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Do Income Contingent Student Loan Programs Distort Earnings? Evidence from the UK

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  • Jack W. Britton
  • Jonathan Gruber

Abstract

Government backed income contingent student loans are an increasingly being used to fund higher education. An income contingent repayment plan acts as an incremental marginal tax on labor earnings, which could cause individuals to distort their work effort. This paper uses an administrative dataset from the UK that links student loan borrowers between 1998 and 2008, to their official tax records between 2001/02 and 2013/14. Using a combination of techniques, including bunching and difference-in-difference methodology, our findings strongly reject the hypothesis that the UK’s income-contingent repayment plan distorts labor supply.

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  • Jack W. Britton & Jonathan Gruber, 2019. "Do Income Contingent Student Loan Programs Distort Earnings? Evidence from the UK," NBER Working Papers 25822, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25822
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    1. Stuart Adam & James Browne & David Phillips & Barra Roantree, 2021. "Frictions and taxpayer responses: evidence from bunching at personal tax thresholds," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 612-653, June.
    2. Catherine, Sylvain & Yannelis, Constantine, 2023. "The distributional effects of student loan forgiveness," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 297-316.
    3. Abraham, Katharine G. & Filiz-Ozbay, Emel & Ozbay, Erkut Y. & Turner, Lesley J., 2020. "Framing effects, earnings expectations, and the design of student loan repayment schemes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    4. Hantzsche, Arno & Young, Garry, 2022. "Financing Higher Education in England: The Fiscal Implications of Reform," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 539, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    5. Chu, Yu-Wei Luke & Cuffe, Harold E, 2020. "Do Struggling Students Benefit From Continued Student Loan Access? Evidence From University and Beyond," Working Paper Series 21067, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    6. Michael Boutros & Nuno Clara & Francisco Gomes, 2023. "Borrow Now, Pay Even Later: A Quantitative Analysis of Student Debt Payment Plans," Staff Working Papers 23-54, Bank of Canada.
    7. Boutros, Michael & Clara, Nuno & Gomes, Francisco, 2024. "Borrow now, pay even later: A quantitative analysis of student debt payment plans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Camilo Andrés Garzón-Correa & Atilio Bustos-González & Melisa López-Hernández & Eduardo Calderón & Oscar Cespedes, 2022. "Challenges and Difficulties in Implementing an Income-Contingent-Financing Model in Higher Education in Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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