Estimating Labor Supply Functions on Panel Data : Ten Years On
Résumé
The econometrics of labour supply belongs to one of the technically most advanced fields in microeconometrics.1 Many specific issues such as the proper modelling of tax structures, the existence of fixed costs as well as rationing have been treated in numerous articles so that marginal gains in substantive economic insights seem low and entry costs into the field prohibitively high. Surprisingly, one of the most obvious paths for research on labour supply, the (micro–) econometric analysis of the individual’s labour supply over the life cycle, has by now gained comparatively little attention. Increasing availability of panel data for many countries, as well as the development of appropriate econometric techniques, will make econometric studies of intertemporal labour supply behaviour using panel data not only interesting on purely theoretical grounds, they will also help to achieve a better understanding of individual retirement behaviour, the functioning of institutional settings in different countries (such as taxes, vocational training programmes, daycare for children) and the distribution of income and wealth, to name only a few.