Taxes, Natural Resource Endowment, and the Supply of Labor: New Evidence

Razzak, Weshah and Laabas, Belkacem (2011): Taxes, Natural Resource Endowment, and the Supply of Labor: New Evidence. Forthcoming in: Comparative Economic Perspectives in Europe and the MENA Region, (eds.,) M. Mustafa Erdogdu and Bryan Christiansen, 2015, publisher IGI (2015)

Abstract

We use the work-leisure choice model to compute equilibrium weekly hours worked for a number of Arab countries, where actual statistics are unavailable. We show that the labor supply curve is elastic in all Arab countries, and provide a new measure of labor productivity. This finding confirms previous research that workers respond to incentives, which has serious implications for tax and social security policies. We also provide some policy simulations pertinent to the effects of taxation on welfare and poverty.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: -worked, natural resource endowment, poverty, welfare
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E01 - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth ; Environmental Accounts; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook > E62 - Fiscal Policy; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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