The Redistributive Effects of the Tax Wedge in Italy

Abstract. This paper presents an original data set of microdata on the tax wedge in Italy, obtained by using the microsimulation model ITAXMOD, developed at ISPE (Institute for Studies on Economic Planning). These data are used to measure the components of the tax wedge and their burden on the total cost of labour at the individual level. The results have been aggregated across income brackets, socio-economic groups and sectors of employment. These data are the necessary preliminary input for any redistributive analysis and in addition they make the available data for Italy comparable with those of other countries. Scant attention has been paid up to now to the redistributive aspects of the tax wedge, since most analyses are based on the income of the “average production worker” which is far from an ideal standard for comparison. The computation of the tax wedge for different brackets of total labour cost has been explored in two ways. The first is related to the differing weights of the components of the tax wedge on cost of labour and no particular hypothesis has been made about the incidence of these components. The results show that the burden of personal income taxation and of social security contributions is very high even for wage-earners in the lowest brackets (in 1992, the estimated tax wedge is more than 44% of total labour cost even in the second decile of the labour cost). That might discourage both labour supply and labour demand across the entire spectrum of deciles of cost of labour. The second line of research studies the incidence of personal income taxes and employees' social security contributions on gross earnings, under the maintained hypothesis that these two components of the tax wedge are shouldered by the employees.     

Comparisons in Gender Wage Differentials and Discrimination between Germany and the United Kingdom

Due to the lack of consistent data, direct and robust comparisons of cross‐country labour markets have been virtually impossible. This study uses a new panel data series that controls for inconsistencies, thus overcoming this problem. This study estimates gender wage differentials and gender discrimination in the German and UK labour markets. Panel estimates are used to identify general wage differences between the two countries, with cross‐sectional comparisons undertaken to identify changes that have occurred between 1991 and 1993, that are consistent with known labour market policies. It is found that gender wage differentials are greater in the UK than Germany with employer discrimination against females attributed with the majority of the difference in both countries.     

Tax Structure and Female Labour Supply: Evidence from Ireland

How great an effect does the structure of income taxes have on female labour supply? This issue is investigated using a discrete‐choice static labour supply model for married couples in Ireland. The model incorporates fixed costs of working and simultaneously explains participation decisions and preferred hours of work. The model is estimated using data from the 1994 wave of the Living in Ireland Survey. Simulations examine the labour supply effects of introducing greater independence in the tax treatment of married couples, compared with an income‐splitting system, and alternative forms of tax cuts.     

Supply and Price of Childcare and Female Labour Force Participation in the Netherlands

Abstract. The childcare market has been emerging in the Netherlands since the first Child Care Stimulation Act in 1990. The Dutch government has chosen to increase availability and share the costs of childcare between government, employers and parents. We estimate the determinants of Dutch women's decisions to participate in the labour market and the use of paid childcare in 1995. Furthermore, we estimate the effect of the price of childcare on female labour supply. We discuss whether the route that is taken by the Dutch government regarding childcare leads to smaller dead weight losses than in Sweden.     

How Do Policies Affect the Exit Rate out of Unemployment? Disentangling Job Creation from Labour Market Frictions

This paper assesses the effects of labour market policies on the unemployment outflow rate while disentangling two channels, namely labour market tightness and employer–employee matching efficiency. Using a sample of 11 OECD countries over the period 1985–2007, we treat the endogeneity of market tightness with business cycle shocks and the tax wedge as instruments. We find that the replacement rate of unemployment benefits, Active Labour Market Policies as well as the tax wedge in countries with poorly representative unions, have a significant, robust, and large impact on market tightness. Employment protection has a negative but small impact on matching efficiency. Overall, policy effects appear to be mostly channeled through market tightness and job creation.     

