IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v72y2021ics0301420721000726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does resource dependence cushion the impact of thin capitalization rules on foreign investment inflows? Evidence from Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Feulefack Kemmanang, Ludovic

Abstract

Due both to the prevarication of political elites and to tax evasion and capital flight by multinationals, Africa's development has not benefited as much from the continent's mineral resources as it should have. The thin capitalization rules (TCRs) implemented by several mineral resources rich-countries to alleviate this concern seem contradictory to the attractiveness policies in force, which results in multiple tax cuts, especially when the shocks observed on mineral prices lead to budgetary pressures. This study investigates how changes in mineral prices and rents affect the impact of TCRs on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Africa. The analyzes are carried out through the two-step systems GMM, using data from 33 cross-countries between 2005 and 2018. Consistently with the assembled literature, the study finds that TCRs harm FDI inflows. This study provides an additional contribution by showing a breaking point from which the rise in the price and the rent of minerals becomes a shield that fully absorbs the negative impact of the TCRs on multinationals' decision to settle. The price and the resulting breaking income are such that the negative impact of the TCRs on FDI inflows is overcompensated when, on average for the sample, the mineral price index goes beyond 103.54 or whenever the mineral rent exceeds 28.32% of the host country's GDP. These results are robust when controlling for the efficiency of government in revenue mobilization. The study shows that resource-rich countries in Africa should consider promoting the non-extractive sector's attractiveness in anticipation of the depletion of mineral reserves.

