PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Olivier Bargain
AU  - Kristian Orsini
AU  - Andreas Peichl
TI  - Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the United States
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.49.3.723
DP  - 2014 Jul 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 723--838
VI  - 49
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/49/3/723.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/49/3/723.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2014 Jul 01; 49
AB  - 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.