An Experimental Investigation of Wage Taxation and Unemployment in Closed and Open Economies

Arno Riedl and Frans van Winden ()

No 00-112/1, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: We investigate experimentally the economic effects of wage taxation to finance unemployment benefits for a closed economy and an international economy. The main findings are the following. (i) There is clear evidence of a vicious circle in the dynamic interaction between the wage tax and unemployment. (ii) Employment is boosted by budget deficits but subsequent tax rate adjustments to balance the budget lead to employment levels substantially lower than theoretically predicted. (iii) A sales risk for producers due to price uncertainty on output markets appears to cause a downward pressure on factor employment. For labor the wage tax exacerbates this adverse effect.

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the European Economic Review .(51(4) 871-900.)

Keywords: Experiments; international economics; wage taxation; unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D50 E24 F41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-mac and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: An experimental investigation of wage taxation and unemployment in closed and open economies (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20000112

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