IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/27726.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Increasing Hours Worked: Moonlighting Responses to a Large Tax Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Alisa Tazhitdinova

Abstract

Moonlighting is increasingly popular in OECD countries, with 5 to 10% of workers holding two or more jobs. However, little is known about the responsiveness of moonlighting to financial incentives due to the lack of identifying variation. This paper studies a unique reform in Germany that allowed workers to hold small secondary jobs tax-free, decreasing the marginal tax rate by between 19.5 to 66pp. I show that the reform resulted in a dramatic increase in moonlighting that was not offset by reductions in primary earnings, and that hours constraints is the key determinant of moonlighting.

Suggested Citation

  • Alisa Tazhitdinova, 2020. "Increasing Hours Worked: Moonlighting Responses to a Large Tax Reform," NBER Working Papers 27726, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27726
    Note: LS PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27726.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Renna, Francesco & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2006. "The Economics of Dual Job Holding: A Job Portfolio Model of Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 1915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Dickens, William T & Lundberg, Shelly J, 1993. "Hours Restrictions and Labor Supply," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(1), pages 169-192, February.
    3. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "Using Differences in Knowledge across Neighborhoods to Uncover the Impacts of the EITC on Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2683-2721, December.
    4. Paul Carrillo & Dina Pomeranz & Monica Singhal, 2017. "Dodging the Taxman: Firm Misreporting and Limits to Tax Enforcement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 144-164, April.
    5. Jacobi, Lena & Kluve, Jochen, 2006. "Before and After the Hartz Reforms: The Performance of Active Labour Market Policy in Germany," RWI Discussion Papers 41, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    6. Carrillo-Tudela, Carlos & Launov, Andrey & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2021. "The fall in german unemployment: A flow analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    7. Puhani, Patrick A., 2012. "The treatment effect, the cross difference, and the interaction term in nonlinear “difference-in-differences” models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 85-87.
    8. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier & Peter E. Rossi & Emily Oehlsen, 2019. "The Value of Flexible Work: Evidence from Uber Drivers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2735-2794.
    9. Slemrod, Joel & Collins, Brett & Hoopes, Jeffrey L. & Reck, Daniel & Sebastiani, Michael, 2017. "Does credit-card information reporting improve small-business tax compliance?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-19.
    10. Marco Caliendo & Katharina Wrohlich, 2010. "Evaluating the German 'Mini-Job' reform using a natural experiment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(19), pages 2475-2489.
    11. Vom Berge, Philipp & König, Marion & Seth, Stefan, 2013. "Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) 1975-2010," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201301_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    12. Richard Blundell & Antoine Bozio & Guy Laroque, 2011. "Labor Supply and the Extensive Margin," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 482-486, May.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1aeo7h7o569ilqjt5db064dfm3 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Paxson, Christina H & Sicherman, Nachum, 1996. "The Dynamics of Dual Job Holding and Job Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 357-393, July.
    15. Jacobi, Lena & Kluve, Jochen, 2006. "Before and After the Hartz Reforms: The Performance of Active Labour Market Policy in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2100, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Doerrenberg, Philipp & Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2017. "The elasticity of taxable income in the presence of deduction possibilities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 41-55.
    17. Tazhitdinova, Alisa, 2018. "Reducing evasion through self-reporting: Evidence from charitable contributions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 31-47.
    18. Heineck, Guido, 2009. "The determinants of secondary jobholding in Germany and the UK," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 42(2), pages 107-120.
    19. Kahn, Shulamit & Lang, Kevin, 1991. "The Effect of Hours Constraints on Labor Supply Estimates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 605-611, November.
    20. Jean Kimmel & Lisa M. Powell, 1999. "Moonlighting Trends and Related Policy Issues in Canada and the United States," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 25(2), pages 207-231, June.
    21. Emmanuel Saez & Joel Slemrod & Seth H. Giertz, 2012. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 3-50, March.
    22. Lundborg, Per, 1995. "Job amenity and the incidence of double work," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 273-287, March.
    23. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    24. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Tore Olsen & Luigi Pistaferri, 2011. "Adjustment Costs, Firm Responses, and Micro vs. Macro Labor Supply Elasticities: Evidence from Danish Tax Records," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 749-804.
    25. Weber, Caroline E., 2014. "Toward obtaining a consistent estimate of the elasticity of taxable income using difference-in-differences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 90-103.
    26. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2019. "Labor Supply and the Value of Non-work Time: Experimental Estimates from the Field," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 111-126, June.
    27. Georgios A. Panos & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Alexandros Zangelidis, 2014. "Multiple Job Holding, Skill Diversification, and Mobility," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 223-272, April.
