IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_956.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Capital Mobility and Tax Competition: A Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Clemens Fuest
  • Bernd Huber
  • Jack Mintz

Abstract

This paper surveys the literature on the implications of international capital mobility for national tax policies. Our main issue for consideration in this survey is whether taxation of income, specifically capital income will survive, how border crossing investment is taxed relative to domestic investment and whether welfare gains can be achieved through international tax coordination. We develop a a “working horse model” of multinational investment which allows to derive many of the key results from the literature on international taxation in a unified framework. Moreover, we put special emphasis on the problem of tax competition and financial arbitrage.

Suggested Citation

  • Clemens Fuest & Bernd Huber & Jack Mintz, 2003. "Capital Mobility and Tax Competition: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 956, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo_wp956.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosanne Altshuler & T. Scott Newlon & Joel Slemrod, 1993. "The Effects of U.S. Tax Policy on the Income Repatriation Patterns of U. S . Multinational Corporations," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in International Taxation, pages 77-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Weichenrieder, Alfons J, 1996. " Transfer Pricing, Double Taxation, and the Cost of Capital," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(3), pages 445-452.
    3. Michael Keen & Hannu Piekkola, 1997. "Simple Rules for the Optimal Taxation of International Capital Income," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 447-461, September.
    4. Lisa Grazzini & Tanguy Van Ypersele, 2003. "Fiscal Coordination and Political Competition," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 305-325, April.
    5. Ronald B. Davies, 2003. "The OECD Model Tax Treaty: Tax Competition And Two-Way Capital Flows," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(2), pages 725-753, May.
    6. Wolfgang Eggert & Andreas Haufler, 1998. "When Do Small Countries Win Tax Wars?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 26(4), pages 327-361, July.
    7. Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Tax competition with interregional differences in factor endowments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 423-451, November.
    8. Elitzur, Ramy & Mintz, Jack, 1996. "Transfer pricing rules and corporate tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 401-422, June.
    9. Haufler, Andreas & Wooton, Ian, 1999. "Country size and tax competition for foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 121-139, January.
    10. Jack Mintz & Henry Tulkens, 2006. "Optimality Properties of Alternative Systems of Taxation of Foreign Capital Income," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 507-532, Springer.
    11. Gordon, Roger H & Bovenberg, A Lans, 1996. "Why Is Capital So Immobile Internationally? Possible Explanations and Implications for Capital Income Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1057-1075, December.
    12. Edwards, Jeremy & Keen, Michael, 1996. "Tax competition and Leviathan," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 113-134, January.
    13. Haufler, Andreas & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2000. "Corporate Tax Systems and Cross Country Profit Shifting," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 306-325, April.
    14. Jack Mintz & Henry Tulkens, 2006. "Commodity Tax Competition Between Member States of a Federation: Equilibrium and Efficiency," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 449-489, Springer.
    15. Gordon, Roger H. & Varian, Hal R., 1989. "Taxation of asset income in the presence of a world securities market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 205-226, May.
    16. Wildasin, David E., 1989. "Interjurisdictional capital mobility: Fiscal externality and a corrective subsidy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 193-212, March.
    17. Andreas Haufler & Ian Wooton, 2001. "Regional Tax Coordination and Foreign Direct Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 628, CESifo.
    18. Janeba, Eckhard, 1995. "Corporate income tax competition, double taxation treaties, and foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 311-325, February.
    19. Roger H. Gordon, 1983. "An Optimal Taxation Approach to Fiscal Federalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(4), pages 567-586.
    20. Bucovetsky, S., 1991. "Asymmetric tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 167-181, September.
    21. Andreas Haufler, 1997. "Factor Taxation, Income Distribution and Capital Market Integration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 425-446, September.
    22. Huizinga, Harry & Nielsen, Soren Bo, 1997. "Capital income and profit taxation with foreign ownership of firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 149-165, February.
    23. Manuel Leite–Monteiro & Maurice Marchand & Pierre Pestieau, 2003. "Employment Subsidy with Capital Mobility," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 327-344, April.
    24. William Oakland & Yongsheng Xu, 1996. "Double taxation and tax deduction: A comparison," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(1), pages 45-56, January.
    25. John Dutton, 1982. "The Optimal Taxation of International Investment Income: A Comment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(2), pages 373-380.
