High unemployment in many European OECD countries has been attributed to factors ranging from rigid wages and low job mobility to an interaction of high taxes and generous social benefits that may discourage labor force participation and encourage the growth of an underground economy. This...

Intro -- Series Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction and Summary -- I Taxation and Labor Markets: The Broader Perspective -- 1 Tax Policy and Labor Market Performance -- 2 Work and Taxes -- 3 Do Social Policies Harm Employment and Growth? Second-best Effects of Taxes and Benets on...

Today's highly complicated tax codes have led economists and policy makers depend on simplified summary measures in order to understand how taxes affect the economy. Studies of the effective tax rate--that is, a measurement of the net amount of tax levied on certain economic activities--provide...