Teaching the Tax Code: Earnings Responses to an Experiment with EITC Recipients

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2013
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-31

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

We conducted a randomized experiment with 43,000 EITC recipients at H&R Block. Tax preparers gave simple, personalized information about the EITC schedule to half of their clients. We find no significant effects of information provision on earnings in the subsequent year in the full sample. Further exploration uncovers evidence of heterogeneous treatment effects on both self-employment income and wage earnings across the 1,461 tax preparers involved in the experiment. Providing information about tax incentives does not systematically effect earnings on average. However, tax preparers may influence their clients' earnings decisions by providing advice about how to respond to tax incentives. (JEL H23, H24, H26, J23, J31)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejapp:v:5:y:2013:i:1:p:1-31
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25