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Should we subsidize work? Welfare reform, the earned income tax credit and optimal transfers

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  • Gregory Acs
  • Eric Toder

Abstract

During the 1990s, US income transfer and tax policies shifted towards trying to encourage work among low-income families. Optimal tax theory, however, suggests that work subsidies are usually an inefficient way to raise the incomes of poor families unless the work effort of recipients has external benefits and/or tax payer/voters prefer redistributing income to the working poor rather than the idle poor. This paper discusses the conditions under which work subsidies may be economically efficient and assesses empirical evidence that suggests that welfare reform and expansions of the EITC have increased work effort among low income families, but is inconclusive about whether the policy shift has enabled them to advance beyond entry-level jobs or benefited their children. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

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  • Gregory Acs & Eric Toder, 2007. "Should we subsidize work? Welfare reform, the earned income tax credit and optimal transfers," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(3), pages 327-343, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:14:y:2007:i:3:p:327-343
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-006-9010-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Austin Nichols & Jesse Rothstein, 2015. "The Earned Income Tax Credit," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, pages 137-218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Guyonne Kalb & Thor O. Thoresen, 2007. "The Case for Labour Supply Incentives: A Comparison of Family Policies in Australia and Norway," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n27, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Yusuke Miyake & Masaya Yasuoka, 2018. "Subsidy Policy and Elderly Labor," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(2), pages 331-347, July.
    4. Guyonne Kalb & Thor Thoresen, 2010. "A comparison of family policy designs of Australia and Norway using microsimulation models," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 255-287, June.
    5. Ray Rees & Thor O. Thoresen & Trine E. Vattø, 2023. "Alternatives to Paying Child Benefit to the Rich: Means‐Testing or Higher Tax?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(3), pages 328-354, September.
    6. Minoru Watanabe & Masaya Yasuoka, 2021. "Elderly Labour and Unemployment," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 33(2), pages 200-214, July.

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