This paper examines the effects of offered and required coursework covering financial and economic topics in U.S. high schools over the past 20 years. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I look at the effects of economic and financial curricula on several post high school outcomes such as education attainment of potentially exposed groups, tax credit filing behaviour, and differences in poverty status. Analysis is done with 3 levels of geographic fixed effects; at the state level, county level, and contiguous county pairs that straddle state borders where discontinuities in coursework offerings or requirements are present. The results of this study do not suggest that potential exposure to economic or financial courses, whether they be offered or required, has any significant economic or statistical impact on education attainment for the affected population at the high school or post-secondary level. Exposure to coursework does not have a large economic impact on poverty reduction in potentially affected populations, but does result in some increase in both the likelihood of claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, as well as the amount claimed. / Graduate

Annually, over 25 million people in the United States receive the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Nearly 5 million of those people are lifted out of poverty by the wage supplement the credit provides. A wide body of literature supplies evidence for the positive labor force participation effects of the EITC. However, little is known about the effects of the additional labor supply on the wages of low-income workers. This report employs state-level panel data to estimate the influence of EITC visibility and benefit levels on the wages of occupation groups with high shares of EITC eligible workers. Using OLS regression, I find that a 10 percent increase in the share of the population claiming the EITC corresponds with a 0.3 to 2.2 percent decrease in the median wages of high-EITC eligible sectors, relative to overall median wages. Further, a 10 percent increase in the maximum benefit level of the EITC corresponds with a 0.1 to 0.8 percent decrease in median wages in occupation groups with large shares of EITC eligible workers, relative to overall median wages. These findings provide useful information to policymakers regarding the unintended consequences of the EITC. Policy recommendations include increasing the credit value for childless adults, regularly adjusting the minimum wage for inflation, and financially penalizing employers who engage in unsavory wage behavior. / text

För att minska utanförskapet på arbetsmarknaden och öka sysselsättningen införde regeringen Reinfeld 2007 en arbetsmarknadsreform vid namn jobbskatteavdraget. Reformen innebar en skattereduktion på samtliga förvärvsinkomster vilket ökade de ekonomiska incitamenten att förvärvsarbeta. Ett flertal studier har genomförts för att utvärdera jobbskatteavdraget och denna uppsats syftar till att genom en metastudie analysera reformens effekt på sysselsättningen samt försöka utveckla en metod för utvärdering av reformen. Uppsatsen visar på att jobbskatteavdraget tidigare har utvärderats med sex olika metoder där den vanligaste metoden är prognostisering med hjälp av mikrosimulering. Det har även genomförts utvärderingar på utfallsdata med bland annat metoden difference-in-difference. Resultaten från de tidigare utvärderingarna tyder på att sysselsättningen som en konsekvens av jobbskatteavdraget ökat med omkring 2,9 procent vilket ligger i linje med nationalekonomisk teori samt internationella erfarenheter av liknande reformer. Den metod vi väljer att utveckla är en regressionsmodell som består av de två beroende variablerna arbetskraftsutbud och medelarbetstid och de fem förklaringsvariablerna, konjunktur, inkomst, inflation, demografi, och dummyvariabeln jobbskatteavdraget. Vi väljer att använda oss av två beroende variabler då jobbskatteavdraget enligt teorin bör påverka både den extensiva- och den intensiva marginalen.

This dissertation examines the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on labor force participation of single mothers by controlling for child care costs. Based on a simple model of utility maximizing households that jointly determine hours worked and hours of non-maternal child care demanded, I estimate the change in the labor force participation rate of single mothers following the EITC expansions of the 1990s. In order to investigate the usage of different modes of childcare services, a multinomial logit model has been estimated. The data source for the study is topical module panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for the years 1992, 1993, 1996 and 2001. These panels were selected to reflect the time horizon during which the policy changes of the 1990s took place. The empirical estimation strategy is designed to deal with the problems of both selection bias and simultaneity in choosing hours worked and hours of non-maternal child care demanded. Due attention has been paid to the issue of identification of the empirical equations to be estimated in this paper.

