Social Security Tax Reform and Unemployment: A General Equilibrium Analysis for France

May 1, 1997

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Social Security Tax Reform and Unemployment: A General Equilibrium Analysis for France, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 1997) accessed December 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper develops and calibrates a simple general equilibrium model with two types of labor and capital for the French economy. The simulation results indicate that targeted reductions in employer social security taxes have six times as large an effect on employment as untargeted reductions for equal initial budgetary cost, while employee social security tax reductions have a negative effect on employment. They also point to the presence of “self-financing,” whereby reductions in various tax rates lead to lower budget deficits in the long run, as a result of an expanding tax base and lower unemployment insurance outlays.1

Subject: Employment, Income tax systems, Labor, Social security contributions, Taxes, Unemployment, Wages

Keywords: Employer, Employer Social Security tax reduction, Employment, Employment creation, Employment effect, Employment effects of reduction, Global, Income tax systems, Labor, Labor cost of skilled workers, Labor income, Laffer Curve, Net wage, Rate of return constraint, Rate of return test, Replacement ratio, Social security, Social security contributions, Social Security tax reduction, Tax policy, Unemployment, Wage, Wage Curve, Wages, Worker, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

29
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 1997/059
Stock No:

WPIEA0591997
ISBN:

9781451966008
ISSN:

1018-5941

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