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Reassessing the Effects of Bilateral Tax Treaties on US FDI Activity

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Author Info
Daniel Millimet () (SMU)
Abdullah Kumas () (SMU)

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Abstract

Despite substantial evidence that foreign direct investment (FDI) is influenced by taxation, the impact of bilateral tax treaties on FDI is surprisingly unclear. We provide a simple theoretical framework illustrating why the impact of tax treaties may be heterogeneous across the distribution of FDI, and thus why focusing on the average effect of tax treaties may be misleading. We then assess the empirical relevance of such heterogeneity by estimating the quantile treatment effects (QTEs) of tax treaties on US inbound and outbound FDI using panel data from 1980--1999. Our results are striking, and consistent with our expectations. We obtain positive effects of tax treaties at lower quantiles of the distribution of FDI, but negative effects in the upper quantiles. Moreover, while the negative effects are substantially larger in absolute terms relative to the positive effects, the two effects are roughly equivalent in percentage terms.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number 0704.

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Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:smu:ecowpa:704

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Postal: Department of Economics, P.O. Box 750496, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275-0496
Phone: 214-768-2715
Fax: 214-768-1821
Web page: http://www.smu.edu/economics

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Related research
Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Tax Treaties; Quantile Treatment Effects; Propensity Score Weighting;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Davies, Ronald & Norback, Pehr-Johan & Tekin-Koru, Ayca, 2007. "The Effect of Tax Treaties on Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Microdata," MPRA Paper 6031, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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