Friday, May 22, 2026 13:30 - 14:45

This event is both online and in person.

SAL 1.04, 1st Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_ceplab) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

About this event

How do different income taxation systems affect household decisions and welfare? We answer this question by first documenting the strong labor supply disincentives for secondary earners of the U.S. tax system and by using variations from the Bush Tax Cuts to assess their effects on intra-household specialization. We then develop a lifecycle model incorporating labor supply, marriage and divorce decisions with limited commitment, household production, human capital accumulation, and assortative mating. After estimating and validating the model with various datasets, we evaluate four tax systems: a U.S.-like income-splitting system, an individual taxation system, a flexible general joint system, and an income-splitting system with secondary-earner deductions. We find that the individual taxation system provides higher welfare than income splitting but increases inequality. The general joint system offers the highest welfare but is complex to implement. The income-splitting system with a secondary-earner deduction improves welfare and reduces inequality while maintaining simplicity.

Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.

Directions

This event will take place in SAL 1.04, 1st Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_ceplab) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

The building is labelled SAL on the LSE campus map. You can also find us on Google Maps. For further information, go to contact us.

Labour Markets Workshops are part of the CEP's Labour Markets programme.