IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_963.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How to Measure the Tax Burden on Labour at the Macro-Level?

Author

Listed:
  • Jan-Egbert Sturm
  • Bjørn Volkerink

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we survey the way in which the tax burden on labour has been proxied for in recent multi-country macro-economic studies. Second, we critically evaluate these proxies. Finally, we examine to what extent the conclusions of some studies change if some alternative indicator for the tax burden on labour is employed. We conclude that the widely used tax ratios as developed by Mendoza et al. (1994) may not be very reliable. The choice of the indicator for the tax burden on labour is also shown to affect the conclusions of some well-known empirical models.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan-Egbert Sturm & Bjørn Volkerink, 2003. "How to Measure the Tax Burden on Labour at the Macro-Level?," CESifo Working Paper Series 963, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_963
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo_wp963.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    2. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1997. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 921-939, December.
    3. Luca Nunziata, 2005. "Institutions and Wage Determination: a Multi‐country Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(4), pages 435-466, August.
    4. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    5. Willem Adema, 1999. "Net Social Expenditure," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 39, OECD Publishing.
    6. Riccardo Fiorito & Flavio Padrini, 2001. "Distortionary Taxation and Labour Market Performance," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 173-196, May.
    7. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    8. Francesco Daveri & Guido Tabellini, 2000. "Unemployment, growth and taxation in industrial countries," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 15(30), pages 48-104.
    9. Willem Adema & Marcel Einerhand & Bengt Eklind & Jorgen Lotz & Mark Pearson, 1996. "Net Public Social Expenditure," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 19, OECD Publishing.
    10. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria & Asea, Patrick, 1997. "On the ineffectiveness of tax policy in altering long-run growth: Harberger's superneutrality conjecture," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 99-126, October.
    11. Belot, M.V.K. & van Ours, J.C., 2001. "Unemployment and Labor Market Institutions : An Empirical Analysis," Other publications TiSEM db49a872-44e4-46fe-a212-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. repec:bla:obuest:v:63:y:2001:i:2:p:173-96 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Thomas I. Palley, 2001. "The Role of Institutions and Policies in Creating High European," Macroeconomics 0108007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Belot, Michele & van Ours, Jan C., 2001. "Unemployment and Labor Market Institutions: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 403-418, December.
    15. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Razin, Assaf & Tesar, Linda L., 1994. "Effective tax rates in macroeconomics: Cross-country estimates of tax rates on factor incomes and consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 297-323, December.
    16. Thomas I. Palley, "undated". "The Role of Institutions and Policies in Creating High European Unemployment: The Evidence," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_336, Levy Economics Institute.
    17. Christopher Heady, 2003. "The "Taxing Wages" Approach to Measuring the Tax Burden on Labour," CESifo Working Paper Series 967, CESifo.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2001_019 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Supply-Side Economics: An Analytical Review," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 293-316, April.
    20. Francesco Daveri, 2002. "Labor Taxes and Unemployment: a Survey of the Aggregate Evidence," CeRP Working Papers 18, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    21. repec:bla:econom:v:53:y:1986:i:210(s):p:s1-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Koskela, Erkki, 2001. "Labour taxation and employment in trade union models : a partial survey," Research Discussion Papers 19/2001, Bank of Finland.
    23. Nazrul Islam, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-1170.
    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. Pierre Salmon, 2003. "The assignment of powers in an open-ended European Union," Post-Print hal-00445601, HAL.
    2. Jeffrey Overall, 2017. "Practice what you preach: the failure of the welfare state and the discovery of total equality through capitalism," International Journal of Public Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1/2), pages 69-85.
    3. Eichhorst, Werner & Feil, Michael & Braun, Christoph, 2008. "What have we learned? Assessing labor market institutions and indicators," IAB-Discussion Paper 200822, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Marek Gora & Artur Radziwill & Agnieszka Sowa & Mateusz Walewski, 2006. "Tax Wedge and Skills: Case of Poland in International Perspective," CASE Network Reports 0064, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Alexei Izyumov, 2010. "Human Costs of Post-communist Transition: Public Policies and Private Response," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(1), pages 93-125.
    6. Primož Dolenc & Suzana Laporšek, 2012. "Taxing wages and sustainable labour market performance: empirical evidence from OECD and EU countries," International Journal of Sustainable Economy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 234-253.
    7. Primoz Dolenc & Suzana Laporsek, 2012. "Labour Taxation and Its Impact on Employment Growth," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 10(3 (Fall)), pages 301-318.
    8. Jan Tecl, 2018. "Measurement of Labour Taxation," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(1), pages 5-18.
    9. Dreher, Axel, 2006. "The influence of globalization on taxes and social policy: An empirical analysis for OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 179-201, March.
    10. Liliana E. Donath & Petru-Ovidiu Mura, 2019. "The Looming Central and Eastern European Real Convergence Club. Do Implicit Tax Rates Play a Part?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 67-89, March.
    11. International Monetary Fund, 2005. "Sweden: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2005/344, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Ana Grdoviæ Gnip & Iva Tomic, 2010. "How hard does the tax bite hurt? Croatian vs. European worker," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 34(2), pages 109-142.
    13. Vladimir Gligorov & Anna Iara & Michael Landesmann & Robert Stehrer & Hermine Vidovic, 2008. "Western Balkan Countries: Adjustment Capacity to External Shocks, with a Focus on Labour Markets," wiiw Research Reports 352, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    14. Lucie Kábelová & Ondřej Bayer, 2018. "Labour Taxation and its Effect on Employment Growth: Latest Estimations with Focus on the Czech Republic," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(2), pages 45-57.
    15. Primož Dolenc & Suzana Laporšek, 2010. "Tax Wedge on Labour and its Effect on Employment Growth in the European Union," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2010(4), pages 344-358.
    16. Peter Schwarz, 2007. "Does capital mobility reduce the corporate-labor tax ratio?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 363-380, March.
    17. Ms. Evridiki Tsounta, 2006. "Why Are Women Working So Much More in Canada? An International Perspective," IMF Working Papers 2006/092, International Monetary Fund.

