IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwwpp/dp924.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate Taxation and Investment: Explaining Investment Dynamics with Firm-Level Panel Data

Author

Listed:
  • Nadja Dwenger

Abstract

Using a firm-level panel data set I assess whether dynamic models of in- vestment provide an empirically fruitful framework for analyzing tax effects on changes in capital stock. In particular I estimate a one-step error correction model (ECM) complementing the usual estimation of a distributed lag model. A correction term accounts for non-random sample attrition, which has not been considered in previous studies on investment even though most (if not all) panel data sets on firms are incomplete. Both, ECM and distributed lag model, suggest that user cost of capital and output have an economically and statistically significant influence on capital formation. In the ECM, however, estimates are larger in size and match theoretical pre- dictions more closely. My preferred estimate of -1.3 implies that a decrease in the user cost of capital by 10 percent will increase the firm's capital stock by 13 percent, on average. Taking my elasticity estimate to the Corporate Tax Reform 2008 I would expect that the reform only slightly increases cap- ital stock, since the rather strong reduction in corporate income tax rate was partly compensated for by stricter depreciation allowances. Investment dynamics appear to be crucial for the coefficients of cash flow variables in investment equations. While cash flow effects are present in the (first- differenced) distributed lag model, they vanish in the ECM. This leads me to conclude that well documented cash flow effects point at dynamic misspecification in previous studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadja Dwenger, 2009. "Corporate Taxation and Investment: Explaining Investment Dynamics with Firm-Level Panel Data," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 924, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.341687.de/dp924.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. von Kalckreuth, Ulf, 2001. "Monetary transmission in Germany: New Perspectives on Financial Constraints and Investment Spending," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2001,19, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniela Federici & Valentino Parisi & Caroline Elliott, 2015. "Do corporate taxes reduce investments? Evidence from Italian firm-level panel data," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1012435-101, December.

    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. Andrew Benito & John Whitley, 2003. "Implicit interest rates and corporate balance sheets: an analysis using aggregate and disaggregated UK data," Bank of England working papers 193, Bank of England.
    2. Chatelain, Jean-Bernard & Generale, Andrea & Hernando, Ignacio & Vermeulen, Philip & Von Kalckreuth, Ulf, 2001. "Firm investment and monetary transmission in the euro area," Working Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    3. von Kalckreuth, Ulf & Hernando, Ignacio & Generale, Andrea & Chatelain, Jean Bernard & Vermeulen, Philip, 2001. "Firm Investment and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2001,20, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    4. Diemo Dietrich, 2003. "Monetary Policy Shocks and Heterogeneous Finance Decisions: A Model of Hidden Effort Choice and Financial Intermediation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(3), pages 365-388, August.
    5. Holtemöller, Oliver, 2002. "Further VAR evidence for the effectiveness of a credit channel in Germany," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2002,66, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    6. Jean-Bernard Chatelain & Andrea Generale & Ignacio Hernando & Philip Vermeulen & Ulf von Kalckreuth, 2003. "New Findings on Firm Investment and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area," Post-Print halshs-00119490, HAL.
    7. Jean-Bernard Chatelain, 2003. "Structural modelling of financial constraints on investment: where do we stand?," Chapters, in: Paul Butzen & Catherine Fuss (ed.), Firms’ Investment and Finance Decisions, chapter 2, pages 40-58, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Arnold, Ivo J. M. & Kool, Clemens J. M. & Raabe, Katharina, 2006. "Industries and the bank lending effects of bank credit demand and monetary policy in Germany," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2006,48, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    9. Laura Auria & Markus Bingmer & Carlos Mateo Caicedo Graciano & Clémence Charavel & Sergio Gavilá & Alessandra Iannamorelli & Aviram Levy & Alfredo Maldonado & Florian Resch & Anna Maria Rossi & Step, 2021. "Overview of central banks’ in-house credit assessment systems in the euro area," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 13, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    10. Auria, Laura & Bingmer, Markus & Graciano, Carlos Mateo Caicedo & Charavel, Clémence & Gavilá, Sergio & Iannamorelli, Alessandra & Levy, Aviram & Maldonado, Alfredo & Resch, Florian & Rossi, Anna Mari, 2021. "Overview of central banks’ in-house credit assessment systems in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 284, European Central Bank.
    11. Walch, Florian & Dwenger, Nadja, 2011. "Tax Losses and Firm Investment: Evidence from Tax Statistics," VfS Annual Conference 2011 (Frankfurt, Main): The Order of the World Economy - Lessons from the Crisis 48699, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Jean-Bernard Chatelain & Michael Ehrmann & Andrea Generale & Jorge Martínez-Pagés & Philip Vermeulen & Andreas Worms, 2003. "Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area: New Evidence From Micro Data on Firms and Banks," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(2-3), pages 731-742, 04/05.
    13. Karamé, Frédéric & Patureau, Lise & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2008. "Limited participation and exchange rate dynamics: Does theory meet the data?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 1041-1087, April.
    14. I. Arnold & C.J.M. Kool & K. Raabe, 2011. "Industry Effects of Bank Lending in Germany," Working Papers 11-21, Utrecht School of Economics.
    15. Suvadee Rungsomboon, 2005. "Deterioration of Firm Balance Sheet and Investment Behavior: Evidence from Panel Data on Thai Firms," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 335-356, September.
    16. Ulf von Kalckreuth, 2003. "Exploring the role of uncertainty for corporate investment decisions in Germany," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 139(II), pages 173-206, June.
    17. Cour-Thimann, Philippine & Salleo, Carmelo & Perrard, Romain & Hendrikx, Maarten & Waschiczek, Walter & Antão, Paula & Rantala, Anssi & Nahmias, Laurent & Sauvé, Annie & Reininger, Thomas & Walko, Zol, 2007. "Corporate finance in the euro area - including background material," Occasional Paper Series 63, European Central Bank.
    18. Hulsewig, Oliver & Mayer, Eric & Wollmershauser, Timo, 2006. "Bank loan supply and monetary policy transmission in Germany: An assessment based on matching impulse responses," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 2893-2910, October.
    19. Chatelain, Jean-Bernard & Tiomo, André, 2001. "Investment, the cost of capital, and monetary policy in the nineties in France: a panel data investigation," Working Paper Series 106, European Central Bank.
    20. Hülsewig Oliver & Winker Peter & Worms Andreas, 2004. "Bank Lending and Monetary Policy Transmission: A VECM Analysis for Germany / Bankkredite und geldpolitische Transmission: Eine VECM Analyse für Deutschland," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 224(5), pages 511-529, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Taxation; business investment; user cost of capital; dynamic specification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:diw:diwwpp:dp924. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    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.