Incentives: How Policies Influence Decisions

I often choose the title to my posts before I write the main text, and dont give them much thought (as is the case for the main texts as well...I just write whatever comes to mind at the spur of a moment). In my dream life, I would employ a texter from the Economist for my blog, as they often have humorous and very witty titles for their stories. This dry title reflects a dry topic I wanted to discuss, which is tax incentives. I'll start with something more interesting though, which is yesterday's "Girls and Boys' Day", which is an annual event in German schools that brings school girls to see "male" jobs, such as the police or an IT plant, and more recently also boys to look at "female" jobs, such as kindergarten teaching. My instinct on this, and here my childrens' female kindergarten teaachers agreed with me, was that such a program is well-intended, but may actually be counterproductive, as it reinforces gender identities and roles, and after a "look at the other", one returns to something "normal". I thought of a parallel to restaurants. Most Berliners love going out to eat Thai. Only few will cook it at home after a visit to a Thai restaurant, because a trip to the restaurant reinforces the view that Thai food is very different from German cuisine, and learning to shop and cook similiar meals would require quite an effort. There are of course a few exceptions - some Berliners may be inspired to buy a cookbook, take classes, shop at an Asian store for ingredients... I feel like a "Girls/Boys Day" does the same: it may show you the "other" (and reinforce your feeling of difference), it may awaken more understanding and resoect, but it will in most cases not be sufficient for changing your identity or what you are used to doing "normally". This made me think about policy incentives in general, and my feeling that tax policies may be one of the most important drivers or inhibitors to get women (in particular married ones, or those who are treated equivalently in tax law) to work. Child care is, as I have written just recently, an even more important aspect. Just a few thoughts on this topic: In Germany, married women are disencouraged to work, as a married couple may choose a common tax category (there are 5 such categories, if I recall correctly). Once one partner earns slightly more than the other, it makes fiancial sense for the couple to choose a category that taxes the high earner with a lower rate, and the lesser earner with a higher rate. As the lesser earner is usually the woman, her earnings are taxed at a relatively high rate (usually more than 50 percent). At some point, it soes not make financial sense for the woman to work. As a mom, the balance sheet of working vs. getting other errands done with less stress often provides a disincetive to work. This is definitely a vastly complex topic, and affects a lot of other areas, but at least from an perspective of making it easy for women or moms to work, I find this policy abhorrent.