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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2007‒06‒11
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Helene Dearing; Helmut Hofer; Christine Lietz; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer; Katharina Wrohlich |
| Abstract: | Labor force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar, however full-time employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax transfersystem, we perform a comparative micro simulation exercise. After estimating structural labor supply models of both countries, we interchange two important institutional characteristics of the two countries, namely (i) the definition of the tax unit within the personal income tax and (ii) the parental leave benefit scheme. As our analysis shows, differences in mothers' employment patterns can partly be explained by the different tax systems: While Germany has a system of joint taxation with income splitting for married couples, Austria taxes everyone individually, which leads to lower marginal tax rates for secondary earners than the German system. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply, micro simulation, family policy, income taxation, Austria, Germany |
| JEL: | J22 H31 H24 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp695&r=ltv |
| By: | Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); John Micklewright (School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | Over the last four decades, academic and wider public interest in inequality and poverty has grown substantially. In this paper we address the question: what have been the major new directions in the analysis of inequality and poverty over the last thirty to forty years? We draw attention to developments under seven headings: changes in the extent of inequality and poverty, changes in the policy environment, increased scrutiny of the concepts of 'poverty' and 'inequality' and the rise of multidimensional approaches, the use of longitudinal perspectives, an increase in availability of and access to data, developments in analytical methods of measurement, and developments in modelling. |
| Keywords: | income redistribution, inequality, poverty |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2007-11&r=ltv |
| By: | Rafael Di Tella; John Haisken-De New; Robert MacCulloch |
| Abstract: | We study "habituation" to income and to status using individual panel data on the happiness of 7,812 people living in Germany from 1984 to 2000. Specifically, we estimate a "happiness equation" defined over several lags of income and status and compare the long run effects. We can (cannot) reject the hypothesis of no adaptation to income (status) during the four years following an income (status) change. In the short-run (current year) a one standard deviation increase in status and 52% of one standard deviation in income are associated with similar increases in happiness. In the long-run (five year average) a one standard deviation increase in status has a similar effect to an increase of 285% of a standard deviation in income. We also present different estimates of habituation across sub-groups. For example, we find that those on the right (left) of the political spectrum adapt to status (income) but not to income (status). |
| JEL: | D0 I31 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13159&r=ltv |