IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sgh/erfinj/v5y2020i1p17-32.html

Exploring the Likelihood of a Country Being a Tax Haven Using MIMIC Models

Author

Listed:
  • Paulo Mourao

    (Department of Economics, University of Minho, Portugal)

Abstract

The multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) framework is used to analyze dimensions related to causation and indicators of tax haven status. Robust results were obtained that identify a country's tax burden and area as causes of a country adopting policies usually observed in tax havens. The level of social security contributions as a proportion of public revenues and the ratio of indirect to direct taxes were found to be statistically significant indicators of tax havens. Data from 68 countries for more than twenty years were analyzed, enabling the results to contribute to a deepening of the current debate about tax havens and their socio-economic profiles.

Suggested Citation

  • Paulo Mourao, 2020. "Exploring the Likelihood of a Country Being a Tax Haven Using MIMIC Models," Econometric Research in Finance, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, vol. 5(1), pages 17-32, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sgh:erfinj:v:5:y:2020:i:1:p:17-32
    DOI: 10.2478/erfin-2020-0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.erfin.org/journal/index.php/erfin/article/view/82
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/erfin-2020-0002?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dreher, Axel & Kotsogiannis, Christos & McCorriston, Steve, 2007. "Corruption around the world: Evidence from a structural model," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 443-466, September.
    2. Ana Margarida Raposo & Paulo Reis Mourao, 2013. "Tax havens or tax hells? A discussion of the historical roots and present consequences of tax havens," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 37(3), pages 311-360.
    3. Roberto Dell’Anno & Paulo Mourao, 2012. "Fiscal Illusion around the World," Public Finance Review, , vol. 40(2), pages 270-299, March.
    4. Gary Burn, 2006. "The Re-Emergence of Global Finance," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-50159-1, September.
    5. Zellner, Arnold, 1970. "Estimation of Regression Relationships Containing Unobservable Independent Variables," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 11(3), pages 441-454, October.
    6. Piotr Dybka & Michał Kowalczuk & Bartosz Olesiński & Andrzej Torój & Marek Rozkrut, 2019. "Currency demand and MIMIC models: towards a structured hybrid method of measuring the shadow economy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(1), pages 4-40, February.
    7. Carl Chiarella & Toan Pham & Ah Boon Sim & Madeleine Tan, 1991. "Determinants of Corporate Capital Structure: Australian Evidence," Working Paper Series 3, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    8. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2010. "Tax enforcement and tax havens under formula apportionment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(3), pages 217-235, June.
    9. Paulo Reis Mourao, 2008. "Towards a Puviani s Fiscal Illusion Index," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 187(4), pages 49-86, December.
    10. James R. Hines Jr., 2005. "Do Tax Havens Flourish?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 19, pages 65-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Buehn, Andreas & Schneider, Friedrich, 2008. "MIMIC Models, Cointegration and Error Correction: An Application to the French Shadow Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 3306, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Dharmapala, Dhammika & Hines Jr., James R., 2009. "Which countries become tax havens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1058-1068, October.
    13. Wiebke Kuklys, 2004. "Measuring Standard of Living in the UK - An Application of Sen's Functioning Approach Using Structural Equation Models," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2004-11, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mohammed Mardan, 2019. "Tax Systems and Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 7940, CESifo.
    2. Hassan, Mai & Schneider, Friedrich, 2016. "Size and Development of the Shadow Economies of 157 Countries Worldwide: Updated and New Measures from 1999 to 2013," IZA Discussion Papers 10281, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Samuel Rueckert Brazys, 2014. "Paradise Lost: The Cost of Removing Tax and Trade Provisions from the Compact of Free Association," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 204-215, January.
    4. Slemrod, Joel & Wilson, John D., 2009. "Tax competition with parasitic tax havens," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1261-1270, December.
    5. Michael Brei, 2013. "Offshore financial centers in the Caribbean: An overview," EconomiX Working Papers 2013-40, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    6. Pieroni, Luca & d'Agostino, Giorgio & Bartolucci, Francesco, 2013. "Identifying corruption through latent class models: evidence from transition economies," MPRA Paper 43981, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Sacco, Pier Luigi & Arenas, Alex & De Domenico, Manlio, 2023. "The political economy of big data leaks: Uncovering the skeleton of tax evasion," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Buettner, Thiess & Poehnlein, Maximilian, 2024. "Tax competition effects of a minimum tax rate: Empirical evidence from German municipalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    9. Hebous, Shafik & Lipatov, Vilen, 2014. "A journey from a corruption port to a tax haven," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 739-754.
    10. Sergey Arzhenovskiy, 2023. "Estimate of shadow economy dynamics in Russia and regions: The inflationary aspect," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 69, pages 121-140.
    11. Alexandra Rudolph & Friedrich Schneider, 2017. "International Human Trafficking: Measuring Clandestinity by the Structural Equation Approach," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 39-58.
    12. Nezhyvenko, O., 2019. "Indirect or Macroeconomic Methods in Measuring the Informal Economy," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 8(4), pages 201-215, December.
    13. Csomós, György, 2015. "The ranking of cities as centres of the Hungarian economy, 1992–2012," MPRA Paper 73948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Li Liu & Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr & Dongxian Guo, 2020. "International Transfer Pricing and Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Linked Trade-Tax Statistics in the United Kingdom," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 766-778, October.
    15. Vincent Bouvatier & Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Anne-Laure Delatte, 2025. "Banks defy gravity in tax havens," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 77(3), pages 885-904.
    16. Glenn Abela & Tiziana Gauci & Noel Rapa, 2022. "An Analysis of The Shadow Economy in Malta: A Currency Demand and MIMIC Model Approach," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 12(1), pages 41-50.
    17. Pieretti, Patrice & Pulina, Giuseppe, 2024. "A game-theoretic analysis of international tax compliance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    18. Emmanuel Umoru Haruna & Usman Alhassan, 2022. "Does digitalization limit the proliferation of the shadow economy in African countries? An in‐depth panel analysis," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(S1), pages 34-62, July.
    19. Hailin Chen & Friedrich Schneider & Qunli Sun, 2020. "Measuring the size of the shadow economy in 30 provinces of China over 1995–2016: The MIMIC approach," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 427-453, August.
    20. Pier Luigi Sacco & Alex Arenas & Manlio De Domenico, 2022. "The political economy of big data leaks: Uncovering the skeleton of tax evasion," Papers 2202.13417, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sgh:erfinj:v:5:y:2020:i:1:p:17-32. 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: Dobromił Serwa (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sgwawpl.html .

    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.