Earned income tax credits, unemployment benefits and wages: empirical evidence from Sweden

Författare: Helge Bennmarker, Och Lars Calmfors, Och Anna Larsson Seim, Och

Publicerad i: IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 2014, vol. 3:54, pp. 1-20

Sammanfattning av Working paper 2013:12

Although there is a large literature on employment effects of earned income tax credits (EITCs) and unemployment benefits, less is known about wage effects. In our model the impact is via the net (after-tax) replacement rate. Using a panel of individuals from Sweden, we find a positive relationship between the net replacement rate and wages with semi-elasticities in the range 0.2-0.4. This implies that a one percent reduction in the unemployment benefit level or a one percent increase in the net-of-tax rate is associated with a fall in the before-tax wage of 0.1-0.2 per cent. EITCs and unemploy­ment benefit reductions are thus likely to induce wage moderation.

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