Taxes and the labor market participation of married couples: the earned income tax credit
Taxes and the labor market participation of married couples: the earned income tax credit
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jpubeco.2003.09.005
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发表时间：
2004-08-01
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Hoynes, HW
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eissa, N;Hoynes, HW
美国公共援助体系最近变化的一个显著特征是，它越来越关注工薪家庭，并依靠税收系统向贫困家庭转移资金。在几乎默默无闻的十年后，劳动所得税抵免（EITC）扩大为有孩子的低收入家庭最大的现金转移计划。EITC的支持者认为，与传统福利不同，该抵免有助于“促进家庭和工作的价值”。事实上，与经济理论相一致的经验证据表明，EITC促进了有孩子的合格未婚妇女的就业。然而，为了使低收入家庭受益，EITC是以家庭收入为基础的，这导致大多数符合条件的中等收入者受到传统福利类型的阻碍。事实上，EITC可能会减少已婚夫妇的整体家庭劳动力供给。本文考察了1984年至1996年间已婚夫妇对EITC扩张的劳动力参与反应。利用准实验模型和传统的简化劳动供给模型对信贷的影响进行了估计。两个模型的结果都得出了相同的定性结论，即EITC的扩大减少了已婚夫妇的家庭总劳动力供给。在所有情况下，我们都发现已婚妇女劳动参与率的下降，远远抵消了其配偶劳动参与率的上升。已婚男性的劳动参与率上升了约0.2个百分点，而已婚女性的劳动参与率下降了一个百分点多一点。这些综合效应掩盖了人口中的实质性异质性。经济扩张后，面临最严重阻碍的女性工作的可能性降低了2%以上。这些发现表明，EITC有效地补贴了已婚母亲留在家里，因此，对该计划的设计具有启示意义。(C) 2003 Elsevier B.V.版权所有
A distinguishing feature of recent changes to the US system of public assistance is its increasing focus on working families and reliance on the tax system to transfer dollars to needy families. After a decade in near total obscurity, the earned income tax credit (EITC) was expanded to become the largest cash-transfer program for lower-income families with children. Advocates of the EITC argue that, unlike traditional welfare, the credit helps "promote both the values of family and work". Indeed, empirical evidence consistent with economic theory suggests that the EITC promotes employment among eligible unmarried women with children. To target benefits to lower-income families, however, the EITC is based on family income, leading to traditional welfare-type disincentives for most eligible secondary earners. In fact, the EITC is likely to reduce overall family labor supply among married couples.This paper examines the labor force participation response of married couples to EITC expansions between 1984 and 1996. The effect of the credit is estimated using both quasi-experimental and traditional reduced-form labor supply models. Results from both models show the same qualitative conclusion, that the EITC expansions reduced total family labor supply of married couples. In all cases, we find a decline in labor force participation by married women that more than offsets any rise in participation by their spouses. While the labor force participation rate of married men increased by about 0.2 percentage points, that of married women decreased by just over a full percentage point. These aggregate effects mask substantial heterogeneity in the population. Women facing the strongest disincentives were more than 2 percentage points less likely to work after the expansions. These findings imply that the EITC is effectively subsidizing married mothers to stay home, and therefore, have implications for the design of the program. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.