Progressive Tax-like Effects of Inflation: Fact or Myth? The U.S. Post-war Experience
Matthias Wieschemeyer, Bernd Süssmuth
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 33,
2017
Abstract
Inflation and earnings growth can push some tax payers into higher brackets in the absence of inflation-indexed schedules. Moreover, inflation may affect the composition of individuals’ income sources. As a result, depending on the relative tax burden of labour and capital, inflation may decrease or increase the difference between before-tax and after-tax income. However, whether some and if so which percentiles of the income distribution net benefit from inflation via taxation is a widely unexplored question. We make use of a novel dataset on U.S. pre-tax and post-tax income distribution series provided by Pike ty et al. (2018) for the years 1962 to 2014 to answer this question. To this end, we estimate local projections to quantify dynamic effects. We find that inflation shocks increase progressivity of taxation not only contemporaneously but also with some repercussion of several years after the shock. While particularly the bottom two quintiles gain in share, it is not the top but the fourth quintile that lastingly loses.
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Employment Effects of Introducing a Minimum Wage: The Case of Germany
Oliver Holtemöller, Felix Pohle
Abstract
This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the employment effects of minimum wages. We analysed the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany in 2015 exploiting cross-sectional variation of the minimum wage affectedness. We construct two variables that measure the affectedness for approximately 300 state-industry combinations based on aggregate monthly income data. The estimation strategy consists of two steps. We test for (unidentified) structural breaks in a model with cross-section specific trends to control for state-industry specific developments prior to 2015. In a second step, we test whether the trend deviations are correlated with the minimum wage affectedness. To identify the minimum wage effect on employment, we assume that the minimum wage introduction is exogenous. Our results point towards a negative effect on marginal employment and a positive effect on socially insured employment. Furthermore, we analyse if the increase in socially insured employment is systematically related to the reduction of marginal employment but do not detect evidence.
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22.12.2017 • 42/2017
Polen am Scheideweg
Polen hat bislang einen recht erfolgreichen wirtschaftlichen Aufholprozess durchlaufen, der nun ins Stocken gerät. Der so genannte „Morawiecki-Plan“, den Oliver Holtemöller und Martina Kämpfe vom Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschafts-forschung Halle (IWH) nun genauer unter die Lupe nahmen, soll dem Aufholprozess wieder mehr Schwung verleihen. Ihr Fazit: Um nicht in der „Middle-Income-Trap“ zu landen, muss Polen innovative und junge Unternehmen stärker fördern und den Bildungssektor weiter ausbauen.
Oliver Holtemöller
Martina Kämpfe
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Polen vor der Middle-Income-Trap? Entwicklungsplan bis 2030 soll
den Aufholprozess beschleunigen
Oliver Holtemöller, Martina Kämpfe
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2017
Abstract
Polen hat seinen Abstand gegenüber den entwickelten Marktwirtschaften Westeuropas seit dem Beginn der 1990er Jahre bis heute gemessen am Pro-Kopf-Einkommen stark verringert. Galt das Land in den ersten zwei Jahrzehnten unter den mittelosteuropäischen Ländern als Vorreiter beim Wirtschaftswachstum, so hat sich das Aufholtempo in den letzten Jahren verlangsamt. Die polnische Regierung reagierte darauf mit einem strategischen Entwicklungsplan („Morawiecki“-Plan), der Maßnahmen und Ziele bis 2030 benennt und Polens Aufholprozess neuen Schwung verleihen soll. Für das wirtschaftsliberale Reformland bedeutet mehr staatlich gesteuerte Wirtschaftsplanung allerdings einen Paradigmenwechsel. Vom Erfolg dieser Strategie hängt es ab, ob Polen den Übergang in die zweite, innovationsorientierte Phase des Aufholprozesses schafft oder längerfristig auf dem bisherigen Niveau zu verharren droht.
