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A Steeper slope: the Laffer Tax Curve in Developing and Emerging Economies

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  • Zouhair Aït Benhamou

Abstract

In comparing the tax burden between developed and developing economies, we argue that the Laffer curve is sensitive to two factors, namely the size of underground economic activities and tax collection costs. The baseline model exhibits counter-intuitive results for developing and emerging economies. Insofar as we find that they are able to extract higher tax rates and revenues in comparison with developed countries. The differences are due to the values computed for structural parameters and steady-state variables. However, when the share of underground activities is taken into account, the Laffer curve is pushed downward, while tax collection costs shift the peak rate to the left.

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  • Zouhair Aït Benhamou, 2018. "A Steeper slope: the Laffer Tax Curve in Developing and Emerging Economies," EconomiX Working Papers 2018-44, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    • Handle: RePEc:drm:wpaper:2018-44
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Laffer curve; Taxes; Tax burden; Underground economy; tax collection cost; calibration; estimation; GMM; SMM;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications

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