Empirical Macromodels Under Test - A Comparative Simulation Study of the Employment Effects of a Revenue Neutral Cut in Social Security Contributions

ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-40 // 1998
ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-40 // 1998

Empirical Macromodels Under Test - A Comparative Simulation Study of the Employment Effects of a Revenue Neutral Cut in Social Security Contributions

In the paper we simulate a revenue-neutral cut in the social security contribution rate using five different types of macro- / microeconomic models, namely two models based on time-series data where the labour market is modelled basically demand oriented, two models of the class of computable equilibrium models which are supply oriented and finally a firm specific model for international tax burden comparisons. Our primary interest is in the employment effects the models predict due to the cut in the contribution rate. It turns out that qualitatively all models considered predict an increase in employment three years after the cut. But the employment effects differ considerably in magnitude, which follows immediately from the different behavioral assumptions underlying the different models.

Buscher, Herbert, Hermann Buslei, Klaus Göggelmann, Henrike Koschel, Fred Ramb, Tobias F.N. Schmidt, Viktor Steiner and Peter Winker (1998), Empirical Macromodels Under Test - A Comparative Simulation Study of the Employment Effects of a Revenue Neutral Cut in Social Security Contributions, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-40, Mannheim.

Authors Herbert Buscher // Hermann Buslei // Klaus Göggelmann // Henrike Koschel // Fred Ramb // Tobias F.N. Schmidt // Viktor Steiner // Peter Winker