IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2022-162.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Herding, rent-seeking taxpayers, and endemic corruption

Author

Listed:
  • Gil S. Epstein
  • Ira N. Gang

Abstract

In an environment with extensive corruption where much of the population evades paying their full taxes due, we tackle the question of optimal taxation when constituencies with opposing objectives (the poor and the rich) push tax policy in different directions. We think in terms of a government policy-maker, here called the tax administrator (TA), and rent-seeking lobbying efforts by poor and rich constituencies. We recognize taxpayers' inter-dependency as reflected in increased evasion likelihood when others are thought to be evading.

Suggested Citation

  • Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2022. "Herding, rent-seeking taxpayers, and endemic corruption," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-162, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-162
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2022-162-herding-rent-seeking-taxpayers-endemic-corruption.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Itzhak Gilboa & David Schmeidler, 1995. "Case-Based Decision Theory," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 605-639.
    2. Tony Addison & Miguel Niño†Zarazúa & Jukka Pirttilä, 2018. "Fiscal Policy, State Building and Economic Development," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 161-172, March.
    3. Gil Epstein & Shmuel Nitzan, 2006. "The Politics of Randomness," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 27(2), pages 423-433, October.
    4. Scharfstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1990. "Herd Behavior and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 465-479, June.
    5. Patrick Schneider & Gautam Bose, 2017. "Organizational Cultures of Corruption," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 19(1), pages 59-80, February.
    6. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    7. Frank Flatters & W. Macleod, 1995. "Administrative corruption and taxation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 2(3), pages 397-417, October.
    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. Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2010. "Why Pay Taxes When No One Else Does?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 374-385, May.
    2. Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2019. "Inequality, good governance, and endemic corruption," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(5), pages 999-1017, October.
    3. Bohl, Martin T. & Branger, Nicole & Trede, Mark, 2017. "The case for herding is stronger than you think," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 30-40.
    4. Bartosz Wilczek, 2020. "Misinformation and herd behavior in media markets: A cross-national investigation of how tabloids’ attention to misinformation drives broadsheets’ attention to misinformation in political and business," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Jiali Liu & Xinran Xie & Yu Duan & Liang Tang, 2023. "Peer effects and the mechanisms in corporate capital structure: evidence from Chinese listed firms," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(1), pages 295-326, March.
    6. Pegah Dehghani & Ros Zam Zam Sapian, 2014. "Sectoral herding behavior in the aftermarket of Malaysian IPOs," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 227-246, July.
    7. Saad, Mohsen & Samet, Anis, 2020. "Collectivism and commonality in liquidity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 137-162.
    8. He, Xue-Zhong & Li, Kai & Santi, Caterina & Shi, Lei, 2022. "Social interaction, volatility clustering, and momentum," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 125-149.
    9. Robin, Stéphane & Rusinowska, Agnieszka & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2014. "Ingratiation: Experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 16-38.
    10. Tao Wang, 2011. "Dynamic Equilibrium Bunching," Working Paper 1291, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    11. Christopher J. Blackburn & Mallory E. Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Juan Moreno‐Cruz, 2020. "Do Pilot and Demonstration Projects Work? Evidence from a Green Building Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1100-1132, September.
    12. Luis Garicano & Richard A. Posner, 2005. "Intelligence Failures: An Organizational Economics Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 151-170, Fall.
    13. Jeon, Jin Q & Moffett, Clay M., 2010. "Herding by foreign investors and emerging market equity returns: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 698-710, October.
    14. Tomoya Tajika, 2021. "Persistent and snap decision‐making," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 203-227, February.
    15. Yide Wang & Chao Yu & Xujie Zhao, 2023. "Does herding effect help forecast market volatility?—Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1275-1290, August.
    16. Philippe Jehiel, 2022. "Analogy-Based Expectation Equilibrium and Related Concepts:Theory, Applications, and Beyond," PSE Working Papers halshs-03735680, HAL.
    17. Wu, Ji & Yao, Yao & Chen, Minghua & Jeon, Bang Nam, 2020. "Economic uncertainty and bank risk: Evidence from emerging economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Piotti, Geny, 2007. "Why do companies relocate? The German discourse on relocation," MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/14, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Takatoshi Ito, 2000. "Capital Flows in Asia," NBER Chapters, in: Capital Flows and the Emerging Economies: Theory, Evidence, and Controversies, pages 255-296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Mathias Drehmann & Jörg Oechssler & Andreas Roider, 2005. "Herding and Contrarian Behavior in Financial Markets: An Internet Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1403-1426, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax evasion; Corruption; Rent-seeking; Tax administration; Poor;
    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-162. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.