Working Paper: NBER ID: w30698
Authors: Daniel Keniston; Abigail Allison M. Peralta
Abstract: Do high taxes cause superstars to work less? We test this hypothesis using complete data on Hollywood movie stars' labor supply from 1927 to 2014. Changes to marginal tax rates in high tax brackets have no significant effect on the number of films a movie star makes each year. However, in years with high taxes, stars produce more highly rated movies with award-winning directors, potentially substituting prestigious films for pecuniary gains
Keywords: taxation; labor supply; movie stars; prestige films
JEL Codes: H24; J22; J32; L82
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| changes to marginal tax rates (H29) | number of films produced by movie stars (L82) |
| changes to marginal tax rates (H29) | quality of films produced (L15) |
| higher taxes (H29) | number of prestigious films produced (L82) |
| number of films produced by movie stars (L82) | quality of films produced (L15) |