IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v46y2014i11p1267-1278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of tax convexity on default and investment decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian C. H. Lei
  • Martin H. Y. Yick
  • Keith S. K. Lam

Abstract

The objective of this article is to examine how default and investment triggers change under different levels of tax asymmetry when firms face nonlinear tax schedules. Under a convex tax schedule, profits are taxed at a higher rate, while losses are taxed (or rebated) at a lower rate, thus reducing the risk shared by the government. This article presents a dynamic model based on the contingent-claims framework to explore the impacts of tax convexity on the triggers, and we find that the impacts vary significantly depending on several countervailing forces. Tax convexity has a nonmonotonic relationship with both the default and investment triggers, because of the government's risk-sharing role. The default trigger is higher when tax convexity increases, while the growth option exerts a counteracting effect that lowers this trigger, creating an ambiguity in the investment trigger when changing the level of tax asymmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian C. H. Lei & Martin H. Y. Yick & Keith S. K. Lam, 2014. "The effects of tax convexity on default and investment decisions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(11), pages 1267-1278, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:11:p:1267-1278
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2013.870653
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2013.870653
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2013.870653?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2008. "Can tax convexity be ignored in corporate financing decisions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1310-1321, July.
    2. Gwangheon Hong & Sudipto Sarkar, 2007. "Equity Systematic Risk (Beta) and Its Determinants," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 423-466, June.
    3. Ravi Jagannathan & Ellen R. McGrattan & Anna Scherbina, 2000. "The declining U.S. equity premium," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Fall), pages 3-19.
    4. Alan J. Auerbach, 1986. "The Dynamic Effects of Tax Law Asymmetries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(2), pages 205-225.
    5. Gregor Andrade & Steven N. Kaplan, 1998. "How Costly is Financial (Not Economic) Distress? Evidence from Highly Leveraged Transactions that Became Distressed," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(5), pages 1443-1493, October.
    6. Rosanne Altshuler & Alan J. Auerbach, 1990. "The Significance of Tax Law Asymmetries: An Empirical Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 61-86.
    7. Hayne E. Leland, 2007. "Financial Synergies and the Optimal Scope of the Firm: Implications for Mergers, Spinoffs, and Structured Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 765-807, April.
    8. John R. Graham & Clifford W. Smith, 1999. "Tax Incentives to Hedge," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2241-2262, December.
    9. MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K, 1990. "Do Taxes Affect Corporate Financing Decisions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1471-1493, December.
    10. Mackie-Mason, Jeffrey K., 1990. "Some nonlinear tax effects on asset values and investment decisions under uncertainty," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 301-327, August.
    11. Devereux, Michael P. & Keen, Michael & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 1994. "Corporation tax asymmetries and investment : Evidence from U.K. panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 395-418, March.
    12. Jing-Zhi Huang & Ming Huang, 2012. "How Much of the Corporate-Treasury Yield Spread Is Due to Credit Risk?," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 153-202.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrian Lei & Martin Yick & Keith Lam, 2013. "Does tax convexity matter for risk? A dynamic study of tax asymmetry and equity beta," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 131-147, July.
    2. Dominika Langenmayr & Rebecca Lester, 2013. "Taxation and corporate risk-taking," Working Papers 1316, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    3. Faig, Miquel & Shum, Pauline, 1999. "Irreversible investment and endogenous financing: An evaluation of the corporate tax effects," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 143-171, February.
    4. Edgerton, Jesse, 2010. "Investment incentives and corporate tax asymmetries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 936-952, December.
    5. Rainer Niemann, 2004. "Asymmetric Taxation and Cross-Border Investment Decisions," CESifo Working Paper Series 1219, CESifo.
    6. Rainer Niemann & Corinna Treisch, 2005. "Group Taxation, Asymmetric Taxation and Cross-Border Investment Incentives in Austria," CESifo Working Paper Series 1506, CESifo.
    7. Niemann, Rainer, 2004. "Entscheidungswirkungen von Verlustverrechnungsbeschränkungen bei der Steuerplanung grenzüberschreitender Investitionen," Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge 276, University of Tübingen, School of Business and Economics.
    8. Niemann, Rainer, 2003. "Wie schädlich ist die Mindestbesteuerung? Steuerparadoxa in der Verlustrechnung," Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge 259, University of Tübingen, School of Business and Economics.
    9. Michael P. O'Malley, 1996. "Tax exhaustion, firm investment, and leasing; a test of the Q model of investment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 96-31, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Giacomo Brusco & Benjamin Glass, 2023. "Risky business: policy uncertainty and investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(5), pages 1331-1345, October.
    11. Masanori Orihara, 2016. "Corporate tax asymmetries and R&D: Evidence from a tax reform for business groups in Japan," Discussion papers ron273, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan.
    12. Becker, Johannes & Johannesen, Niels & Riedel, Nadine, 2020. "Taxation and the allocation of risk inside the multinational firm," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. Ralf Ewert & Rainer Niemann, 2010. "Limited Liability, Asymmetric Taxation, and Risk Taking - Why Partial Tax Neutralities can be Harmful," CESifo Working Paper Series 3301, CESifo.
    14. Michael P. O'Malley, "undated". "Tax Exhaustion, Firm Investment, and Leasing: A Test of the Q Model of Investment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1996-31, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 10 Dec 2019.
    15. Ralf Ewert & Rainer Niemann, 2011. "Haftungsbeschränkungen, Verlustverrechnungsbeschränkungen und die Bereitschaft zur Risikoübernahme," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 63(63), pages 94-131, January.
    16. Rainer Niemann, 2006. "Wirkungen der Abschnittsbesteuerung auf internationale Investitions- und Repatriierungsentscheidungen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 58(7), pages 928-957, November.
    17. Amin Mawani, 2007. "Simulating Firm-Specific Corporate Marginal Tax Rates in a Canadian Context," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 11(1-2), pages 77-96, March-Jun.
    18. Miquel Faig & Pauline Shum, 1997. "INVESTMENT IRREVERSIBILITY AND ENDOGENOUS FINANCING: An Evaluation of the Corporate Tax Effects," Working Papers faig-97-02, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    19. Jack Mintz, 1995. "Corporation tax: a survey," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 23-68, November.
    20. Pierre-Pascal Gendron, 1996. "Corporation Tax Asymmetries: An Oligopolistic Supergame Analysis," Working Papers ecpap-96-04, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:11:p:1267-1278. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.