IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/joheec/v4y2017i2p51-80n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Corporate Tax Burden Affect Growth? Evidences from OECD Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Dima Bogdan

    (Finance Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, 16 H. Pestalozzi St., 300115, Timişoara, Romania)

  • Dima Ştefana Maria

    (ECREB – East European Center for Research in Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, J.H. Pestalozzi Street, No. 16, 300115, Timişoara, Romania, +40.256.592.588)

Abstract

This paper explores the tax burden - economic growth nexus. It advances an explanatory framework for the existence of such nexus. First, we argue that tax burden reduces the income remaining at the disposal of the private sector. Second, we empirically test for the existence of a non-linear impact of corporate tax burden on growth for a dataset of 21 OECD countries, for the period 1975 - 2012. We mostly involve mixed effects models with three levels of nested random effects. Our main empirical result consists in the evidences of a non-linear relation between corporate tax burden and economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Dima Bogdan & Dima Ştefana Maria, 2017. "Does Corporate Tax Burden Affect Growth? Evidences from OECD Countries," Journal of Heterodox Economics, Sciendo, vol. 4(2), pages 51-80, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:joheec:v:4:y:2017:i:2:p:51-80:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/jheec-2017-0004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jheec-2017-0004
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jheec-2017-0004?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kapetanios, George & Marcellino, Massimiliano, 2010. "Factor-GMM estimation with large sets of possibly weak instruments," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 2655-2675, November.
    2. McCleary, Rachel & Barro, Robert, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth across Countries," Scholarly Articles 3708464, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    3. Stijns, Jean-Philippe C., 2005. "Natural resource abundance and economic growth revisited," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 107-130, June.
    4. Martyn Andrews & Thorsten Schank & Richard Upward, 2006. "Practical fixed-effects estimation methods for the three-way error-components model," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(4), pages 461-481, December.
    5. Bai, Jushan & Ng, Serena, 2010. "Instrumental Variable Estimation In A Data Rich Environment," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(6), pages 1577-1606, December.
    6. Sophia Rabe‐Hesketh & Anders Skrondal, 2006. "Multilevel modelling of complex survey data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 169(4), pages 805-827, October.
    7. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    8. Mr. Santiago Acosta Ormaechea, 2012. "Tax Composition and Growth: A Broad Cross-Country Perspective," IMF Working Papers 2012/257, International Monetary Fund.
    9. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    10. Yanikkaya, Halit, 2003. "Trade openness and economic growth: a cross-country empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 57-89, October.
    11. Sacks, Daniel W. & Stevenson, Betsey & Wolfers, Justin, 2012. "The New Stylized Facts about Income and Subjective Well-Being," IZA Discussion Papers 7105, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2014. "The growth effects of tax rates in the OECD," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 1217-1255, November.
    13. Ludger Schuknecht, 1996. "Political Business Cycles and Fiscal Policies in Developing Countries," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 155-170, May.
    14. repec:awi:wpaper:0464 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. William D. Nordhaus, 1989. "Alternative Approaches to the Political Business Cycle," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(2), pages 1-68.
    16. Jing Xing, 2011. "Does tax structure affect economic growth? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Working Papers 1120, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    17. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    18. Ruth Judson & Athanasios Orphanides, 1999. "Inflation, Volatility and Growth," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 117-138, April.
    19. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    20. Reinhard Schunck, 2013. "Within and between estimates in random-effects models: Advantages and drawbacks of correlated random effects and hybrid models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 13(1), pages 65-76, March.
    21. Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria & Roubini, Nouriel, 1998. "On the taxation of human and physical capital in models of endogenous growth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 237-254, November.
    22. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    23. James Crotty, 2009. "Structural causes of the global financial crisis: a critical assessment of the 'new financial architecture'," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(4), pages 563-580, July.
    24. Easterlin, Richard A., 1974. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 111773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. Rachel M. McCleary & Robert J. Barro, 2006. "Religion and Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 49-72, Spring.
    26. Andreas Irmen & Johanna Kuehnel, 2009. "Productive Government Expenditure And Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 692-733, September.
    27. Robert J. Barro & Charles J. Redlick, 2011. "Macroeconomic Effects From Government Purchases and Taxes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 51-102.
    28. Robert J. Barro & Rachel McCleary, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 9682, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Andrew W. Lo, 2012. "Reading about the Financial Crisis: A Twenty-One-Book Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 151-178, March.
    30. Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria & Roubini, Nouriel, 1998. "Growth Effects of Income and Consumption Taxes," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(4), pages 721-744, November.
    31. Mehrhoff, Jens, 2009. "A solution to the problem of too many instruments in dynamic panel data GMM," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,31, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    32. Dackehag , Margareta & Hansson, Åsa, 2012. "Taxation of Income and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis of 25 Rich OECD Countries," Working Papers 2012:6, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    33. Portnoy, Stephen, 1991. "Asymptotic behavior of regression quantiles in non-stationary, dependent cases," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 100-113, July.
    34. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    35. Crepaz, Markus M. L., 2002. "Duane Swank, Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(01), pages 101-106, January.
    36. Ruut Veenhoven & Floris Vergunst, 2014. "The Easterlin illusion: economic growth does go with greater happiness," International Journal of Happiness and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(4), pages 311-343.
    37. James W. Hardin & Joseph W. Hilbe, 2012. "Generalized Linear Models and Extensions, 3rd Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, edition 3, number glmext, March.
