Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp10017.pdf Non-Technical SummaryHighly progressive tax systems entail disincentives for private economic activity and, thus, may hamper potential growth. Nevertheless, attempts to introduce alternative tax schedules regularly encounter significant political resistance. The aim of this paper is to widen the understanding of the determinants of individual attitudes toward progressive taxation and, therefore, the assessment of the political feasibility of tax reform proposals.Conventional political-economic theories usually explain redistributive preferences based on a narrow self-interest calculus. These theories however do not offer a rational for the fact that in many industrial countries the majority of voters seem to prefer progressive tax rates. In order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of individual attitudes toward progressive taxation, our analysis is not confined to pure self-interest but also introduces fairness aspects (e.g., fairness preferences, economic beliefs and fairness assessment of the status quo).Our empirical analysis is based on the representative data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) for the year 2000. Next to information on the respondents' tax rate preferences, this survey offers valuable data on a wide range of individual fairness considerations as well as objective data on the respondents' socioeconomic characteristics.The empirical findings indicate that the individual attitudes toward progressive taxation are not only driven by the corresponding self-interest. Furthermore, fairness considerations play a major role in the formation of tax rate preferences: Persons without strong preferences for a distribution of (financial) means according to the need-principle, who do stress the relevance of individual effort for economic success and judge the present income distribution to be fair are less likely to demand higher tax rates for high income earners than for low income individuals. The finding that individuals do not necessarily choose the tax system that is most beneficial to them but also care about its fairness has important policy implications:A successful selling of (growth-enhancing) tax reforms should address this fairness related concerns as well. Abstract: This contribution empirically analyses the individual determinants of tax rate preferences. For that purpose we make use of the representative German G...
Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp10017.pdf Non-Technical SummaryHighly progressive tax systems entail disincentives for private economic activity and, thus, may hamper potential growth. Nevertheless, attempts to introduce alternative tax schedules regularly encounter significant political resistance. The aim of this paper is to widen the understanding of the determinants of individual attitudes toward progressive taxation and, therefore, the assessment of the political feasibility of tax reform proposals.Conventional political-economic theories usually explain redistributive preferences based on a narrow self-interest calculus. These theories however do not offer a rational for the fact that in many industrial countries the majority of voters seem to prefer progressive tax rates. In order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of individual attitudes toward progressive taxation, our analysis is not confined to pure self-interest but also introduces fairness aspects (e.g., fairness preferences, economic beliefs and fairness assessment of the status quo).Our empirical analysis is based on the representative data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) for the year 2000. Next to information on the respondents' tax rate preferences, this survey offers valuable data on a wide range of individual fairness considerations as well as objective data on the respondents' socioeconomic characteristics.The empirical findings indicate that the individual attitudes toward progressive taxation are not only driven by the corresponding self-interest. Furthermore, fairness considerations play a major role in the formation of tax rate preferences: Persons without strong preferences for a distribution of (financial) means according to the need-principle, who do stress the relevance of individual effort for economic success and judge the present income distribution to be fair are less likely to demand higher tax rates for high income earners than for low income individuals. The finding that individuals do not necessarily choose the tax system that is most beneficial to them but also care about its fairness has important policy implications:A successful selling of (growth-enhancing) tax reforms should address this fairness related concerns as well. Abstract: This contribution empirically analyses the individual determinants of tax rate preferences. For that purpose we make use of the representative German G...
Surprisingly little is known about voters' public debt preferences on a micro level. This is deplorable, given the importance of the fiscal stability culture in the context of the European public debt crisis. This contribution tests, for a self-designed representative German survey, debt preferences and their determinants. Our results indicate that a Ricardian approach has some importance for explaining individual heterogeneity of consolidation preferences ---emphasizing, for example, the importance of individual credit constraints. However, Ricardian reasoning is not able to give a complete picture. Theories of debt determination that point to societal coordination failures or ideology offer additional explanations with empirical backing. The magnitude of these additional effects is substantial; the size of the trust variable is not smaller than the intergenerational dummy for the presence of children.
Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp09004.pdf Non-technical summaryIn many industrialised countries the demographic chance makes a better use of the labour force highly desirable. However, attempts to enact market orientated labour market reforms are regularly confronted with significant political resistance. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers of labour market reform acceptance at the individual level in Germany. Based on our theoretical considerations, we propose an analytical framework distinguishing between self-interest, information, fairness judgements and economic beliefs as well as other individual factors (e.g. socialisation in the former German Democratic Republic).To test this framework empirically we use data from the representative German General The results indicate that self-interest (e.g. related to the respondents' income or employment status) is a major determinant for individual assessment of labour market reforms.Nevertheless, self-interest is not the full story behind the strong resistance against labour market reforms. The individuals' labour market policy preferences are also influenced by their informative situation, by their beliefs on the sources of economic success or the function of the democratic system. In addition, we found Eastern Germans to be more sceptical of liberal labour market reforms than their western fellow citizens. Our findings are relevant for a successfully selling of market-oriented labour-market reforms: It is not sufficient to point to the individual advantages of a reform, other fairness-oriented sources of reform resistance need to be addressed as well. ZusammenfassungIn vielen Industrieländern ist zwar angesichts des demografischen Wandels eine bessere AbstractThis contribution empirically explores the drivers of labour market reform acceptance for the individual level in Germany. For that purpose we make use of the representative German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). This survey offers data to which extent individuals support benefit cuts, longer working years, cutting subsidies to declining industries, phasing out of employment programmes or a liberalisation of employment protection. Our theoretical considerations suggest that self-interest, information, fairness judgements, economic beliefs and other individual factors such as socialisation under the communist regime in the former German Democratic Republic drive indivi...
Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Abstract: Does the information provided by mass media have the power to persistently affect individual beliefs about the drivers of success in life? To answer this question empirically, this contribution exploits a natural experiment on the reception of West German television in the former German Democratic Republic. After identifying the impact of Western television on individual beliefs and attitudes in the late 1980s, longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel is used to test the persistence of the television effect on individual beliefs during the 1990s. The empirical findings indicate that Western television exposure has made East Germans more inclined to believe that effort rather than luck determines success in life. Furthermore, this effect still persists several years after the German reunification. Non-technical summary
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