{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/80695"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/80695","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Essays in Public Economics","abstract":"The first chapter sheds new light on the desirability of the minimum wage in the presence of optimal income taxation. Using a search-and-matching framework, I derive a novel condition that links the desirability of the minimum wage to three sufficient statistics: (1) the macro labor force participation response to the minimum wage by low skilled individuals; (2) the macro employment response to the minimum wage for low-skilled individuals; and (3) the welfare weight on low-skilled workers. This condition shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if it pushes the labor market tightness – the ratio of the aggregate number of vacancies to low-skilled job seekers – closer to its efficient level. I estimate the first two sufficient statistics using an event study design, as well as state and federal minimum wage variation between 1979-2014. I estimate a macro participation elasticity of -0.24 and a macro employment elasticity of -0.32. With these estimates in hand, I simulate the welfare gains from introducing a minimum wage. The second chapter studies the effect of raising contribution limits on retirement saving by exploiting the ‘catch-up limit’ provision, a rule which allows those over the age of 50 to make higher IRA and 401(k) contributions than those under 50. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ leads to a large increase in total tax-deferred contributions for those without access to a 401(k) plan. This is driven by a 25 percent increase in average IRA contributions and a 21 percent increase in the likelihood of making an IRA contribution, with no significant effects on overall 401(k) contributions. The findings suggest that, contrary to the neoclassical life-cycle model, the response to eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ was not limited to constrained savers. The final chapter, joint with Michael Smart, studies the savings effect of Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSAs). Using a new instrumental variables strategy, we whether TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable financial assets and traditional tax-deferred plans. We find that TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable fixed income assets and have no statistically significant effect on balances in tax-deferred accounts.","abstract_html":"The first chapter sheds new light on the desirability of the minimum wage in the presence of optimal income taxation. Using a search-and-matching framework, I derive a novel condition that links the desirability of the minimum wage to three sufficient statistics: (1) the macro labor force participation response to the minimum wage by low skilled individuals; (2) the macro employment response to the minimum wage for low-skilled individuals; and (3) the welfare weight on low-skilled workers. This condition shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if it pushes the labor market tightness – the ratio of the aggregate number of vacancies to low-skilled job seekers – closer to its efficient level. I estimate the first two sufficient statistics using an event study design, as well as state and federal minimum wage variation between 1979-2014. I estimate a macro participation elasticity of -0.24 and a macro employment elasticity of -0.32. With these estimates in hand, I simulate the welfare gains from introducing a minimum wage. The second chapter studies the effect of raising contribution limits on retirement saving by exploiting the ‘catch-up limit’ provision, a rule which allows those over the age of 50 to make higher IRA and 401(k) contributions than those under 50. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ leads to a large increase in total tax-deferred contributions for those without access to a 401(k) plan. This is driven by a 25 percent increase in average IRA contributions and a 21 percent increase in the likelihood of making an IRA contribution, with no significant effects on overall 401(k) contributions. The findings suggest that, contrary to the neoclassical life-cycle model, the response to eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ was not limited to constrained savers. The final chapter, joint with Michael Smart, studies the savings effect of Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSAs). Using a new instrumental variables strategy, we whether TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable financial assets and traditional tax-deferred plans. We find that TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable fixed income assets and have no statistically significant effect on balances in tax-deferred accounts.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lavecchia, Adam Michael"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Economics","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Kroft, Kory"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-11","date_published":"2017-11","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:11Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/80695","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Kroft, Kory"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lavecchia, Adam Michael"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2017-12-19T00:01:27Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-12-19T00:01:27Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2017-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/80695"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The first chapter sheds new light on the desirability of the minimum wage in the presence of optimal income taxation. Using a search-and-matching framework, I derive a novel condition that links the desirability of the minimum wage to three sufficient statistics: (1) the macro labor force participation response to the minimum wage by low skilled individuals; (2) the macro employment response to the minimum wage for low-skilled individuals; and (3) the welfare weight on low-skilled workers. This condition shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if it pushes the labor market tightness – the ratio of the aggregate number of vacancies to low-skilled job seekers – closer to its efficient level. I estimate the first two sufficient statistics using an event study design, as well as state and federal minimum wage variation between 1979-2014. I estimate a macro participation elasticity of -0.24 and a macro employment elasticity of -0.32. With these estimates in hand, I simulate the welfare gains from introducing a minimum wage. The second chapter studies the effect of raising contribution limits on retirement saving by exploiting the ‘catch-up limit’ provision, a rule which allows those over the age of 50 to make higher IRA and 401(k) contributions than those under 50. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ leads to a large increase in total tax-deferred contributions for those without access to a 401(k) plan. This is driven by a 25 percent increase in average IRA contributions and a 21 percent increase in the likelihood of making an IRA contribution, with no significant effects on overall 401(k) contributions. The findings suggest that, contrary to the neoclassical life-cycle model, the response to eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ was not limited to constrained savers. The final chapter, joint with Michael Smart, studies the savings effect of Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSAs). Using a new instrumental variables strategy, we whether TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable financial assets and traditional tax-deferred plans. We find that TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable fixed income assets and have no statistically significant effect on balances in tax-deferred accounts."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Essays in Public Economics"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Kroft, Kory"],"dc:contributor.department":["Economics"],"dc:creator":["Lavecchia, Adam Michael"],"dc:date":["2017-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2017-12-19T00:01:27Z"],"dc:date.available":["2017-12-19T00:01:27Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2017-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["The first chapter sheds new light on the desirability of the minimum wage in the presence of optimal income taxation. Using a search-and-matching framework, I derive a novel condition that links the desirability of the minimum wage to three sufficient statistics: (1) the macro labor force participation response to the minimum wage by low skilled individuals; (2) the macro employment response to the minimum wage for low-skilled individuals; and (3) the welfare weight on low-skilled workers. This condition shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if it pushes the labor market tightness – the ratio of the aggregate number of vacancies to low-skilled job seekers – closer to its efficient level. I estimate the first two sufficient statistics using an event study design, as well as state and federal minimum wage variation between 1979-2014. I estimate a macro participation elasticity of -0.24 and a macro employment elasticity of -0.32. With these estimates in hand, I simulate the welfare gains from introducing a minimum wage. The second chapter studies the effect of raising contribution limits on retirement saving by exploiting the ‘catch-up limit’ provision, a rule which allows those over the age of 50 to make higher IRA and 401(k) contributions than those under 50. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ leads to a large increase in total tax-deferred contributions for those without access to a 401(k) plan. This is driven by a 25 percent increase in average IRA contributions and a 21 percent increase in the likelihood of making an IRA contribution, with no significant effects on overall 401(k) contributions. The findings suggest that, contrary to the neoclassical life-cycle model, the response to eligibility for ‘catch-up limits’ was not limited to constrained savers. The final chapter, joint with Michael Smart, studies the savings effect of Canadian Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSAs). Using a new instrumental variables strategy, we whether TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable financial assets and traditional tax-deferred plans. We find that TFSA balances crowd-out saving in taxable fixed income assets and have no statistically significant effect on balances in tax-deferred accounts."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/80695"],"dc:title":["Essays in Public Economics"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:11Z"}