The Labor Market Impacts of Universal and Permanent Cash Transfers: Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund / Damon Jones, Ioana Marinescu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Damon.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Marinescu, Ioana.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24312.

NBER working paper series no. w24312

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Labor Market Impacts of Universal and Permanent Cash Transfers

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

How would universal and permanent cash transfers affect the labor market? Since 1982, all Alaskan residents have received a yearly cash dividend from the Alaska Permanent Fund. Using data from the Current Population Survey and a synthetic control method, we show that the dividend had no effect on employment, and increased part-time work by 1.8 percentage points (17%). We calibrate expected micro and macro effects of the cash transfer using prior literature, and find our results to be consistent with cash stimulating the local economy -- a general equilibrium effect. We further show that non-tradable sectors have a more positive employment response than tradable sectors. Overall, our results suggest that a universal and permanent cash transfer does not significantly decrease aggregate employment.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2018.