    26. Thomas A. Gresik, 2001. "The Taxing Task of Taxing Transnationals," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 800-838, September.
    27. John Kennan & Raymond Riezman, 2013. "Do Big Countries Win Tariff Wars?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Raymond Riezman (ed.), International Trade Agreements and Political Economy, chapter 4, pages 45-51, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    28. Sinn, H.W., 1990. "Taxation And The Birth Of Foreign Subsidiaries," Papers 66, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Discussion Paper.
    29. Gordon, Roger H, 1992. "Can Capital Income Taxes Survive in Open Economies?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1159-1180, July.
    30. Wolfgang Eggert & Bernd Genser, 2001. "Is Tax Harmonization Useful?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(4), pages 511-527, August.
    31. Huber, Bernd, 1999. "Tax competition and tax coordination in an optimum income tax model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 441-458, March.
    32. Martin Feldstein & David Hartman, 1979. "The Optimal Taxation of Foreign Source Investment Income," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(4), pages 613-629.
    33. Fuest, Clemens & Hemmelgarn, Thomas, 2005. "Corporate tax policy, foreign firm ownership and thin capitalization," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 508-526, September.
    34. Wellisch,Dietmar, 2000. "Theory of Public Finance in a Federal State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521630351.
    35. Michael Keen, 1993. "The welfare economics of tax co-ordination in the European Community : a survey," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 15-36, February.
    36. DePeter James A. & Myers Gordon M., 1994. "Strategic Capital Tax Competition: A Pecuniary Externality and a Corrective Device," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 66-78, July.
    37. Arjan Lejour & Harrie Verbon, 1996. "Capital mobility, wage bargaining, and social insurance policies in an economic union," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(4), pages 495-513, October.
    38. Gabszewicz, J. J. & van Ypersele, T., 1996. "Social protection and political competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 193-208, August.
    39. Giovannini, Alberto & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Slemrod, Joel (ed.), 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226297019, December.
    40. Wolfram Richter & Kerstin Schneider, 2001. "Taxing Mobile Capital with Labor Market Imperfections," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(3), pages 245-262, May.
    41. Gabrielsen, Tommy Staahl & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 1999. " Transfer Pricing and Ownership Structure," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 673-688, December.
    42. Haufler,Andreas, 2008. "Taxation in a Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521047593.
    43. Konrad, Kai A. & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 1999. "Fortress Building in Global Tax Competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 156-167, July.
    44. Bucovetsky, Sam & Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Tax competition with two tax instruments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 333-350, November.
    45. Mintz, Jack & Smart, Michael, 2004. "Income shifting, investment, and tax competition: theory and evidence from provincial taxation in Canada," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1149-1168, June.
    46. Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen & Guttorm Schjelderup, 1999. "Transfer Pricing and Ownership Structure," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 673-688, December.
    47. Hans-Werner Sinn & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 1997. "Foreign direct investment, political resentment and the privatization process in eastern Europe," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 12(24), pages 178-210.
    48. Oates, Wallace E. & Schwab, Robert M., 1988. "Economic competition among jurisdictions: efficiency enhancing or distortion inducing?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 333-354, April.
    49. Wilson, John Douglas, 1999. "Theories of Tax Competition," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(2), pages 269-304, June.
    50. Patrick J. Kehoe, 1989. "Policy Cooperation Among Benevolent Governments May Be Undesirable," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(2), pages 289-296.
    51. Jean-François Wen, 1997. "Tax Holidays and the International Capital Market," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 129-148, May.
    52. Konan, Denise Eby, 1997. "Strategic taxation of the multinational enterprise: A new argument for double taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 301-309, January.
    53. Huber, Bernd, 1999. "Tax competition and tax coordination in an optimum income tax model," Munich Reprints in Economics 19402, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    54. Frey, Bruno S. & Eichenberger, Reiner, 1996. "To harmonize or to compete? That's not the question," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 335-349, June.
    55. Bond, Eric W & Samuelson, Larry, 1989. "Strategic Behaviour and the Rules for International Taxation of Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(398), pages 1099-1111, December.
    56. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2001. "International Tax Coordination: Regionalism Versus Globalism," CESifo Working Paper Series 483, CESifo.
    57. Keen, Michael & Piekkola, Hannu, 1997. " Simple Rules for the Optimal Taxation of International Capital Income," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 447-461, September.