Suggested Citation

  • Feulefack Kemmanang, Ludovic, 2021. "Does resource dependence cushion the impact of thin capitalization rules on foreign investment inflows? Evidence from Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:72:y:2021:i:c:s0301420721000726
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420721000726
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102055?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jarle Møen & Dirk Schindler & Guttorm Schjelderup & Julia Tropina, 2011. "International Debt Shifting: Do Multinationals Shift Internal or External Debt?," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2011-40, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    2. Theresa Lohse & Nadine Riedel, 2013. "Do Transfer Pricing Laws Limit International Income Shifting? Evidence from European Multinationals," CESifo Working Paper Series 4404, CESifo.
    3. Steven Poelhekke & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2013. "Do Natural Resources Attract Nonresource FDI?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 1047-1065, July.
    4. Alex Cobham & Petr Janský, 2018. "Global distribution of revenue loss from corporate tax avoidance: re†estimation and country results," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 206-232, March.
    5. Hines, James R. Jr., 1999. "Lessons From Behavioral Responses to International Taxation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(2), pages 305-322, June.
    6. Ronald B. Davies & Julien Martin & Mathieu Parenti & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Knocking on Tax Haven’s Door: Multinational Firms and Transfer Pricing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(1), pages 120-134, March.
    7. Valeria Merlo & Nadine Riedel & Georg Wamser, 2020. "The impact of thin‐capitalization rules on the location of multinational firms’ foreign affiliates," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 35-61, February.
    8. Busse, Matthias & Hefeker, Carsten, 2007. "Political risk, institutions and foreign direct investment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 397-415, June.
    9. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "Foreign direct investment in a world of multiple taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2727-2744, December.
    10. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    11. Basesa Jumanne, Bilali & Chee Keong, Choong, 2018. "Foreign Direct Investment and Natural Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Institutions towards the Africa We Want “2063 Vision”," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 6(1), January.
    12. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    13. Bertrand Laporte & Yannick Bouterige & Céline de Quatrebarbes, 2015. "La fiscalité minière en Afrique : le secteur de l’or dans 14 pays de 1980 à 2015," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 23(4), pages 83-128.
    14. Buettner, Thiess & Wamser, Georg, 2013. "Internal Debt and Multinational Profit Shifting: Empirical Evidence From Firm-Level Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 63-95, March.
    15. Peter Egger & Christian Keuschnigg & Valeria Merlo & Georg Wamser, 2014. "Corporate Taxes and Internal Borrowing within Multinational Firms," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 54-93, May.
    16. Jennifer Blouin & Harry Huizinga & Luc Laeven & Gaëtan Nicodème, 2013. "Thin capitalization rules and multinational firm capital structure," Working Papers 1323, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    17. Kelly Edmiston & Shannon Mudd & Neven Valev, 2003. "Tax Structures and FDI: The Deterrent Effects of Complexity and Uncertainty," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 341-359, September.
    18. Martina Lawless, 2013. "Do Complicated Tax Systems Prevent Foreign Direct Investment?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(317), pages 1-22, January.
    19. Anca D. Cristea & Daniel X. Nguyen, 2016. "Transfer Pricing by Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Foreign Firm Ownerships," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 170-202, August.
    20. Georg Wamser, 2014. "The Impact of Thin-Capitalization Rules on External Debt Usage – A Propensity Score Matching Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(5), pages 764-781, October.
    21. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    22. Mr. Reint Gropp & Ms. Kristina Kostial, 2000. "The Disappearing Tax Base: Is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Eroding Corporate Income Taxes?," IMF Working Papers 2000/173, International Monetary Fund.
    23. Kostial, Kristina & Gropp, Reint, 2000. "The disappearing tax base: is foreign direct investment eroding corporate income taxes?," Working Paper Series 31, European Central Bank.
    24. Ndikumana, Léonce & Sarr, Mare, 2019. "Capital flight, foreign direct investment and natural resources in Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    25. Jørgen Juel Andersen & Niels Johannesen & David Dreyer Lassen & Elena Paltseva, 2017. "Petro Rents, Political Institutions, and Hidden Wealth: Evidence from Offshore Bank Accounts," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 818-860.
    26. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    27. Leonce Ndikumana & Mare Sarr, 2019. "Capital Flight, Foreign Direct Investment and Natural Resources in Africa," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-12, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    28. Michael Devereux & Harold Freeman, 1995. "The impact of tax on foreign direct investment: Empirical evidence and the implications for tax integration schemes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 2(1), pages 85-106, February.
    29. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Helen Windischbauer & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2008. "Thin-Capitalization Rules and Company Responses Experience from German Legislation," CESifo Working Paper Series 2456, CESifo.
    30. Ludovic K. Feulefack & Bertelet S. Ngassam, 2020. "Natural resources, quality of institutions and foreign direct investment in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 148-162.
    31. Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2014. "Bilateral internal debt financing and tax planning of multinational firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 191-209, February.
    32. Steven Cassou, 1997. "The link between tax rates and foreign direct investment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(10), pages 1295-1301.
    33. Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2010. "Corporate tax planning and thin-capitalization rules: evidence from a quasi-experiment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 563-573.
    34. Buettner, Thiess & Overesch, Michael & Schreiber, Ulrich & Wamser, Georg, 2012. "The impact of thin-capitalization rules on the capital structure of multinational firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 930-938.
    35. Joosung Jun, 1994. "How taxation affects foreign direct investment (country - specific evidence)," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1307, The World Bank.
    36. Sen, Kunal & Sinha, Chaitali, 2017. "The location choice of US foreign direct investment: how do institutions matter?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 401-420, June.
    37. Mintz, Jack M. & Weichenrieder, Alfons J., 2010. "The Indirect Side of Direct Investment: Multinational Company Finance and Taxation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262014491, December.
    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. Yang, Xiao & Anser, Muhammad Khalid & Yusop, Zulkornain & Abbas, Shujaat & Khan, Muhammad Azhar & Zaman, Khalid, 2022. "Volatility in mineral resource pricing causes ecological footprints: A cloud on the horizon," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Das, Khanindra Ch & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Sadorsky, Perry, 2023. "Tax provision by international subsidiaries of Indian extractive industry multinationals: Do environmental pollution and corruption matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    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. Overesch Michael, 2016. "Steuervermeidung multinationaler Unternehmen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 129-143, July.
    2. Ludovic Feulefack Kemmanang, 2021. "Do thin capitalization rules crowd out multinational firms in Africa? Looking towards efficiency in revenue mobilization," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 594-603.
    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. Thiess Buettner & Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2018. "Anti profit-shifting rules and foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 553-580, June.
    5. Jarkko Harju & Ilpo Kauppinen & Olli Ropponen, 2017. "Firm Responses to an Interest Barrier: Empirical Evidence," EconPol Working Paper 3, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Ludovic Feulefack Kemmanang & Jonas Juleo Dongmo Zamké, 2022. "Does the quality of institutions matter for foreign investment concentration in Africa? Understanding the controversial role of international aid," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 354-374, February.
    7. Nicolay, Katharina & Nusser, Hannah & Pfeiffer, Olena, 2017. "On the interdependency of profit shifting channels and the effectiveness of anti-avoidance legislation," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-066, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Ruf Martin & Schindler Dirk, 2015. "Debt Shifting and Thin-Capitalization Rules – German Experience and Alternative Approaches," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2015(1), pages 17-33, September.
    9. Franz Reiter & Dominika Langenmayr & Svea Holtmann, 2021. "Avoiding taxes: banks’ use of internal debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 717-745, June.
    10. Ropponen, Olli, 2021. "Interest Limitation Rules and Business Cycles: Empirical Evidence," ETLA Working Papers 90, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    11. Mardan, Mohammed, 2017. "Why countries differ in thin capitalization rules: The role of financial development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Valeria Merlo & Georg Wamser, 2015. "Debt Shifting and Thin-capitalization Rules," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(4), pages 27-31, 01.
    13. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2015:i:4:p:19151968 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Peter Egger & Michael Stimmelmayr, 2017. "Taxation and the Multinational Firm," CESifo Working Paper Series 6384, CESifo.
    15. Arnt Ove Hopland & Petro Lisowsky & Mohammed Mardan & Dirk Schindler, 2014. "Income Shifting under Losses," CESifo Working Paper Series 5130, CESifo.
    16. Abdramane Camara, 2023. "The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Tax Revenue," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 168-190, March.
    17. Abdramane Camara, 2019. "The effect of foreign direct investment on tax revenue in developing countries," Working Papers hal-03188025, HAL.
    18. Zarko Y. Kalamov, 2020. "Safe haven or earnings stripping rules: a prisoner’s dilemma?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 38-76, February.
    19. Dreßler, Daniel & Scheuering, Uwe, 2012. "Empirical evaluation of interest barrier effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-046, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Mongrain, Steeve & Oh, David & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2023. "Tax competition in the presence of profit shifting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    21. Kayis-Kumar, Ann, 2015. "Thin capitalisation rules: A second-best solution to the cross-border debt bias?," MPRA Paper 72031, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:eee:jrpoli:v:72:y:2021:i:c:s0301420721000726. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    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.