Oligopoly is empirically prevalent in the industries where MNEs operate and national governments compete with fiscal inducements for their FDI projects. Despite this, existing formal treatments of fiscal competition generally focus on the polar cases of perfect competition and monopoly. We consider the competition between two potential host governments to attract the investment of both firms in a duopolistic industry. Competition by identical countries for a monopoly firm's investment is known to result in a 'race to the bottom' where all rents are captured by the firm through subsidies. We demonstrate that with two firms, both are taxed in equilibrium, despite the explicit non-cooperation between governments. When countries differ in size, a single firm will be attracted to the larger market. We explore the conditions under which both firms in the duopoly co-locate and when each nation attracts a firm in equilibrium. Our results are consistent with the observed stability of effective corporate tax rates in the face of ongoing globalization, and our analysis readily generalizes to many specifications with oligopoly in the product markets.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
5379.
Find related papers by JEL classification: F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
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Robert E. Lipsey & Magnus Blomstrom & Eric D. Ramstetter, 1998.
"Internationalized Production in World Output,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Geography and Ownership as Bases for Economic Accounting, pages 83-138
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Black, Dan A & Hoyt, William H, 1989.
"Bidding for Firms,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1249-56, December.
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