    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. José Ramón García, 2004. "Desempleo Y Estructura Impositiva En El Mercado De Trabajo De La Ocde," Working Papers. Serie EC 2004-21, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    2. Luca Nunziata, 2002. "Unemployment, Labour Market Institutions and Shocks," Economics Papers 2002-W16, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    3. Winfried Koeniger & Marco Leonardi & Luca Nunziata, 2007. "Labor Market Institutions and Wage Inequality," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(3), pages 340-356, April.
    4. Thiess Büttner & Peter Egger & Herbert Hofmann & Christian Holzner & Mario Larch & Volker Meier & Chang Woon Nam & Rigmar Osterkamp & Rüdiger Parsche & Martin Werding, 2006. "Tu felix Austria: Wachstums- und Beschäftigungspolitik in Österreich und Deutschland im Vergleich," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 31.
    5. Alfonso Arpaia & Giuseppe Carone, 2004. "Do labour taxes (and their composition) affect wages in the short and in the long run?," Public Economics 0411004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. García, José Ramón & Sala, Hector, 2008. "The tax system incidence on unemployment: A country-specific analysis for the OECD economies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1232-1245, November.
    7. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    8. Henri L.F. de Groot & Richard Nahuis & Paul J.G. Tang & John Fitz Gerald, 2006. "Is the American Model Miss World? Choosing Between the Anglo-Saxon Model and a European-Style Alternative," Chapters, in: Susanne Mundschenk & Michael H. Stierle & Ulrike Stierle-von Schütz & Iulia Traistaru-Siedschlag (ed.), Competitiveness and Growth in Europe, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Sebastian Weber, 2006. "Labor Market Structures, Trade and their Effect on Unemployment: A Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Investigation," IHEID Working Papers 22-2006, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    10. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    11. Michael Feil, 2012. "Taxation and unemployment: (systematic) evidence from panel data analysis," EcoMod2012 4472, EcoMod.
    12. Christoph S. Weber, 2020. "The unemployment effect of central bank transparency," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 2947-2975, December.
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6120 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Doménech, Rafael & Garcí­a, José Ramón, 2008. "Unemployment, taxation and public expenditure in OECD economies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 202-217, March.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6120 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. H Buscher & C Dreger & R Ramos & J Surinach, 2009. "The Impact of Institutions on the Employment Performance in European Labour Markets," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 14(1), pages 17-34, March.
    17. Bjørnstad, Roger & Kalstad, Kjartan Øren, 2010. "Increased price markup from union coordination: OECD panel evidence," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 4, pages 1-37.
    18. Luca Nunziata, 2005. "Institutions and Wage Determination: a Multi‐country Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(4), pages 435-466, August.
    19. Beissinger, Thomas, 2003. "Strukturelle Arbeitslosigkeit in Europa: Eine Bestandsaufnahme," University of Regensburg Working Papers in Business, Economics and Management Information Systems 389, University of Regensburg, Department of Economics.
    20. David R. Howell & Miriam Rehm, 2009. "Unemployment compensation and high European unemployment: a reassessment with new benefit indicators," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 60-93, Spring.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/9726 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Seppo Honkapohja & Frank Westermann, 2009. "Pay-setting Systems in Europe: Ongoing Developments and Possible Reforms," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Seppo Honkapohja & Frank Westermann (ed.), Designing the European Model, chapter 3, pages 82-121, Palgrave Macmillan.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax ratios; labour; average effective tax rates; unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H29 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:_963. 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.