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Monday, October 18, 2004

It's hard work 

BUT, you reap the rewards in America. Read why Americans work more than Europeans. Hint: it isn't some vague excuse about "quality of life".

I never trusted that assertion, if only because immigration to America is always strong, even from European nations. Why else would they come, if not for the quality of life?
Comments:
I think you kind of missed the point of the paper - at least your comment did. The paper was very interesting, and made two major points:

The labor supply in the US is larger than in European countries because the marginal tax rates in those countries is higher than in the US. In fact, a major observation is that the difference in labor supply can almost ENTIRELY be explained by the marginal tax rate.

Social security as it currently exists accounts for a large proportion of taxes paid in most states. By allowing people to voluntarily switch to paying this tax money into pseudo private government retirement accounts, we effectively decrease the tax on labor, leading to an increase in labor supply. This allows social security to remain solvent and honor payments to the old without raising taxes on the young.

The paper is well written and presents an excellent analysis which supports your general views. There was no reason to introduce it by basically saying "America, Fuck Yeah!".

-Tom (who couldn't be bothered to register)
 
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