Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the United States: New Results
首次用统一方法比较17个欧洲国家和美国的劳动供给弹性，发现工资弹性较小且各国差异不大，但差异源于工作偏好而非税收福利或人口结构。
We suggest the first large-scale international comparison of labor supply elasticities for 17 European countries and the United States using a harmonized empirical approach. We find that own-wage elasticities are relatively small and more uniform across countries than previously considered. Nonetheless, such differences do exist, and are found not to arise from different tax-benefit systems, wage/hour levels, or demographic compositions across countries, suggesting genuine differences in work preferences across countries. Furthermore, three other findings are consistent across countries: The extensive margin dominates the intensive margin; for singles, this leads to larger responses in low-income groups; and income elasticities are extremely small.