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How do Taxes Affect Investment and Productivity?: An Industry-Level Analysis of OECD Countries

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Author Info
Laura Vartia
Abstract

This paper analyses how different tax policies can affect investment and productivity. To address this question the paper uses industry-level data from a set of OECD countries and examines whether different industries are affected differently by taxation. Investment is shown to respond negatively to an increase in the corporate tax rate and a decrease in capital depreciation allowances through changes in the user cost of capital. The analysis of potential links between taxes and productivity tests the hypothesis that taxes affect productivity through different channels and that due to some salient industry characteristics some industries are inherently more affected than others by certain taxes. The paper finds evidence that corporate and top personal income taxes have a negative effect on productivity. In contrast, tax incentives for research and development (R&D) are found to have a positive effect on productivity. These effects are stronger in those industries that are inherently more profitable, have more entrepreneurial activity and are more R&D intensive, respectively.

L’effet des politiques de taxation sur les investissements and la productivité dans les pays de l'OCDE : Une analyse sectorielle
Cette étude vise à étudier l’effet des politiques de taxation sur les investissements et la productivité des entreprises. Nous utilisons des données sectorielles pour un ensemble de pays de l’OCDE et analysons dans quelle mesure l’impact de la taxation diffère selon les secteurs. Selon nos résultats, une hausse de l’impôt sur les sociétés ou une baisse des provisions pour amortissement du capital provenant de variations du coût d’usage du capital induisent une baisse de l’investissement des entreprises. Nous analysons les mécanismes de l’impact de la taxation des entreprises sur leur productivité et nous testons si certains secteurs y sont plus sensibles que d’autres. Selon nos estimations, l’impôt sur les sociétés, mais aussi les dernières tranches de l’impôt sur le revenu, ont un impact négatif sur la productivité. En revanche, les avantages fiscaux visant à promouvoir la recherche et développement semblent avoir un effet bénéfique sur la productivité. Ces effets sont plus forts dans les secteurs plus rentables, dans les secteurs caractérisés par un niveau plus élevé d’activité entrepreneuriale, et dans les secteurs caractérisés par un niveau plus élevé de recherche et développement.

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Paper provided by OECD, Economics Department in its series OECD Economics Department Working Papers with number 656.

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Date of creation: 19 Dec 2008
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Handle: RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:656-en

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Related research
Keywords: corporate and personal income taxation; investment; total factor productivity; user cost; coût d'usage; impôt sur le revenu; impôt sur les sociétés; investissement; productivité globale des facteurs;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Capital; Investment; Capacity
H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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