Tax reforms and labour-market performance: An evaluation for Spain using REMS

José Boscá, Rafael Domenech and Javier Ferri

No 910, Working Papers from BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department

Abstract: This paper uses REMS, a Rational Expectations Model of the Spanish economy designed by Bosca et al (2007) to analyse the effects of lowering the overall tax edge to the level prevailing in the US. Our results partially confirm previous findings in the literature: a reduction in the overall tax wedge of 19.5 points, in order to reach the US levels, has a positive effect in the long run, increasing total hours by about 7 per cent and GDP by about 8 percentage points. In terms of GDP per adult, these results account for ¼ of the gap with respect to the US, but imply a reduction of only one percentage point in the labour productivity gap. The rise in total hours per adult is explained by a similar increase in both hours per employee and the employment rate of about 3.5 percentage points, allowing hours per adult to converge to levels only slightly lower than those in the US.

Keywords: General equilibrium; tax wedge; tax reforms; fiscal policy; labour market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 E62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2009-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Working Paper: Tax Reforms and Labour-market Performance: An Evaluation for Spain using REMS (2008)
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