我國行政院視「工作所得補貼方案」為未來實施「勤勞所得租稅補貼制度」，即EITC的先期計畫。以往國內文獻僅研究薪資所得稅額抵減制度研擬及其對勞動供給影響，本文提出符合社會期待下的工利概念福利政策應要考量到受補貼者間的福利權重。研究目的欲了解台灣目前實施之「工作所得補貼方案」，若該目前的方案是社會最適的，則社會對於「工作所得補貼方案」中所規定受惠所得者在不同所得層級下，該有的社會權重是多少。並藉以觀察我國實施之「工作所得補貼方案」背後所表示之經濟意義，分析在不同所得級距下，其社會權重是否合理。 本文主要係參考Saez(2002)理論模型，並遵循Blundell et. al(2009)的模擬方法來發展本文之模擬結果。研究結果發現，目前實施的工作所得補貼方案下若已被設計成最適的，當申請人有配偶者或受扶養親屬時 =4 ，其社會權重會高於 =3；當申請人無配偶者且受扶養親屬時， =1 ，其社會權重會高於 =0，主因為受補貼後之所得與前一層受補貼後之所得差異較其他所得級距大。但若欲與目前行之已久綜合所得課稅規定一致，則可將工作補貼方案中受補貼後之所得與前一所得級距之差異設計成相同，則會呈現社會權重遞減之態樣。

受美國金融風暴衝擊，2008年7月台灣失業率超過6%，失業人口達66萬人，8月份長期失業（失業超過1年）人口更高達10萬5仟人，中高齡失業人數為14萬1仟人。一般而言，失業時間越長，回到就業市場的機會越渺茫，而且中高齡失業多屬非自願性失業，通常也是家庭中的經濟支柱，一旦失去工作對家庭、社會影響極大。如何讓失業者再走出來進入工作職場做事及不放棄努力並協助低所得勞工家庭脫離貧困，將是臺灣未來社會福利制度的重要一環。 本文在研擬一套類似EITC方案，運用馬總統2008年競選時所提「468」方案、2009年臺灣省最低生活費、國際慣用貧窮線（中位數所得一半）及最低基本工資換算，並評估若在臺灣實施薪資所得租稅抵減制度（EITC）後可抵減戶數、稅式支出金額、佔2008年綜合所得稅申報戶比例等，在考量「貧窮線」、「孩童數」、「排除財產所得過高者」等因素後，模擬單親家庭及雙親家庭無扶養小孩、扶養1名小孩、2名小孩及3名小孩（含以上）適用不同的抵減率，再以抵減遞增階段抵減率和抵減遞減階段不同抵減率排列組合，運用「財政部臺灣省北區國稅局2008年綜所稅核定資料」，模擬臺灣若實施薪資所得租稅補貼制度所需稅式支出。 主要目的係針對臺灣若實施薪資所得抵減（EITC）對稅式支出影響，政府若評估該政策後實施EITC時，應以謹慎保守的態度設計架構，規模不宜過大，俟實施一段時間後，再檢討有能力擴大適用範圍，以免成為錢坑法案。補貼政策所面對的最大困難是補助的金額是否花在刀口上，福利政策難免會有錯誤補貼的情形，如何避免福利濫用及執行錯誤是成敗關鍵。

In this paper, I analyze the effectiveness of state level Earned Income Tax Credit programs on improving of poverty levels. I conducted this analysis for the years 1991 through 2011 using a panel data model with fixed effects. The main independent variables of interest were the state and federal EITC rates, minimum wage, gross state product, population, and unemployment all by state. I determined increases to the state EITC rates provided only a slight decrease to both the overall white below-poverty population and the corresponding white childhood population under 18, while both the overall and the under-18 black population for this category realized moderate decreases in their poverty rates for the same time period. I also provide a comparison of the effectiveness of the state level EITCs and minimum wage at the state level over the same time period on these select demographic groups.