A proposal to tax women less than men is garnering popular and political attention – recently having been proposed by the Spanish opposition party in its campaign platform. In this column, the three economists advancing the policy answer the critics.
Alberto Alesina, Andrea Ichino, Loukas Karabarbounis, 15 February 2008
Gilles Saint-Paul, 09 February 2008
The conservative Spanish Partido Popular has proposed gender-based taxation in line with recent research and several Vox columns by Alberto Alesina and Andrea Ichino. Here one of Europe’s most eminent labour economists makes the counter argument.
Alberto Alesina, Andrea Ichino, Loukas Karabarbounis, 09 January 2008
Women have a more elastic labor supply than men and participate less in the market because of intra-family bargaining. Their labor income should be taxed less to achieve optimal taxation and to change the allocation of family chores in a way that allows females to work more in the market if they want. This tax approach may be fiscally cheaper, less distortionary and would directly address the source of labor market gender differences: intra-family bargaining.
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