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Corporate Tax Cuts and the Decline of the Manufacturing Labor Share

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  • Barış Kaymak
  • Immo Schott

Abstract

We document a strong empirical connection between corporate taxation and the manufacturing labor share, both in the US and across OECD countries. Our estimates associate 30 percent to 60 percent of the observed decline in labor shares with the fall in corporate taxation. Using an equilibrium model of an industry where firms differ in their capital intensities, we show that lower corporate tax rates reduce the labor share by raising the market share of capital-intensive firms. The tax elasticity of the labor share depends on the joint distribution of labor intensities and value added at the micro level. Given the empirical distribution in the US manufacturing sector, our quantitative analysis suggests that corporate tax cuts explain a significant part of the decline in the manufacturing labor share since the 1950s. The shift away from traditionally large, labor-intensive production units raised the concentration of market shares and reduced the concentration of employment.

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  • Barış Kaymak & Immo Schott, 2023. "Corporate Tax Cuts and the Decline of the Manufacturing Labor Share," International Finance Discussion Papers 1379, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:1379
    DOI: 10.17016/IFDP.2023.1379
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    Cited by:

    1. Barış Kaymak & Immo Schott, 2024. "Do Higher Markups Lower Labor’s Share of Income?," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 2024(02), pages 1-6, February.
    2. Garibaldi, Pietro & Turri, Enrico D., 2024. "Monopsony in Growth Theory," IZA Discussion Papers 17392, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor share of income; Corporate taxation; Industry dynamics; Firm size distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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