Nuremberg Research Seminar in Economics on 4 June 2025, LG 0.423
You are invited to join the weekly Nuremberg Research Seminar in Economics on 4 June 2025, from 13.15 to 14.45 pm. The seminar will be held in room LG 0.423. Sarah Lein (University of Basel) will be talking about “Household Labor Supply Elasticities: Evidence from Cross-Border Workers”.
More information can be found here (preliminary):
In 2015, the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly discontinued its minimum exchange rate policy, leading to an appreciation of the Swiss franc by over 10 percent against the euro. This appreciation resulted in a sudden increase in real wage income for more than 40,000 German cross-border commuters to Switzerland, as these workers earn wages in Swiss francs but primarily consume in euros. We exploit this exchange rate shock to estimate cross-spouse labor supply elasticities using administrative tax return data. Our findings reveal a 5% decline in taxable income (in CHF) for cross-border workers themselves and a 3% reduction for their spouses. We provide evidence of intensive margin adjustments in hours worked that are consistent with these results. These findings suggest that joint household decision-making plays a significant role in labor supply responses.