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Discreteness and the Welfare Cost of Labour Supply Tax Distortions

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We compare the welfare costs of tax distortions of labour supply in one and two member household discrete and continuous labour supply (leisure consumption) choice models. In the discrete models taxes induce a large response from a subset of the population, while the majority of the population exhibits unchanged behaviour. In contrast the majority of the population reacts to tax changes in continuous models. Models are made comparable by calibrating to the same aggregate uncompensated labour supply elasticities in discrete and continuous models. The welfare costs of similar taxes are significantly different when individuals face discrete labour supply choices than when they choose working hours continuously, and vary with tax rates in different ways. Analysis of results from these models show that discrete choice matters in the assessment of the costs of labour supply tax distortions.

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  • Keshab Bhattarai & John Whalley, 2002. "Discreteness and the Welfare Cost of Labour Supply Tax Distortions," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20023, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwo:uwowop:20023
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bessho, Shun-ichiro & Hayashi, Masayoshi, 2011. "Labor supply response and preferences specification: Estimates for prime-age males in Japan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 398-411, October.
    3. Ian W.H. Parry & Roberton C. Williams III & Lawrence H. Goulder, 2002. "When Can Carbon Abatement Policies Increase Welfare? The Fundamental Role of Distorted Factor Markets," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 25, pages 471-503, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Olivier Bargain & Nicolas Moreau, 2002. "Is the collective model of labor supply useful for tax policy analysis ? A simulation exercise," DELTA Working Papers 2002-21, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
    5. Keshab Bhattarai, 2016. "Growth and Income Distributions in Four EU Economies," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(3), pages 263-277, August.
    6. Chang, Wen-ya & Tsai, Hsueh-fang & Chu, Mei-Lie & Chang, Juin-jen, 2015. "On the employment, investment and current account effects of inflation: A revisit," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 278-294.
    7. María Alzúa & Guillermo Cruces & Laura Ripani, 2013. "Welfare programs and labor supply in developing countries: experimental evidence from Latin America," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1255-1284, October.
    8. Keshab Raj BHATTARAI, 2009. "Dynamic Multi-Household General Economic Models for Policy Simulations: France, Germany, Spain and UK," EcoMod2009 21500014, EcoMod.
    9. Frederic Vermeulen & Olivier Bargain & Miriam Beblo & Denis Beninger & Richard Blundell & Raquel Carrasco & Maria-Concetta Chiuri & François Laisney & Valérie Lechene & Nicolas Moreau & Michal Myck & , 2006. "Collective Models of Labor Supply with Nonconvex Budget Sets and Nonparticipation: A Calibration Approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 113-127, June.
    10. Shun-ichiro Bessho & Masayoshi Hayashi, 2005. "The CES utility function, non-linear budget constraints and labor supply : results on prime-age males in Japan," Labor Economics Working Papers 21911, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    11. Toke Ward Petersen, 2001. "Indivisible Labor and the Welfare Effects of Labor Income Tax Reform," DREAM Working Paper Series 200102, Danish Rational Economic Agents Model, DREAM.

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