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Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 111 No. 2 1996

Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit

N. Eissa1,2; J. B. Liebman1,3,4

1 National Bureau of Economic Research · 2 Georgetown University · 3 Harvard University · 4 Harvard University Press

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86), which included an expansion of the earned income tax credit, on the labor force participation and hours of work of single women with children. We identify the impact of TRA86 by comparing the change in labor supply of single women with children to the change for single women without children. We find that between 1984–1986 and 1988–1990, single women with children increased their relative labor force participation by up to 2.8 percentage points. We observe no change in the relative hours worked by single women with children who were already in the labor force.

DOI
10.2307/2946689
Volume
111
Issue
2
Pages
605-637
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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