    38. Andreas Bergh & Magnus Henrekson, 2011. "Government Size And Growth: A Survey And Interpretation Of The Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 872-897, December.
    39. Jens Matthias Arnold, 2008. "Do Tax Structures Affect Aggregate Economic Growth?: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 643, OECD Publishing.
    40. Judson, Ruth & Orphanides, Athanasios, 1999. "Inflation, Volatility and Growth," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 117-138, April.
    41. Swank,Duane, 2002. "Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521806688.
    42. Richard McKenzie & David Brackfield, 2008. "The OECD System of Unit Labour Cost and Related Indicators," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2008/4, OECD Publishing.
    43. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria & Asea, Patrick, 1997. "On the ineffectiveness of tax policy in altering long-run growth: Harberger's superneutrality conjecture," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 99-126, October.
    44. Michael Bleaney & Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller, 2001. "Testing the endogenous growth model: public expenditure, taxation, and growth over the long run," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 36-57, February.
    45. Weiss, Andrew A., 1990. "Least absolute error estimation in the presence of serial correlation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 127-158.
    46. Rosa Capolupo, 2000. "Output Taxation, Human Capital and Growth," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 68(2), pages 166-183, March.
    47. Jens Matthias Arnold & Bert Brys & Christopher Heady & Åsa Johansson & Cyrille Schwellnus & Laura Vartia, 2011. "Tax Policy for Economic Recovery and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(550), pages 59-80, February.
    48. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    49. Lee, Young & Gordon, Roger H., 2005. "Tax structure and economic growth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 1027-1043, June.
    50. Swank,Duane, 2002. "Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521001441.
    51. Sophia Rabe-Hesketh & Anders Skrondal, 2012. "Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata, 3rd Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, edition 3, number mimus2, March.
    52. Andrikopoulos, Andreas & Loizides, Ioannis & Prodromidis, Kyprianos, 2004. "Fiscal policy and political business cycles in the EU," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 125-152, March.
    53. Rosa Capolupo, "undated". "Output Taxation, Human Capital and Growth," Working Papers 9711, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    54. Uhlig, Harald & Yanagawa, Noriyuki, 1996. "Increasing the capital income tax may lead to faster growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1521-1540, November.
    55. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    56. Sean Becketti, 2013. "Introduction to Time Series Using Stata," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, number itsus, March.
    57. Freund, Caroline & Bolaky, Bineswaree, 2008. "Trade, regulations, and income," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 309-321, October.
    58. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    59. Mehrhoff, Jens, 2009. "A solution to the problem of too many instruments in dynamic panel data GMM," IBES Diskussionsbeiträge 171, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Business and Economic Studie (IBES).
    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. Halit Yanikkaya & Taner Turan, 2018. "Tax Structure And Economic Growth: Do Differences In Income Level And Government Effectiveness Matter?," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 217-237, May.
    2. Halit Yanikkaya & Taner Turan, 2020. "Tax Structure And Economic Growth: Do Differences In Income Level And Government Effectiveness Matter?," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 217-237, March.
    3. Iyke Bernard Njindan, 2017. "Does Trade Openness Matter for Economic Growth in the CEE Countries?," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 3-24, March.
    4. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M., 2018. "The determinants of growth in the U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) industry: A firm-level analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 259-271.
    5. Emna Trabelsi, 2022. "Macroprudential Transparency and Price Stability in Emerging and Developing Countries," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 11(1), pages 105-129.
    6. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    7. M. E. Bontempi & I. Mammi, 2014. "pca2: implementing a strategy to reduce the instrument count in panel GMM," Working Papers wp960, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    8. Ieva Skarda, 2016. "The Political Economy of Foreign Aid Effectiveness," Discussion Papers 16/12, Department of Economics, University of York.
    9. Nguyen Thi Tuong Anh & Hung Quang Doan & Tuan Anh Bui & Nam Hoang Vu & Duong Thuy Thanh Le, 2022. "A Revisit of Motives for Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment: The Role of the Institution in Host Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    10. Marco Alfò & Lorenzo Carbonari & Giovanni Trovato, 2020. "On the Effects of Taxation on Growth: an Empirical Assessment," CEIS Research Paper 480, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 May 2020.
    11. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2014. "The growth effects of tax rates in the OECD," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1217-1255, November.
    12. Joseph L. Dieleman & Michael Hanlon, 2014. "Measuring The Displacement And Replacement Of Government Health Expenditure," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 129-140, February.
    13. Andrea F Presbitero, 2012. "Total Public Debt and Growth in Developing Countries," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(4), pages 606-626, September.
    14. Andrea Filippetti & Agnese Sacchi, 2016. "Decentralization and economic growth reconsidered: The role of regional authority," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1793-1824, December.
    15. Escobari Diego & Mollick André Varella, 2013. "Output growth and unexpected government expenditures," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-33, September.
    16. Dean Scrimgeour, 2015. "Dynamic Scoring in a Romer‐Style Economy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(3), pages 697-723, January.
    17. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2014. "The growth effects of tax rates in the OECD," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 1217-1255, November.
    18. M. E. Bontempi & I. Mammi, 2012. "A strategy to reduce the count of moment conditions in panel data GMM," Working Papers wp843, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    19. Dean Scrimgeour, 2015. "Dynamic Scoring in a Romer-Style Economy," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 697-723, January.
    20. Sigmund, Michael & Ferstl, Robert, 2021. "Panel vector autoregression in R with the package panelvar," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 693-720.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax burden; growth; mixed effects models; OECD; private sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    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:vrs:joheec:v:4:y:2017:i:2:p:51-80:n:1. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    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.