Recent research on labor supply: Implications for tax and transfer policy

Abstract

Most work in optimal tax theory relies on simple labor supply models that fail to incorporate insights from the modern labor supply literature. As a result, it may have reached misleading conclusions regarding the optimal tax structure. The recent work on labor supply that I review here emphasizes human capital investment and the participation margin. When the data is viewed through the lens of models that account for these features, it implies labor supply is more elastic than conventional wisdom suggests. Recent work also stresses how elasticities vary by age, education, gender and marital status. Here I explore the implications of these recent developments in the labor supply literature for the optimal design of the tax system. I also review some recent work in the optimal tax literature that does utilize more sophisticated labor supply models, and discuss how incorporating those features influences optimal tax calculations.