Will supply side policies work with Millennials?

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to hypothesize on the relationship between the Millennial workforce and US firms’ response to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. The authors postulate that societal pressure from the younger generational cohorts will motivate socially cognizant corporations to share their newly acquired tax benefits with their workforce to attract, retain and inspire employee productivity and retention, as well as customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach The authors empirically examine work-related cultural attitudes of the Millennial generational cohort in the USA, and by exploring related literature on organizational management and supply side economics, the authors aim to connect them to firms’ response to tax cut windfall in a simple theoretical model. The authors complement their methods by using descriptive statistics on firm tax responses that followed the 2017 TCJA. Findings The authors offer support for the notion that companies are behaving rationally by providing short-term benefits to employees when employees are, on average, younger. The competitive nature of the global market acts as an incentive to avoid permanent obligations such as wage and benefits increases. The data reveal that a significant number of companies had a transitory reaction to the latest tax cut. Research limitations/implications The authors encourage future research, once sufficient time elapses, to exploit the time periods before and after the tax cut to provide a better assessment of the empirical impact of the 2017 tax cut on firm responses, conditional on workforce makeup. Originality/value The authors examine whether and how the Millennial cohort might shape firm behavior following changes in tax policy.