| 1. |
- Engström, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Loss evasion and tax aversion
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The objective of this paper is to study if taxpayers behave in a loss averse manner when filing their tax returns. This is important for tax design but also for understanding human behavior in general. The predictions of prospect theory can be contrasted to those of expected utility theory. We use data for 3.6 million Swedish taxpayers for the income year 2006. Our research method is quasi-experimental using a regression kink and discontinuity approach. We also use an alternative instrumental-variables approach. There is strong evidence of loss aversion. We estimate the coefficient of loss aversion using actual behavior and the instrument-variables approach. Our estimate is very close to the estimates reported in the experimental literature.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Nudges and Threats: Soft vs Hard Incentives for Tax Compliance
- 2021
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We study what induces delinquent taxpayers to pay their taxes due. We use high quality administrative data from the Swedish Tax Agency. We find a strong effect of the standard enforcement regime: a threat of having the debt handed over to the Enforcement Agency increases payments by roughly 10 percentage points. When including actual enforcement, payment increases by around 20 percentage points compared to those who do not risk enforcement. In a field experiment, we compare these effects of standard enforcement to those of much milder nudges, consisting of letters reminding tax delinquents to pay their taxes due. We find that a “pure nudge”, i.e., the inclusion of an extra piece of paper with no valuable information, has an effect of 7-8 percentage points for those who do not risk enforcement upon non-payment. However, the same nudge has no detectable effect for the group at risk of enforcement. Social-norm messages in turn increase payments both for those who risk enforcement and for those who do not, but to a much smaller degree. We also find that a pure nudge works much better for those who receive a physical letter than for those who receive information electronically, while the reaction to the social-norm nudge is significant for those who get the electronic information.
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| 3. |
- Brink, Anna, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Child-care quality and fee structure: Effects on labor supply and leisure composition
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper studies the effects of public child-care subsidies on parental time allocation. We develop a model where parents are allowed to utilize subsidized care during both working and leisure hours. The model distinguishes between subsidies to child-care quality and to fees. Three types of fees are considered:flat, based on time spent in care, and based on parental income. We show that parental time allocation depends on whether quality or fees are subsidized, and also that fee subsidies have different effects depending on the fee structure. We further show that even if a subsidy increases the use of public care, the effect on labor supply may be unclear due to the possibility of using child care also when not working.
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| 4. |
- Brink, Anna, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Maximum fee vs child benefit: A welfare analysis of Swedish child-care fee reform
- 2007
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The effects of a recent Swedish child-care fee reform are compared with those of an alternative reform, increased child benefits. The fee reform implied considerably decreased fees and was intended to increase both labor supply among parents and their economic well-being. We estimate labor supply effects using a discrete choice labor supply model, and simulate behavioral responses to the changes. We find positive, but small, effects on labor supply from reduced fees, while increased child benefits would make single mothers decrease their labor supply. On the other hand, increased child benefits would make income distribution more equal. We make a social welfare comparison and conclude that for plausible values of inequality aversion, the alternative reform would have been preferable to the implemented fee reform.
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| 5. |
- Dufwenberg, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Tax Evasion with a Conscience
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How do moral concerns affect tax compliance and the need for audits? We propose answers by exploring an inspection game, modified to incorporate belief-dependent taxpayer guilt, unawareness, and third-party audience effects. Novel conclusions are drawn regarding whose behavior is affected by moral concerns (it's the authority's more than the citizen's) and regarding policy, in particular fines vs. jail, the role of information campaigns, and the use of a principle of public access whereby tax returns are made public information.
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| 6. |
- Hammar, Henrik, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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Tax Evasion and the Importance of Trust
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Unless people pay the taxes they are obliged to pay, a general welfare state will eventually collapse. Thus, for the welfare state to survive in the long run, tax compliance is of utmost importance. Using Swedish individual survey data we analyze which factors affect the perception of tax evasion. The analysis is conducted on ten different taxes and the results differ widely. Hence, we show that it is important to study different taxes separately rather than treating tax evasion as one common phenomenon. In this paper we focus on the importance of different kinds of trust. Whether or not people in general are regarded as trustworthy only has a minor impact on perceived tax evasion. Instead, what matters is trust or distrust in politi- cians. People who distrust the parliament are more likely than others to think that tax evasion is common, and the result holds for most of the taxes studied. This may have severe long-run consequences for the welfare state. If people stop trusting their leading politicians, social norms about tax compliance deteriorate and the possibilities of collecting taxes for maintaining the welfare state are reduced.
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| 7. |
- Hammar, Henrik, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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What explains attitudes towards tax levels? A multi-tax comparison
- 2006
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We analyse Swedes´ opinions about the level of taxation for eleven different taxes to see what taxes people are most reluctant to and why. The most unpopular tax is the real estate tax, while the corporate tax is the least unpopular. We find a strong self interest effect in attitudes, and for corrective taxes information increases acceptance. We perform two case studies of Swedish tax policy and find political economy reasons for the recent abolition of the gift and inheritance taxes, and weak support for the ongoing green tax shift from labour to environmental taxes.
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| 8. |
- Jagers, Sverker C., 1967, et al.
(författare)
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How Policy Legitimacy Affects Policy Support Throughout the Policy Cycle
- 2016
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We analyze the importance of legitimacy and compare how drivers of public policy attitudes evolve across the policy process consisting of the input (i.e. the processes forgoing acquisition of power and the procedures permeating political decision-making), throughput (i.e. the inclusion of and interactions between actors in a governance-system) and output (i.e. the substantive consequences of those decisions) stages. Using unique panel data through the three phases of the congestion tax in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, we find that legitimacy is indeed important in explaining policy support. Moreover, we find a lingering effect where support in one phase depends on legitimacy both in the present and in previous phases. Hence, our study takes us one step further on the road to understand the complicated dynamic mechanisms behind the interactions between policy making, policy support and the legitimacy and approval of politicians and political processes.
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| 9. |
- Jakobsson, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
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Intergovernmental grants and fiscal competition
- 2009
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This theoretical paper shows how a central government can induce a policy concerning a municipal matter through a package of a policy requirement and a grant. We find that, due to fiscal competition and the possibility for citizens to move between municipalities, the central government can make all municipalities adopt the policy requirement despite the grant not being sufficiently high to make them gain from the reform. We apply this model to a recent Swedish child-care fee reform and can explain why all Swedish municipalities implemented the maximum child-care fee although it had a negative impact on many municipalities? finances.
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| 10. |
- Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Are Men Really More Overconfident than Women? - A Natural Field Experiment on Exam Behavior
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper reports from a simple natural field experiment based on an eco-nomics exam. Part of the exam consisted of 30 multiple choice questions, where the students obtained 1 point per correct answer while 1 point was deducted for each in-correct answer. We find no significant gender differences in overconfidence, irrespec-tive of how we measure it, i.e., whether we regard the number of questions answered, the number of questions answered incorrectly or the answering patterns for the most difficult questions. Hence, the data provides no support for the frequently proposed hypothesis that men are more overconfident than women.
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