IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ekd/003306/330600010.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Labour Taxes (and their Composition) Affect Wages in the Short and the Long Run?

Author

Listed:
  • Alfonso ARPAIA
  • Giuseppe CARONE

Abstract

Measures aimed at reducing the tax burden on labour have been advocated to alleviate the EU unemployment problem. Most of the analyses document a relationship between the unemployment rate and the tax burden on labour. Hence, it is not possible to discern whether the effect on unemployment derives from labour demand, labour supply or through the wage formation mechanism. Moreover, the empirical analyses are usually static, and may be indicative of the steady-state determinants of the unemployment rate and do not reveal the features of the adjustment process. This paper studies the relationship between labour taxes and labour costs by modelling the wage formation mechanism in a dynamic context. We test if the composition of labour taxes affects labour costs in the short- and in the long-run and whether highly centralised bargaining systems have better employment performance than decentralised ones. We apply static and dynamic panel data techniques to a panel of EU countries. Our findings suggest that there is probably some wage resistance in the short-term but not in the long-term, although the transition to the long-term can be very long and therefore the short- term impact and the dynamics of adjustment can be long-lasting.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Alfonso ARPAIA & Giuseppe CARONE, 2010. "Do Labour Taxes (and their Composition) Affect Wages in the Short and the Long Run?," EcoMod2004 330600010, EcoMod.
  • Handle: RePEc:ekd:003306:330600010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ecomod.net/sites/default/files/document-conference/ecomod2004/192.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frederick Van der Ploeg, 2003. "Do Social Policies Harm Employment and Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series 886, CESifo.
    2. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    3. Stephen Nickell, 2003. "Employment and Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 1109, CESifo.
    4. Adriana Kugler & Maurice Kugler, 2003. "The labor market effects of payroll taxes in a middle-income country: Evidence from Colombia," Economics Working Papers 721, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1997. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 921-939, December.
    8. Sinko, Pekka & Kilponen, Juha, 2001. "Labour Taxation and the Degree of Centralisation in a Trade Union Model with Endogenous Labour Supply," Discussion Papers 250, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Lawrence Summers & Jonathan Gruber & Rodrigo Vergara, 1993. "Taxation and the Structure of Labor Markets: The Case of Corporatism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 385-411.
    10. Pissarides, Christopher A., 1998. "The impact of employment tax cuts on unemployment and wages; The role of unemployment benefits and tax structure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 155-183, January.
    11. Booth,Alison L., 1994. "The Economics of the Trade Union," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521468398.
    12. Jonathan Gruber & Alan B. Krueger, 1991. "The Incidence of Mandated Employer-Provided Insurance: Lessons from Workers' Compensation Insurance," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 111-144, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond & Frank Windmeijer, 2000. "Estimation in dynamic panel data models: improving on the performance of the standard GMM estimator," IFS Working Papers W00/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    14. 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.
    15. Joseph Stiglitz, 1999. "Taxation, Public Policy, and Dynamics of Unemployment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(3), pages 239-262, August.
    16. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    17. 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.
    18. Gruber, Jonathan, 1997. "The Incidence of Payroll Taxation: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 72-101, July.
    19. Calmfors, Lars, 1998. "Macroeconomic Policy, Wage Setting, and Employment--What Difference Does the EMU Make?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 125-151, Autumn.
    20. Kiander, Jaakko & Holm, Pasi & Koskela, Erkki, 1995. "Unions, Labour supply and Structure of Taxation: Equal Tax Bases," Discussion Papers 110, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    21. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2001_019 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Planas, Christophe & Roeger, Werner & Rossi, Alessandro, 2007. "How much has labour taxation contributed to European structural unemployment?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 1359-1375, April.
    23. 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).
    24. Lars Calmfors, 1993. "Centralisation of Wage Bargaining and Macroeconomic Performance: A Survey," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 131, OECD Publishing.
    25. Wulfsberg, Fredrik, 1997. "An Application of Wage Bargaining Models to Norwegian Panel Data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 419-440, July.
