Market and household production in OECD countries

a column by Georg Duernecker and Berthold Herrendorf for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Recent research has shown that, in contrast to the prediction of basic theory, income tax increases in OECD countries have led people to spend less time working and more time on leisure activities, with little change in hours of household work. This column uses new estimates of household productivity to resolve the discrepancy between the evidence and basic theory. The OECD countries in which governments increased income taxes also tended to experience increases in the productivity of household production.

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