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International commodity taxation in the presence of unemployment

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  • Moriconi, Simone
  • Sato, Yasuhiro

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of commodity tax competition on welfare and employment under the destination and origin principles, when the labor market is imperfectly competitive owing to a binding fixed wage. Our main finding is that commodity taxation causes an employment externality whose signs may be opposite under the two principles. While tax competition leads to inefficient tax rates under both principles, we also prove that the origin principle guarantees lower unemployment and higher welfare when the fixed wage is high. Finally, we show that the employment externality still exists in a standard union model of wage determination.

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  • Moriconi, Simone & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2009. "International commodity taxation in the presence of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 939-949, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:7-8:p:939-949
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    2. Braun, Sebastian & Spielmann, Christian, 2012. "Wage subsidies and international trade: When does policy coordination pay?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-42.
    3. Simone Moriconi & Pierre M. Picard & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2019. "Commodity taxation and regulatory competition," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(4), pages 919-965, August.
    4. Kangoh Lee, 2021. "Labor market frictions, capital, taxes and employment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(6), pages 1329-1359, December.
    5. Aiura, Hiroshi & Ogawa, Hikaru, 2013. "Unit tax versus ad valorem tax: A tax competition model with cross-border shopping," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 30-38.
    6. Fabio Antoniou & Panos Hatzipanayotou & Michael S. Michael & Nikos Tsakiris, 2019. "On the Principles of Commodity Taxation under Interregional Externalities," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 03-2019, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    7. Moriconi, Simone & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2009. "International commodity taxation in the presence of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 939-949, August.
    8. Fabio Antoniou & Panos Hatzipanayotou & Nikos Tsakiris, 2015. "Destination vs. Origin-based Commodity Taxation in Large Open Economies with Unemployment," CESifo Working Paper Series 5585, CESifo.
    9. Fabio Antoniou & Panos Hatzipanayotou & Michael S. Michael & Nikos Tsakiris, 2022. "Tax competition in the presence of environmental spillovers," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(3), pages 600-626, June.
    10. Fabio Antoniou & Panos Hatzipanayotou & Michael S. Michael & Nikos Tsakiris, 2016. "On the Efficiency of Destination and Origin Commodity Taxation in the Presence of Consumption Generated Cross-Border Pollution," CESifo Working Paper Series 6221, CESifo.
    11. Fabio Antoniou & Panos Hatzipanayotou & Nikos Tsakiris, 2019. "Destination‐based vs. Origin‐based Commodity Taxation in Large Open Economies with Unemployment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(341), pages 67-86, January.
    12. Pauser, Johannes, 2020. "Congestion, wage rigidities and the provision of public intermediate goods," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224625, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity taxation Destination principle Origin principle Unemployment Employment externality;

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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