The distributional consequences of the recent economic crisis are still broadly unknown. While it is possible to speculate which groups are likely to be hardest-hit, detailed distributional studies are still largely backward-looking due to a lack of real-time microdata. This paper studies the...

The highly dynamic nature of the COVID-19 crisis poses an unprecedented challenge to policy makers around the world to take appropriate income-stabilizing countermeasures. To properly design such policy measures, it is important to quantify their effects in real-time. However, data on the...

This paper analyzes how firms respond to changes in tax benefits for low-earning workers and how, through equilibrium effects, such policies also affect non-targeted, high-earning workers. I explore establishment-level outcomes around Germany's 2003 Mini-Job Reform, which entailed a significant...

We study the impact of a large payroll tax cut for older workers in Hungary. Motivated by the predictions of a standard equilibrium job search model, we examine the heterogeneous impact of the policy. Employment increases most at low-productivity firms offering low-wage jobs, which tend to hire...

We study the impact of a large payroll tax cut for older workers in Hungary. Motivated by the predictions of a standard equilibrium job search model, we examine the heterogeneous impact of the policy. Employment increases most at low-productivity firms offering low-wage jobs, which tend to hire...

In der aktuellen wirtschafts- und gesellschaftspolitischen Diskussion wird eine zunehmende Steuer- und Abgabenbelastung thematisiert. Neuen Steuergesetzen und Wirkungsanalysen von Steueränderungen hat eine Analyse vorauszugehen, die die Steuerlast einzelner gesellschaftlicher Gruppen erfaßt...

We analyze the effects of a large place-based policy, subsidizing up to 50% of the investment costs of manufacturing firms in East Germany. We show that a one-percentage-point decrease in the subsidy rate leads to a 1% decrease in manufacturing employment. We document important local spillovers...

The paper examines the incidence and employment impacts of the Employment Tax Incentive, a South African wage subsidy system that is targeted at the employers of low-wage youth. The paper uses a triple differences strategy and survey and administrative data, covering the universe of South...

This paper studies the speed at which workers' pre-tax earnings respond to tax changes along the intensive margin. We do so in the context of Germany, where a large discontinuity – or notch – in the tax schedule induces sharp bunching in the earnings distribution. We analyze earnings...

We analyze the effects of a large place-based policy, subsidizing up to 50% of investment costs of manufacturing firms in East Germany after reunification. We show that a 1-percentage-point decrease in the subsidy rate leads to a 1% decrease in manufacturing employment. We document important...