Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/27611 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 08-128
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
Despite the continuing political interest in the usefulness of tax competition and tax coordination as well as the wealth of theoretical analyses, it still remains open whether or when tax competition is harmful. Moreover, the influence of tax differentials on multinationals' decisions is still insufficiently analyzed. Thus, economists have increasingly resorted to empirical analysis in order to gain insights on the elasticity of FDI with respect to company taxation. As a result, the empirical literature on taxation and international capital flows has grown to a similar abundance during the last 25 years as the respective theoretical literature. Its heterogeneity leads to a rising need for concise reviews on the existing empirical evidence. In this paper we extend former meta-analyses on FDI and taxation in three ways. First, we add the most recent publications unconsidered in meta-analyses up-to-date. Second, we apply a different methodology by using a broad set of meta-regression estimators and explicitly discuss which one is most suitable for application to our meta-data. Third, we address some important issues in research on FDI and taxation to the clarification of which meta-analysis can make valuable contributions. These issues are mainly: The influence of variables which might moderate effects of tax differentials (e.g. public spending), the implications of using aggregate FDI data as opposed to firm-level information on measured tax effects, the implications of bilateral effective tax rates, and the possible presence of publication bias in primary research.
Subjects: 
Corporate Income Taxation
Foreign Direct Investment
Meta Analysis
JEL: 
H73
H25
F21
F23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
577.54 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.