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Tax morale, aversion to ethnic diversity, and decentralization

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  • Belmonte, Alessandro
  • Dell'Anno, Roberto
  • Teobaldelli, Désirée

Abstract

This paper analyzes theoretically and empirically the relationship between individuals' aversion to ethnic diversity, the degree of fiscal and political decentralization, and tax morale. We present a model showing how higher degrees of individuals' aversion to ethnic diversity may reduce tax morale and why this effects may be smaller in decentralized political and fiscal systems. We test these results by using individual data from the World Value Survey and several measures of decentralization. Our estimates robustly confirm that higher degrees of individuals' aversion to ethnic diversity are associated to lower tax morale and that this correlation is smaller or null in decentralized systems.

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  • Belmonte, Alessandro & Dell'Anno, Roberto & Teobaldelli, Désirée, 2018. "Tax morale, aversion to ethnic diversity, and decentralization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 204-223.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:55:y:2018:i:c:p:204-223
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2017.12.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo Bove & Leandro Elia & Massimiliano Ferraresi, 2023. "Immigration, Fear of Crime, and Public Spending on Security," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 235-280.
    2. Alessandro Belmonte & Désirée Teobaldelli & Davide Ticchi, 2023. "Tax morale, fiscal capacity, and war," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 445-474, June.
    3. Ali, Merima & Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge, 2023. "Pre-colonial centralization and tax compliance norms in contemporary Uganda," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 379-400, June.
    4. Cascavilla, Alessandro, 2022. "Does climate change concern alter tax morale preferences? Evidence from an Italian survey," MPRA Paper 113039, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Caferra, Rocco & Morone, Andrea, 2019. "Tax Morale and Perceived Intergenerational Mobility: a Machine Learning Predictive Approach," MPRA Paper 93171, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Beata Holkova & Eva Malichova & Lukas Falat & Lucia Pancikova, 2023. "Determinants of Tax Ethics in Society: Statistical and Logistic Regression Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Rocco Caferra & Alessandro Cascavilla & Andrea Morone, 2022. "Family affairs or Government's duty? The tax morality of a mobile society," Working Papers 2022/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax morale; Aversion to ethnic diversity; Decentralization; Ethnic fragmentation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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