Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: Mar, 2018, Volume 86, Issue 2

Estimating Both Supply and Demand Elasticities Using Variation in a Single Tax Rate

https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA15129
p. 763-771

Floris T. Zoutman, Evelina Gavrilova, Arnt O. Hopland

We show how an insight from taxation theory allows identification of both the supply and demand elasticities using only one instrument. Most models of taxation since Ramsey (1927) assume that a tax levied on the demand side only affects demand through the price after taxation. Econometrically, we show that this assumption acts as an exclusion restriction. Under the Ramsey Exclusion Restriction (RER), a single tax reform can serve to simultaneously identify the demand and supply elasticity. We develop an estimation method, which includes 2SLS estimators for the elasticities, and a test for strength of the instrument. We discuss possible applications.


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Supplemental Material

Supplement to "Estimating Both Supply and Demand Elasticities Using Variation in a Single Tax Rate"

In this appendix we consider three extensions to our main result derived in section 2. The extensions are, i.) supply-side instead of demand-side taxation, ii.) non-linear, instead of ad-valorum taxation and iii.) a setting with multiple goods and multiple taxes.