Efficient Inference with Panel Data

On the pass-through of the Dutch 2001 and 2012 VAT increases to consumer prices

Master thesis (2018)

Authors

G.J.C. van Hooft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

F.H. van der Meulen (graduation committee member)
D. Kurowicka (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2018 George van Hooft
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

28-08-2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

This thesis evaluates the pass-through of the 2001 and 2012 Dutch Value Added Tax (VAT) increases to customer prices using a difference-in-differences model. To this end, the first difference and feasible generalised least squares estimators are introduced. Contrary to the conventional pooled OLS estimator, these estimators always show significant causal effects for both VAT hikes. These also dramatically improve the accuracy of the estimates compared to earlier research on the incidence of VAT. For the 2012 tax increase, the null hypothesis of full pass through is even rejected. This result is a novelty in the econometric literature. Even in more general settings, the estimators used in this thesis prove far superior over conventional causal estimation techniques of difference-in-differences models.

Files

Scriptie.pdf
(.pdf | 0.972 Mb)