The Impact of Spousal Exemption on Labor Supply of Married Women

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K20998
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Economic statistics; Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: Yokoyama Izumi 一橋大学, 国際・公共政策大学院, 講師 (30712236)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 配偶者控除 / 配偶者特別控除 / 女性の労働供給

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I examine how the 2004 tax reform in Japan affected the work-hour distribution of married women. Empirical analyses all confirm that the tax reform increased the work hours among low-income married women. In addition, some medium- to high-income married women greatly reduced their income to just below the conventional income threshold in response to an increase in their husbands' income after the tax reform. This evidence indicates that this behavior of medium- to high-income wives could be due to an enhanced awareness of the conventional income thresholds. It also implies the importance of knowing and understanding the potential impact of the tax reform on those who are not the target of it, as well as the conditions under which the discontinuous income drop among medium- to high income wives is likely to occur.

Free Research Field

労働経済学・応用計量経済学