Mismatch in the West German Labour Market? Economic Restructuring and Unemployment in the 1980s*

Abstract. The paper briefly investigates theoretical arguments for mismatch unemployment; it presents a vacancy-unemployment curve for Germany and investigates various reasons for outward shifts of the curve. Both variables, unemployment and vacancies, are decomposed into flows and duration to identify the underlying processes of these shifts. The analysis of the components with the help of change-duration curves shows adverse trends for unemployment and vacancies over the business cycles. Unemployment duration has increased while vacancy duration has decreased. Mismatch in the labour market can therefore hardly be blamed to have been an obstacle for economic expansion in the German economy during the 1980s. Persistently high unemployment in Germany has to be interpreted as a hysteresis process which was driven by macroeconomic policies, increasing labour supply and restructuring imbedded in the German institutional framework.     

财政政策与宏观经济稳定:情势转变视角

本文利用马尔可夫情势转变向量自回归模型,考察了20世纪90年代以来,我国宏观经济运行与财政政策的情势转变特征、财政政策对宏观经济稳定的影响以及财政政策的非线性效应。分析表明,我国财政支出政策的相机抉择变化比较符合凯恩斯经济周期理论所强调的"逆势而动"的特点,且有助于实体经济稳定,但加剧了通货膨胀波动;税收政策的相机抉择变化不符合宏观经济运行需要,并在一定程度上加剧了实体经济波动,但有助于价格稳定。我国财政政策总体上具有显著的、持续时间较长的"凯恩斯效应"。     

财政分权、地方政府竞争与FDI的增长效应

中国的财政分权体制与西方联邦国家的不同,财政分权导致中国各个地方政府围绕经济指标为追求政绩而进行锦标赛式的竞争。财政分权程度越大,地方政府竞争辖区外流动性要素的程度就越大。以对FDI的竞争为例,由于各地区经济发展不平衡,东部地区地方政府是一种全方位的深层次竞争,中西部地区仅在税收优惠和增加财政支出方面具有明显效果。进一步的实证结果表明,财政分权导致的地方政府对FDI的激烈竞争,在东中部地区不利于FDI发挥增长效应,在西部地区则得出相反的结果。本文认为应及时改革现行的财政分权制度和对地方政府的考核激励机制,才能更好地发挥FDI的增长效应。     

On the Measurement of Corporatism

ABSTRACT: It is noticed that in both theoretical and empirical analyses concerning the relationship between corporatism and economic performance, the role of government is kept rather implicit. This article aims to incorporate government into the analysis in a more explicit way by analyzing whether government policies differ between corporatist and non-corporatist countries. The empirical results of the research reveal that corporatist countries are not only characterized by centralization or coordination of wage bargaining, but also by relatively high government expenditure, tax revenues, a higher ratio of active to passive labour market policies and also higher average unemployment benefits.     

Unemployment and the Composition of Labour Slack: An International Comparison

The present statistical apparatus allows us to construct a single indicator of the degree of non-utilisation of labour resources that mitigates the shortcomings of the traditional unemployment rate. This paper defines a method to measure aggregate labour slack, and applies it to post-1973 data for four countries: Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.S.A. The estimates take into account non-utilised labour resources due to unemployment, to changes in the number of hours actually worked and to changes in registered labour force participation. Since changes in and the manipulation of working time schedules on the one hand, and of labour supply on the other, have become more frequent over the last few decades, it is highly relevant to investigate international and intertemporal differences in the non-utilisation of labour resources by means of a ratio that accounts for these changes. Unemployment is ill-suited for this purpose, and therefore a labour slack estimate is constructed, which takes working time developments and changes in labour force participation into consideration. The estimate is cyclically more sensitive and more internationally comparable than the traditional unemployment rate.     