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The Social Origins of Inventors
Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit, Ari Hyytinen, Otto Toivanen
NBER Working Paper,
No. 24110,
2017
Abstract
In this paper we merge three datasets - individual income data, patenting data, and IQ data - to analyze the determinants of an individual's probability of inventing. We find that: (i) parental income matters even after controlling for other background variables and for IQ, yet the estimated impact of parental income is greatly diminished once parental education and the individual's IQ are controlled for; (ii) IQ has both a direct effect on the probability of inventing an indirect impact through education. The effect of IQ is larger for inventors than for medical doctors or lawyers. The impact of IQ is robust to controlling for unobserved family characteristics by focusing on potential inventors with brothers close in age. We also provide evidence on the importance of social family interactions, by looking at biological versus non-biological parents. Finally, we find a positive and significant interaction effect between IQ and father income, which suggests a misallocation of talents to innovation.
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14.12.2017 • 39/2017
Cyclical upswing in Germany and in the world
At the turn of the year, the cyclical upswing in Germany continues. Gross domestic product is expected to increase by 2.2% in 2017, and because this year has seen significantly fewer working days than before, the rate of change amounts, adjusted for calendar effects, to even 2.5%. “The upswing is broad-based”, says Oliver Holtemöller, head of the Department Macroeconomics and IWH vice president. “For quite a long time now, significant increases in employment have been driving private incomes, consumption and housing construction. The latter was, in addition, stimulated by low interest rates.” Currently, German exports are benefiting from the vivid international economy. Not least since monetary policy in the euro area remains expansionary for the time being, we expect the upturn to continue in 2018 and production to increase again by 2.2%. Consumer price inflation is, with 1.7%, still moderate in both 2017 and 2018. Although domestic price pressures are on the rise, the effects of the energy price increase in 2017 expire in 2018, and the appreciation of the euro in the summer of 2017 will dampen price dynamics.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Gender Quotas and Human Capital Formation: A Relative Deprivation Approach
Walter Hyll
German Economic Review,
No. 3,
2017
Abstract
We study a quota's effect on individual human capital investment incentives beyond merely altering individual's overall probability of being promoted. We assume that individuals sense relative deprivation from unfavorable (income) comparisons within their reference group and that comparisons take place within the same gender. The introduction of a female quota increases (decreases) the number of women (men) holding top positions. On one hand, the relative deprivation to which female individuals are subjected to increases. These female individuals respond to an increase in their relative deprivation by acquiring additional human capital which, because it enables them to increase their earnings, reduces their relative deprivation. On the other hand, male individuals invest less in human capital in response to a decrease in relative deprivation. We show that the human capital formed by women who are encouraged to do so by the quotas is larger than the human capital that men who are discouraged by the quotas refrain from forming. However, the positive human capital accumulation effect hinges on a certain level of ability by gender and on how much individuals perceive relative deprivation.
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Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity
Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby, Tom Nicholas
American Economic Review,
No. 5,
2017
Abstract
We build on the analysis in Akcigit, Grigsby, and Nicholas (2017) by using US patent and census data to examine the relationship between immigration and innovation. We construct a measure of foreign born expertise and show that technology areas where immigrant inventors were prevalent between 1880 and 1940 experienced more patenting and citations between 1940 and 2000. The contribution of immigrant inventors to US innovation was substantial. We also show that immigrant inventors were more productive than native born inventors; however, they received significantly lower levels of labor income. The immigrant inventor wage-gap cannot be explained by differentials in productivity.
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15.03.2017 • 13/2017
The German Economy: Employment Boom in Germany, but no Overheating of the Economy
Employment in Germany continues to increase healthily, and private consumption expands due to rising real incomes. Investment in equipment, however, remains modest. Overall, economic demand is expanding at roughly the growth rate of potential Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the output gap is nearly closed. “In 2017, GDP will increase by 1.3% and thus at a lower rate than in the previous year, but this is only due to fewer working days and not to sliding demand,” says Oliver Holtemoeller, Head of the Department Macroeconomics and IWH vice president.
Oliver Holtemöller
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15.02.2017 • 11/2017
Presseeinladung: „Von der Transformation zur Europäischen Integration: Wachstumsfaktor Bildung besser nutzen“
Unter dem Titel „Von der Transformation zur Europäischen Integration: Wachstumsfaktor Bildung besser nutzen“ wird das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) am Mittwoch, dem 22. Februar 2017 gemeinsam mit Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern aus mit dem IWH vernetzten Instituten und Universitäten Forschungsergebnisse zu verschiedenen Aspekten des Wachstumsfaktors Bildung präsentieren.
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