Wu, Linda Audrey; (2025) Essays in public and labor economics. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text Wu_10210883_thesis.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 August 2026. Download (5MB)

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three chapters on public and labor economics, examining how individuals and firms respond to tax and labor market policies. Chapter 1, co-authored with Tzu-Ting Yang, studies behavioral responses to estate taxation. Using administrative data and two reforms in Taiwan, we estimate the elasticity of reported estates and find that reported estates drop sharply following a tax increase but respond less to a cut. This asymmetry is consistent with avoidance involving sunk costs: taxpayers increase avoidance when taxes rise but are less responsive to a cut due to previously incurred avoidance costs. We develop a model and derive sufficient statistics for welfare analysis, showing that relying on the attenuated elasticity from tax cuts would underestimate the welfare cost and overstate the benefits of tax increases. Chapter 2, co-authored with Hsien-Ming Lien, examines the role of family connections in business operations and the effect of ownership transfers on firm performance, depending on the relationship between the outgoing and incoming owners. By linking administrative data on family ties, firm ownership, firm-to-firm transactions, and employer-employee records in Taiwan, we document the prevalence of family ties in business operations. A stacked event study shows that firms transferred to unrelated individuals outperform those kept within the family, likely due to restructuring of employees and supply chain networks. Chapter 3, co-authored with Jonas Hjort, Yukiko Saito, and Yasuka Tateishi, studies the effects of a sharp increase in minimum wages in Vietnam on the labor decisions of domestic and multinational firms. We find that domestic firms reduced employment and exited more. In contrast, multinationals modestly expanded employment. Our individual-level analysis shows that workers from domestic firms were more likely to become unemployed or move to multinationals. A complementary survey of Japanese multinationals reveals that most firms absorbed the higher labor costs rather than relocating.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item