    28. repec:zbw:rwidps:0041 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Shishko, Robert & Rostker, Bernard, 1976. "The Economics of Multiple Job Holding," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 298-308, June.
    30. Lancaster, Tony, 2000. "The incidental parameter problem since 1948," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 391-413, April.
    31. Pierre Cahuc & Stéphane Carcillo, 2014. "The Detaxation of Overtime Hours: Lessons from the French Experiment," Post-Print hal-03460334, HAL.
    32. Ebbinghaus, Bernhard & Eichhorst, Werner, 2006. "Employment Regulation and Labor Market Policy in Germany, 1991-2005," IZA Discussion Papers 2505, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    33. Joshua D. Angrist & Sydnee Caldwell & Jonathan V. Hall, 2017. "Uber vs. Taxi: A Driver’s Eye View," NBER Working Papers 23891, 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. Isabel Z. Martínez & Emmanuel Saez & Michael Siegenthaler, 2021. "Intertemporal Labor Supply Substitution? Evidence from the Swiss Income Tax Holidays," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(2), pages 506-546, February.
    2. Gabriela Galassi, 2021. "Labor Demand Response to Labor Supply Incentives: Lessons from the German Mini-Job Reform," Staff Working Papers 21-15, Bank of Canada.
    3. Galassi, Gabriela, 2021. "Labor Demand Response to Labor Supply Incentives: Lessons from the German Mini-Job Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 14248, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Choe, Chung & Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Renna, Francesco, 2020. "Income Taxation and Dual Job Labour Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 13107, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Tazhitdinova, Alisa, 2020. "Do only tax incentives matter? Labor supply and demand responses to an unusually large and salient tax break," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(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. Etienne Lalé, 2019. "Search and Multiple Jobholding," Upjohn Working Papers 19-305, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Sarah Clifford & Panos Mavrokonstantis, 2019. "Tax Enforcement Using A Hybrid Between Self- And Third-Party Reporting," Economics Series Working Papers 876, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Clifford, Sarah & Mavrokonstantis, Panos, 2021. "Tax enforcement using a hybrid between self- and third-party reporting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Tazhitdinova, Alisa, 2020. "Do only tax incentives matter? Labor supply and demand responses to an unusually large and salient tax break," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Simeon Schächtele, 2020. "Tax Responses at Low Taxable Incomes: Evidence from Germany," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 411-439, June.
    6. Marcelo Bergolo & Gabriel Burdin & Mauricio De Rosa & Matias Giaccobasso & Martín Leites, 2019. "Tax bunching at the Kink in the Presence of Low Capacity of Enforcement: Evidence From Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 19-05, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    7. Philippe Aghion & Maxime Gravoueille & Matthieu Lequien & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2017. "Tax Simplicity or Simplicity of Evasion? Evidence from Self-Employment Taxes in France," NBER Working Papers 24049, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hargaden, Enda Patrick, 2020. "Taxpayer responses in good times and bad," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 653-690.
    9. Barry T. Hirsch & Muhammad M. Husain & John V. Winters, 2016. "Multiple job holding, local labor markets, and the business cycle," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-29, December.
    10. Kosonen, Tuomas & Matikka, Tuomas, 2020. "Discrete Labor Supply: Empirical Evidence and Implications," Working Papers 132, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Joerg Paetzold, 2019. "How do taxpayers respond to a large kink? Evidence on earnings and deduction behavior from Austria," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(1), pages 167-197, February.
    12. Georgios A. Panos & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Alexandros Zangelidis, 2014. "Multiple Job Holding, Skill Diversification, and Mobility," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 223-272, April.
    13. Gregory Gilpin, 2020. "Policy‐Induced School Calendar Changes and Teacher Moonlighting," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(3), pages 989-1018, January.
    14. Andreas R. Kostøl & Andreas S. Myhre, 2021. "Labor Supply Responses to Learning the Tax and Benefit Schedule," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(11), pages 3733-3766, November.
    15. Philippe Aghion & Ufuk Akcigit & Matthieu Lequien & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2017. "Tax simplicity and heterogeneous learning," CEP Discussion Papers dp1516, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Miguel Almunia & David Lopez-Rodriguez, 2019. "The elasticity of taxable income in Spain: 1999–2014," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 281-320, November.
    17. Asatryan, Zareh & Joulfaian, David, 2022. "Taxes and Business Philanthropy in Armenia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 914-930.
    18. Hochmuth, Brigitte & Kohlbrecher, Britta & Merkl, Christian & Gartner, Hermann, 2021. "Hartz IV and the decline of German unemployment: A macroeconomic evaluation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    19. Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2019. "Employment Adjustment and Part-Time Work: Lessons from the United States and the United Kingdom," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 389-435, January.
    20. Søgaard, Jakob Egholt, 2019. "Labor supply and optimization frictions: Evidence from the Danish student labor market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 125-138.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    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:nbr:nberwo:27726. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.