IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_3748.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Culture and Tax Structures

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias König
  • Andreas Wagener

Abstract

We argue that societies with a stronger tendency towards postmaterialist life goals tilt the tax structure towards personal income taxes and away from corporate taxation. We provide empirical evidence for this correlation in OECD countries. To address endogeneity issues we then use an epidemiological approach and employ the cultural values of second-generation immigrants to the US as an instrument for the degree of postmaterialism in their ancestral countries. Estimations with this approach re-confirm that personal taxes are higher, both in absolute and relative terms, in more postmaterialist countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias König & Andreas Wagener, 2012. "Culture and Tax Structures," CESifo Working Paper Series 3748, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3748
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp3748.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto Alesina & George-Marios Angeletos, 2005. "Fairness and Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 960-980, September.
    2. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Trust in Large Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 333-338, May.
    3. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8882 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Salmai Qari & Kai Konrad & Benny Geys, 2012. "Patriotism, taxation and international mobility," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 695-717, June.
    5. Lorraine Uhlaner & Roy Thurik, 2010. "Postmaterialism Influencing Total Entrepreneurial Activity Across Nations," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 301-328, Springer.
    6. Axel Franzen, 2003. "Environmental Attitudes in International Comparison: An Analysis of the ISSP Surveys 1993 and 2000," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(2), pages 297-308, June.
    7. Davis, Darren W. & Davenport, Christian, 1999. "Assessing the Validity of the Postmaterialism Index," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 649-664, September.
    8. Alessandra Fogli & Raquel Fernandez, 2009. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 146-177, January.
    9. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8882 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Inglehart, Ronald & Abramson, Paul R., 1999. "Measuring Postmaterialism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 665-677, September.
    11. Fernández, Raquel, 2010. "Does Culture Matter?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7965, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8812 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Wilson, John Douglas & Wildasin, David E., 2004. "Capital tax competition: bane or boon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1065-1091, June.
    14. Pierre Cahuc & Yann Algan, 2009. "Civic Virtue and Labor Market Institutions," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 111-145, January.
    15. Inglehart, Ronald, 1971. "The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 991-1017, December.
    16. Halla Martin, 2012. "Tax Morale and Compliance Behavior: First Evidence on a Causal Link," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, April.
    17. Raquel Fernández, 2010. "Does Culture Matter?," NBER Working Papers 16277, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Fernández, Raquel, 2010. "Does Culture Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 5122, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Hodler, Roland, 2008. "Leisure and redistribution," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 354-363, June.
    20. Shayo, Moses, 2009. "A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy: Nation, Class, and Redistribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 147-174, May.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8812 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Vladim'ir Hol'y & Tom'av{s} Evan, 2021. "The Role of a Nation's Culture in the Country's Governance: Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Papers 2102.05411, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2021.
    2. Lars P. Feld & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2012. "Die Politische Ökonomik der Besteuerung," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 13(1-2), pages 116-136, February.
    3. Nicolae-Bogdan IANC & Thierry BAUDASSE, 2021. "How can culture affect taxation? A postmaterialism value approach," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2848, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    4. Evan, Tomáš & Holý, Vladimír, 2023. "Cultural diversity and its impact on governance," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

    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. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2010. "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization," Post-Print halshs-00754788, HAL.
    2. König, Tobias & Wagener, Andreas, 2008. "(Post-)Materialist Attitudes and the Mix of Capital and Labour Taxation," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-404, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    3. Nicolae-Bogdan Ianc & Thierry Baudassé, 2021. "How Can Culture Affect Taxation? A Postmaterialism Value Approach," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(3), pages 466-488, September.
    4. Algan, Yann & Cahuc, Pierre, 2014. "Trust, Growth, and Well-Being: New Evidence and Policy Implications," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 49-120, Elsevier.
    5. Nicolae-Bogdan IANC & Thierry BAUDASSE, 2021. "How can culture affect taxation? A postmaterialism value approach," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2848, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    6. Ljunge, Martin, 2014. "Trust issues: Evidence on the intergenerational trust transmission among children of immigrants," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 175-196.
    7. Fernández, Raquel & Wong, Joyce Cheng, 2011. "The Disappearing Gender Gap: The Impact of Divorce, Wages, and Preferences on Education Choices and Women's Work," IZA Discussion Papers 6046, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Mazzotta, Fernanda & Bettio, Francesca & Zigante, Valentina, 2018. "And Thou Shalt Honor: children’s caregiving, work and religion," GLO Discussion Paper Series 202, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Ljunge, Martin, 2016. "Migrants, health, and happiness: Evidence that health assessments travel with migrants and predict well-being," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 35-46.
    10. Martin Ljunge, 2015. "Social Capital and the Family: Evidence that Strong Family Ties Cultivate Civic Virtues," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(325), pages 103-136, January.
    11. Giuseppe Albanese & Guido Blasio & Paolo Sestito, 2016. "My parents taught Me. Evidence on the family transmission of values," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 571-592, April.
    12. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc, 2008. "Can Policy Interact with Culture? Minimum Wage and the Quality of Labor Relations," Working Papers hal-00972820, HAL.
    13. Anke S Kessler & Kevin Milligan, 2021. "Acculturation, education, and gender roles: evidence from Canada," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(2), pages 509-533.
    14. Lippmann, Quentin & Senik, Claudia, 2018. "Math, girls and socialism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 874-888.
    15. Ljunge, Martin, 2014. "Social capital and health: Evidence that ancestral trust promotes health among children of immigrants," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 165-186.
    16. Martin Ljunge, 2012. "Family Ties and Civic Virtues: Evidence on Wilson's "Moral Sense"," Discussion Papers 12-07, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    17. Kok, Suzanne & Bosch, Nicole & Deelen, Anja & Euwals, Rob, 2011. "Migrant Women on the Labour Market: On the Role of Home- and Host-Country Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 5817, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Nancy Qian, 2014. "Making Democracy Work: The Effects of Social Capital and Elections on Public Goods in China," 2014 Meeting Papers 1414, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Williamson, Claudia R., 2012. "Dignity and development," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 763-771.
    20. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/33o86cn6qp83dot08iir97915s is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Mine Durman-Aslan, 2020. "Female Labor Force Participation in Turkey: The Role of the Intergenerational Links," Post-Print halshs-02900982, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax structure; taxation; social values; culture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - 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:ces:ceswps:_3748. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.