    58. Fuest, Clemens, 2000. "The Political Economy of Tax Coordination as a Bargaining Game between Bureaucrats and Politicians," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 103(3-4), pages 357-382, June.
    59. Janeba, Eckhard, 1996. "Foreign direct investment under oligopoly: Profit shifting or profit capturing?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 423-445, June.
    60. Lee, Kangoh, 1997. "Tax Competition with Imperfectly Mobile Capital," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 222-242, September.
    61. MINTZ, Jack M. & TULKENS, Henry, 1990. "The OECD Convention: A ``Model" for Corporate Tax Harmonization?," LIDAM Reprints CORE 1025, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    62. Wilson, John Douglas, 1999. "Theories of Tax Competition," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 2), pages 269-304, June.
    63. Gordon, Roger H, 1986. "Taxation of Investment and Savings in a World Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1086-1102, December.
    64. Haufler, Andreas, 1997. " Factor Taxation, Income Distribution and Capital Market Integration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 425-446, September.
    65. Leechor, Chad & Mintz, Jack, 1993. "On the taxation of multinational corporate investment when the deferral method is used by the capital exporting country," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 75-96, May.
    66. Wilson, John D., 1986. "A theory of interregional tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 296-315, May.
    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. Dickescheid, Thomas, 2002. "Steuerwettbewerb und Direktinvestitionen," Beiträge zur Finanzwissenschaft, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, edition 1, volume 16, number urn:isbn:9783161477348, December.
    2. Gordon, Roger H. & Hines, James Jr, 2002. "International taxation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 28, pages 1935-1995, Elsevier.
    3. Wilson, John Douglas & Wildasin, David E., 2004. "Capital tax competition: bane or boon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1065-1091, June.
    4. Thomas A. Gresik, 2001. "The Taxing Task of Taxing Transnationals," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 800-838, September.
    5. Zodrow, George R, 2003. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 651-671, November.
    6. Mintz, Jack M., 2000. "Taxation of Investment and Finance in an International Setting: Implications for Tax Competition," CoFE Discussion Papers 00/33, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
    7. Clemens Fuest & Bernd Huber, 2002. "Why Capital Income Taxes Survive in Open Economies: The Role of Multinational Firms," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(5), pages 567-589, September.
    8. Gaëtan Nicodème, 2006. "Corporate tax competition and coordination in the European Union: What do we know? Where do we stand?," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 250, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    9. Sorensen, Peter Birch, 2004. "International tax coordination: regionalism versus globalism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1187-1214, June.
    10. Braid, Ralph M., 2005. "Tax competition, tax exporting and higher-government choice of tax instruments for local governments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1789-1821, September.
    11. Lisa Grazzini & Tanguy Van Ypersele, 2003. "Fiscal Coordination and Political Competition," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 305-325, April.
    12. Amrita Dhillon & Myrna Wooders & Ben Zissimos, 2007. "Tax Competition Reconsidered," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(3), pages 391-423, June.
    13. Braid, Ralph M., 2000. "A Spatial Model of Tax Competition with Multiple Tax Instruments," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 88-114, January.
    14. Emmanuel Bretin & Stéphane Guimbert & Thierry Madiès, 2002. "La concurrence fiscale sur le bénéfice des entreprises : théories et pratiques," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 156(5), pages 15-42.
    15. Ronald B. Davies & Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2003. "Tax Competition for International Producers and the Mode of Foreign Market Entry," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2006-19, University of Oregon Economics Department, revised 10 Jun 2003.
    16. Delage, Benoit, 1999. "Concurrence fiscale : un survol," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 67-93, mars-juin.
    17. Brueckner, Jan K. & Saavedra, Luz A., 2001. "Do Local Governments Engage in Strategic Property-Tax Competition?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(2), pages 203-230, June.
    18. Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2005. "Relaxing Tax Competition through Public Good Differentiation," Economic Research Papers 269630, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    19. Kind, Hans Jarle & Midelfart, Karen Helene & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2005. "Corporate tax systems, multinational enterprises, and economic integration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 507-521, March.
    20. Leonzio Rizzo, 2006. "Le inefficienze della competizione fiscale: una rassegna dei principali modelli teorici," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 89-120.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax competition; capital mobility; tax policy;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_956. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.