    26. Gunnar Bårdsen & Jurgen Doornik & Jan Tore Klovland, 2004. "A European-type wage equation from an American-style labor market: Evidence from a panel of Norwegian manufacturing industries in the 1930s," Working Paper 2004/4, Norges Bank.
    27. Koskela, Erkki & Schob, Ronnie, 1999. "Does the composition of wage and payroll taxes matter under Nash bargaining?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 343-349, September.
    28. Graafland, J.J. & Huizinga, F.H., 1998. "Taxes and benefits in a non-linear wage equation," MPRA Paper 21076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    29. Kiander, Jaakko & Kilponen, Juha & Vilmunen, Jouko, 2000. "Taxes, Growth and Unemployment in the OECD Countries - Does Collective Bargaininig Matter?," Discussion Papers 235, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    30. Pierre M. Picard & Eric Toulemonde, 2003. "Taxation and Labor Markets," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 29-56, January.
    31. Giorgio Brunello & Maria Laura Parisi & Daniela Sonedda, 2002. "Labor Taxes and Wages: Evidence from Italy," CESifo Working Paper Series 715, CESifo.
    32. Sinko, Pekka & Kilponen, Juha, 2003. "Does Centralised Wage Setting Lead into Higher Taxation?," Discussion Papers 314, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    33. repec:bla:econom:v:53:y:1986:i:210(s):p:s121-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Richard Disney, 2004. "Are contributions to public pension programmes a tax on employment? [‘Welfare state and competitiveness’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 19(39), pages 268-311.
    35. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-183, May.
    36. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain: 1973-90," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(426), pages 1025-1043, September.
    37. Fiorella Padoa-Schioppa, 1992. "A Cross-Country Analysis of the Tax-Push Hypothesis," IMF Working Papers 1992/011, International Monetary Fund.
    38. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    39. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    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. European Commission, 2010. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2010 edition," Taxation trends 2010, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    2. Aurelija Anciūtė & Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė & Anamaria Maftei & Janos Varga, 2020. "Labour Tax and Child Benefits Reform in Lithuania: For Better or Worse?," European Economy - Economic Briefs 059, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    3. Sandrine Levasseur, 2011. "Labour market adjustments in Estonia during the global crisis," Working Papers hal-01069525, HAL.
    4. Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker, 2013. "Effective labor taxation and the international location of headquarters," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(4), pages 631-652, August.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iak4591pm is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Coenen, Günter & McAdam, Peter & Straub, Roland, 2008. "Tax reform and labour-market performance in the euro area: A simulation-based analysis using the New Area-Wide Model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 2543-2583, August.
    7. Adam, Stuart & Phillips, David & Roantree, Barra, 2019. "35 years of reforms: A panel analysis of the incidence of, and employee and employer responses to, social security contributions in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 29-50.
    8. Giuseppe Carone & Jan Host Schmidt & Gaetan Nicodeme, 2007. "Tax revenues in the European Union: Recent trends and challenges ahead," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 280, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    9. Mario Holzner & Maruška Vizek & Goran Vukšić, 2022. "Wage Bargaining Coordination, Taxation and Labor Costs: The Effects of Fiscal Devaluation," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(2), pages 324-349, June.
    10. European Commission, 2011. "Tax Reforms in EU Member States 2011: tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability," Taxation Papers 28, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    11. Ángel Melguizo & José González-Páramo, 2013. "Who bears labour taxes and social contributions? A meta-analysis approach," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 247-271, August.
    12. Elisabetta Croci Angelini & Francesco Farina, 2007. "Wage Inequality in Europe: the Role of Labour Market and Redistributive Institutions," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Nicola Acocella & Riccardo Leoni (ed.), Social Pacts, Employment and Growth, chapter 9, pages 195-217, Springer.
    13. Willi Leibfritz & Paul O'Brien, 2005. "The French Tax System: Main Characteristics, Recent Developments and Some Considerations for Reform," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 439, OECD Publishing.
