Who Benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit? Incidence Among Recipients, Coworkers and Firms

Abstract How are hourly wages affected by the Earned Income Tax Credit? Two strategies are utilized to determine the relationship between the credit and hourly wages. First, I use variation in state EITC supplements, which magnify the effect of the federal EITC. I find that a 10 percent increase in the generosity of the EITC is associated with a 4 percent fall in the wages of high school dropouts and…