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The Cost and Benefits of Tax Treaties with Investment Hubs: Findings from Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Sebastian Beer
  • Jan Loeprick

Abstract

This paper investigates the costs and benefits of concluding double tax treaties with investment hubs. Based on a sample of 41 African economies from 1985–2015, the results suggest that signing treaties with investment hubs is not associated with additional investments; yet, these treaties tend to come with nonnegligible revenue losses. Building on a theoretical model, the paper investigates the role of treaty shopping in driving nominal investment flows and provides indirect evidence for its importance in the sample

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Beer & Jan Loeprick, 2018. "The Cost and Benefits of Tax Treaties with Investment Hubs: Findings from Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2018/227, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/227
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    Cited by:

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    2. Galstyan, Vahagn & Maqui, Eduardo & McQuade, Peter, 2021. "International debt and special purpose entities: Evidence from Ireland," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Sebastian Beer & Ruud de Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Review Of The Channels, Magnitudes, And Blind Spots," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 660-688, July.
    4. Shafik Hebous, 2020. "Global Firms, National Corporate Taxes: An Evolution of Incompatibility," CESifo Working Paper Series 8568, CESifo.
    5. Laudage, Sabine, 2020. "Corporate tax revenue and foreign direct investment: Potential trade-offs and how to address them," IDOS Discussion Papers 17/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    6. Stephen Hall & Janine Illian & Innocent Makuta & Kyle McNabb & Stuart Murray & Bernadette AM O’Hare & Andre Python & Syed Haider Ali Zaidi & Naor Bar-Zeev, 2021. "Government Revenue and Child and Maternal Mortality," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 213-229, February.

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