    14. Michael Mitsopoulos, 2017. "Overtaxation of Private Sector Salaried Employment as a Key Impediment to the Recovery of Greece," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Dimitrios D. Thomakos & Konstantinos I. Nikolopoulos (ed.), Taxation in Crisis, chapter 12, pages 289-336, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Tehmina S. Khan & Mr. John Norregaard, 2007. "Tax Policy: Recent Trends and Coming Challenges," IMF Working Papers 2007/274, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Giuseppe Croce, 2015. "Il "welfare bilaterale" e i suoi effetti sull?occupazione," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(103), pages 223-244.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iak4591pm is not listed on IDEAS
    18. International Monetary Fund, 2008. "Greece: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2008/147, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Jose Emilio Boscá & Rafael Domenech & Javier Ferri, 2008. "Tax Reforms and Labour-market Performance: An Evaluation for Spain using REMS," Working Papers 0804, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia.
    20. Sandrine LEVASSEUR, 2012. "Labour market adjustments in Estonia during the 2008/2011 crisis," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 3, pages 123-143, June.
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iak4591pm is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Giuseppe Croce, 2015. "Tax-benefits policies jointly run by the social partners:Labour market implications of the Bipartite Sectoral Funds," Working Papers in Public Economics 173, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    23. 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.
    24. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iak4591pm is not listed 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. Alfonso Arpaia & Giuseppe Carone, 2004. "Do labour taxes (and their composition) affect wages in the short and the long run? - Alfonso Arpaia and Giuseppe Carone," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 216, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    2. 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.
    3. Andrew Benito & Ignacio Hernando, 2003. "Labour demand, flexible contracts and financial factors: new evidence from Spain," Working Papers 0312, Banco de España.
    4. Azémar, Céline & Desbordes, Rodolphe, 2010. "Who Ultimately Bears the Burden of Greater Non-Wage Labour costs?," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-12, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    5. 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.
    6. Ángel Melguizo & José González-Páramo, 2013. "Who bears labour taxes and social contributions? A meta-analysis approach," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 247-271, August.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3029-3084 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Giuseppe Croce, 2015. "Il "welfare bilaterale" e i suoi effetti sull?occupazione," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(103), pages 223-244.
    9. Giuseppe Croce, 2015. "Tax-benefits policies jointly run by the social partners:Labour market implications of the Bipartite Sectoral Funds," Working Papers in Public Economics 173, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    10. Michael Feil, 2012. "Taxation and unemployment: (systematic) evidence from panel data analysis," EcoMod2012 4472, EcoMod.
    11. Michèle Belot & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Does the recent success of some OECD countries in lowering their unemployment rates lie in the clever design of their labor market reforms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 621-642, October.
    12. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    13. Lans Bovenberg, 2003. "Tax Policy and Labor Market Performance," CESifo Working Paper Series 1035, CESifo.
    14. Sonia A. Agudelo & Hector Sala, 2016. "Wage setting in the Colombian manufacturing industry," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 24(1), pages 99-134, January.
    15. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Bjørn Volkerink, 2003. "How to Measure the Tax Burden on Labour at the Macro-Level?," CESifo Working Paper Series 963, CESifo.
    16. Kiander, Jaakko & Kilponen, Juha & Vilmunen, Jouko, 2004. "Labor taxation, public finance, and wage determination: evidence from OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 983-999, November.
    17. van Ours, Jan C. & Belot, Michèle, 2000. "Does the Recent Success of some OECD Countries in Lowering their Unemployment Rates lie in the Clever Design of their Labour Ma," CEPR Discussion Papers 2492, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Andrea Festa, 2014. "Tax relief, tax wedge and regional employment: evidence from Italy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 117-137, August.
    19. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    20. Berger, Tino & Everaert, Gerdie, 2010. "Labour taxes and unemployment evidence from a panel unobserved component model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 354-364, March.
    21. Ding, Hong, 2013. "The Impact of Entitlement programs on Employment and Its Interaction with Social Heterogeneity in OECD Countries: an Empirical Study Based on a Dynamic Panel Model," MPRA Paper 53300, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    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:ekd:003306:330600010. 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: Theresa Leary (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecomoea.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.