Regulations, policies and practices concerning work stress in five European countries

A comparative inventory of regulations, policies and practices in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Germany and France with regard to the prevention of work stress was carried out. In each country data were collected by means of interviews with key informants and through exploring relevant documents and literature. It was found that Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK—those countries with framework legislation in the field of health and safety—recognize stress as an important health and safety topic, whereas Germany and France do not yet recognize stress as an important policy issue. However, even in the first group of countries less attention is being paid towards psychosocial work characteristics when compared with traditional health and safety issues, such as noise, machine safety and toxic agents. There is a clear lack of well-documented (national) 'examples of good preventive practice', even in Sweden and The Netherlands. Recommendations are being formulated concerning type of legislation, guidance and information, monitoring and risk assessment, costs and benefits, examples of good practice and European networking.     

More Jobs Through Less Employment Protection? Evidence for West Germany

ABSTRACT: In reaction to growing criticism of the allegedly negative employment effects of job protection regulations (lay-off and dismissal restraints), the West German government in 1985 introduced new legislation facilitating the conclusion of temporary (i.e. fixed-term) work contracts in order to stimulate employment growth (‘Employment Promotion Act 1985‘AZPA). The research unit ‘Labour Market and Employment‘ at the WZB has evaluated the employment and labour market impact of the new legislation for the period 1985-1988, and apart from providing a detailed analysis of the socio-economic and institutional diversity of job arrangements covered by the category of temporary (i.e. fixed-term) employment, the project‘s focus has been on the impact of minor changes in the institutional frame- work as effected by the EPA on firms‘ employment policies, as well as on the overall level of employment. Results show that like in most other European countries the temporary work force in Germany has considerably grown over the past years in both absolute and relative terms, this increase, however, being largely due to cyclical factors as well as medium-term structural changes on the supply and demand side of the labour market rather than to changes in the regulatory framework as effected by the EPA. The impact of the new regulations on firms‘ hiring decisions and on the overall number of hirings in the total economy have to be regarded as rather modest, in fact amounting to not more than an estimated 25,000 additional hires per year or roughly 0.5|X% of all employment contracts concluded in the private sector. This marginal positive impact on firms‘ employment decisions, however, is counterbalanced by unintended substitution effects and an increase in involuntary quits arising from them when labour demand declines. Even under the overall positive employment development given in the period under investigation the net employment effects of the EPA temporary work legislation thus are shown to be at best marginal. In case of a deterioration of the overall economic situation, however, the increase in temporary job arrangements supported by the new legislation is likely to lead to accelerated workforce adjustments by firms and thus over time to result in a depression of the overall level of employment. From a theoretical point of view, the findings suggest that measures aiming at de-regulating labour relations such as the EPA largely fail to modify essential behavioral parameters of economic actors in economic environments which for decades have adjusted to a relatively high level of welfare state regulation, as has been the case in Western Germany.     

Women's Labour Force Participation and Part Time Work in Spain

Spain is one of the southern countries where the percentage of women working part-time is relatively low in comparison to other European countries, together with a low female activity rate. Some important obstacles to increasing female activity rates have already been removed, as younger cohorts of women show a more permanent attachment to the labour force than older women, meeting even high unemployment, which is especially acute for women and young people. Under the recent labour market reform, it is hoped that part-time contracts, which were first regulated in 1984, would be a way of facilitating flexibility and an incentive for employers to create jobs, as the experience of other countries has shown. The relative novelty of part-time work in Spain is the reason why this typically female employment regime has not been much explored in Spain yet, in spite of its important role in the reorganisation of the employment system.     

The Female Immigrant Labour Supply: The Effect of an In‐work Benefit

We explore the effect of an in‐work benefit on the labour supply of single immigrant women in Sweden. Using a simulation approach, we find that, on average, the in‐work benefit has no effect on the labour supply of these women. However, women with low incomes increase their labour supply, a response that is the strongest among non‐European and Eastern and Southern European women, and is mainly a result of increased participation in the labour market. High‐income earners slightly reduce their working hours. Thus, the results suggest that the in‐work benefit may strengthen the labour market attachment of low‐income immigrant women.     

