Open this publication in new window or tab >>2016 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Economics, ISSN 0347-0520, E-ISSN 1467-9442, Vol. 118, no 4, p. 619-645Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In this paper, we analyze the evolution of tax-and-transfer progressivity in Sweden over both annual and lifetime horizons. Using a rich micro panel covering the period 1968-2009, we calculate tax rates over a cohort's entire working life cycle. Our main finding is that taxes are considerably less progressive over the lifetime than in any single year. Social insurance transfers to transitory low-income earners account for most of this result. We offer a number of robustness checks of the measurement of lifetime incomes and progressivity, but none of them changes our overall findings.
Keywords
Income distribution, lifetime income, redistributive effect, tax progressivity, transfers
National Category
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-312690 (URN)10.1111/sjoe.12160 (DOI)000388302200001 ()
Funder
The Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius FoundationRiksbankens Jubileumsfond
2017-01-122017-01-122017-11-29Bibliographically approved