk Kim & Larry E. Westphal, 1975. "Appendices to "Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: South Korea"," NBER Chapters, in: Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: South Korea, pages 245-257, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Scheve, Kenneth & Stasavage, David, 2012. "Democracy, War, and Wealth: Lessons from Two Centuries of Inheritance Taxation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(1), pages 81-102, February.
    16. Meltzer, Allan H & Richard, Scott F, 1981. "A Rational Theory of the Size of Government," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 914-927, October.
    17. Scheve, Kenneth & Stasavage, David, 2010. "The Conscription of Wealth: Mass Warfare and the Demand for Progressive Taxation," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 529-561, October.
    18. Atkinson, Anthony B., 2015. "Inequality: what can be done?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101810, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Joel Slemrod & Wojciech Kopczuk, 2000. "The Impact of the Estate Tax on the Wealth Accumulation and Avoidance Behavior of Donors," NBER Working Papers 7960, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Torregrosa Hetland, Sara & Sabaté, Oriol, 2021. "Income Taxes and Redistribution in the Early Twentieth Century," Lund Papers in Economic History 224, Lund University, Department of Economic History, revised 05 Sep 2022.
    2. Agustín Goenaga & Oriol Sabaté & Jan Teorell, 2023. "The state does not live by warfare alone: War and revenue in the long nineteenth century," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 393-418, April.
    3. Konstantin A. Kholodilin & Sebastian Kohl, 2021. "Rent Price Control – Yet Another Great Equalizer of Economic Inequalities?: Evidence from a Century of Historical Data," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1927, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Dalton C. Dorr & Adrian J. Shin, 2021. "War, inequality, and taxation," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 315-342, July.

    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. Laura Seelkopf & Moritz Bubek & Edgars Eihmanis & Joseph Ganderson & Julian Limberg & Youssef Mnaili & Paula Zuluaga & Philipp Genschel, 2021. "The rise of modern taxation: A new comprehensive dataset of tax introductions worldwide," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 239-263, January.
    2. Marina Dodlova & Anna Gioblas, 2017. "Regime type, inequality, and redistributive transfers in developing countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-30, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Chapman, Jonathan, 2018. "Democratic Reform and Opposition to Government Expenditure: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Britain," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 13(4), pages 363-404, October.
    4. Goksu Aslan, 2017. "The Effects of Income Inequality and Redistribution in Democracies: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach," Dynamic Econometric Models, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 17, pages 19-39.
    5. Bahamonde, Hector & Trasberg, Mart, 2021. "Inclusive institutions, unequal outcomes: Democracy, state capacity, and income inequality," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Åsa Johansson, 2016. "Public Finance, Economic Growth and Inequality: A Survey of the Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1346, OECD Publishing.
    7. Stanley L. Winer, 2016. "The Political Economy of Taxation: Power, Structure, Redistribution," Carleton Economic Papers 16-15, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    8. Roel Beetsma & Alex Cukierman & Massimo Giuliodori, 2016. "Political Economy of Redistribution in the United States in the Aftermath of World War II--Evidence and Theory," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 1-40, November.
    9. Kammas, Pantelis & Sarantides, Vassilis, 2019. "Do dictatorships redistribute more?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 176-195.
    10. Dodlova, Marina & Giolbas, Anna, 2015. "Regime Type, Inequality, and Redistributive Transfers in Developing Countries," GIGA Working Papers 273, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    11. Christina Lai, 2018. "Economic Nationalism in South Korea and Taiwan: Examining Identity Discourse and Threat Perceptions towards Japan after the Second World War (1960s–1970s)," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 5(2), pages 149-171, August.
    12. Wright, Reilly & Aldama, Abraham, 2023. "Not all luck is created equal: Sources of income inequality and willingness to redistribute," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    13. Haider Hassan Itoo & Mohammad Asif & Nazim Ali & Md Abusaad, 2024. "Wagner’s law revisited: investigating the asymmetric relationship between national income and public expenditure in India," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(10), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Limberg, Julian, 2022. "Building a tax state in the 21st century: Fiscal pressure, political regimes, and consumption taxation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    15. Sara Torregrosa Hetland & Oriol Sabaté, 2018. "Income tax and war inflation: was the ‘blood tax’ compensated by taxing the rich?," Working Papers 18010, Economic History Society.
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Suresh Naidu & Pascual Restrepo & James A. Robinson, 2013. "Democracy, Redistribution and Inequality," NBER Working Papers 19746, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Palma, José Gabriel, 2020. "Why the rich always stay rich (no matter what, no matter the cost)," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    18. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Mohammad Ali Kadivar, 2023. "The effect of Islamic revolution and war on income inequality in Iran," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 1007-1026, August.
    19. Kang, Sung Jin & Seo, Hwan-Joo, 2023. "Validity of the Meltzer and Richard hypothesis under captured democracy and policy regime hypotheses," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1732-1749.
    20. Krauss, Alexander, 2015. "The scientific limits of understanding the (potential) relationship between complex social phenomena: the case of democracy and inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62633, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Taxation; Fiscal policy; War; Political economy; Capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

    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:spr:revint:v:14:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11558-018-9300-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.