Increasing Hours Worked: Moonlighting Responses to a Large Tax Reform

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2022
Volume: 14
Issue: 1
Pages: 473-500

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Moonlighting is increasingly popular in OECD countries, with 5 to 10 percent of workers holding two or more jobs. However, little is known about the responsiveness of moonlighting to financial incentives due to the lack of identifying variation. This paper studies a unique reform in Germany that allowed workers to hold small secondary jobs tax-free, decreasing the marginal tax rate by between 19.5 to 66 pp. I show that the reform resulted in a dramatic increase in moonlighting that was not offset by reductions in primary earnings and that hours constraints are a key determinant of moonlighting.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:1:p:473-500
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29