Labour Market and Decentralized Decision-making: An Institutional Approach

The persistent failure in the labour market is due to uncertainty and asymmetric information, and relies on a reconsideration of the bargaining process. This process is not generated by individual action but rather by the behaviour of social groups and institutions in which State intervention can immprove the efficiency in matching demand and supply. In this framework we will discuss the ways by which institutional decentralization can be implemented in a labour market characterized by deep regional differences and by long-term unemployment persistence as in Italy. The main conclusion is that this policy option better fits the active labour policies. In fact the actual aim of such supply-side policies is to reduce the regional and skill mismatches and therefore it needs a substantial involvement of local public agencies.     

碳税政策下闭环供应链网络均衡分析

针对由多个制造/再制造工厂和多个需求市场构成的闭环供应链网络，考虑两种碳税政策：单一比例碳税政策和超额累进碳税政策，分别量化两种碳税政策下工厂需支付的碳税，分析两种碳税政策下闭环供应链网络各成员企业的均衡条件，建立闭环供应链网络均衡模型，提出修正投影算法求解模型，最后，通过算例，对比分析两种碳税政策对闭环供应链网络成员企业新产品产量、网络间正向/逆向产品交易量、需求、价格、减排投资、碳排放量、碳税及成员利润的影响。     

Public-Private Wage Differentials in French-Speaking Africa: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract. In the framework of structural adjustment programs implemented in Africa, the idea that wages in the public sector are too high compared to those of the private sector is partly based on wage policies with regard to the public sector. But the existence of public-wage differentials, inducing a labour market segmentation within the modern sector, has rarely been the object of attentive examination. With the help of earnings functions, based on homogeneous cross-section and logitudinal data of seven capitals of French-speaking Africa, the author plans to verify this hypothesis. The main conclusion of this research is that distortions on the modern labour market of many African countries are less important than one may think. In most of the countries considered, public-private wage gaps are essentially attributable to characteristics of individuals. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce wages of the public sector are no longer justifiable, economically and socially.     

碳税政策下随机双渠道库存与协调研究

构建碳税政策下由单个制造商和单个零售商组成的双渠道供应链模型,在考虑渠道之间缺货转换的基础上,研究批发价格合约和双向收入共享契约下渠道间双渠道库存竞争问题,并设计了由双向收入共享合约和转移支付机制组成的组合合约机制使制造商和零售商实现共赢,以此保证合约的有效执行。研究表明：批发价合约和双向收入共享合约下,制造商分别通过调控批发价格和收入分享比例来调控双渠道的库存水平,其中网络渠道最优库存水平随着零售渠道单位碳排放量增加而增加,零售商的库存水平随着其单位碳排放量增加而减少。进一步分析了渠道间单位产品碳排放差异对批发价格,以及传统零售渠道和网络渠道库存水平的影响如何受到缺货转换率和碳税税率的调节。     

Dynamics of Female Employment and Youth Unemployment in Italy

ABSTRACT: The authors, in this article, consider the possibility of how the peak in the birth rate during the 60s could have affected the present unemployment situation. First of all the hypothesis put forward by various sources that the baby boom is the principle cause of unemployment is examined, together with how plausible this explanation is. Then some data relevant to birth rates and the subsequent employment levels in various countries is presented, and finally, a more detailed analysis of the Italian situation is given, both with regard to the baby boom and the most recent employment statistics for the different Italian areas. The authors also take a close look at the female labour market and its development over the past years, and how these figures would appear to confute the baby boom as being the sole cause responsible for present day unemployment levels.     

Marital Instability,Reproductive Behaviour and Women's Labour Force Participation Decisions

ABSTRACT The subject of this paper is the relationship between female labour force participation, fertility decisions and marital instability and pursues a two-fold objective: to explain the nature of the interdependences between participation and procreation decisions; and to look for, through empirical evidence, an explanation for women's labour force participation and fertility dynamics over the last 20 years. The empirical evidence, based on a panel of 19 countries over the period 1965–1989, shows that variables representing marital instability have an important role in woman's labour supply and fertility dynamics during this period.