Tax breaks for incentive pay, productivity and wages: Evidence from a reform in Italy
研究了意大利2015年一项对激励性薪酬的税收减免政策如何影响企业劳动生产率和平均工资，发现该政策提升了生产率，但对工资的正效应不稳健。
Abstract This paper analyses the impact of a tax break on incentive pay (introduced in Law n. 208/2015) on labour productivity and average wages in Italian firms. We use a unique source of firm‐level information drawn from a large representative survey of Italian firms merged with the ORBIS archive. By applying difference‐in‐differences methods , we obtain the following results. First, the tax break has a positive effect on both labour productivity and average wages, although the positive effect on average wages is not confirmed by robustness tests. Second, productivity impacts are mainly driven by family firms in northern regions, where firms benefit from the more dynamic business environment in which they operate. These results take into account unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity issues.