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Trade integration and business tax differentials: Evidence from OECD countries

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  • Exbrayat, Nelly
  • Geys, Benny

Abstract

Building on recent contributions to the New Economic Geography literature, this paper analyses the relation between asymmetric market size, trade integration and business income tax differentials across countries. First, relying on Ottaviano and Van Ypersele's (2005) foot-loose capital model of tax competition, we illustrate that trade integration reduces the importance of relative market size for differences in the extent of corporate taxation between countries. Then, using a dataset of 26 OECD countries over the period 1982-2004, we provide supportive evidence of these theoretical predictions: i.e., market size differences are strongly positively correlated with corporate income tax differences across countries but, crucially, trade integration weakens this link. These findings are obtained controlling for the potential endogeneity of trade integration and are robust to alternative specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Exbrayat, Nelly & Geys, Benny, 2012. "Trade integration and business tax differentials: Evidence from OECD countries," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-110, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbfff:spii2012110
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nelly Exbrayat, 2013. "Corporate tax differentials in a multi-country world with imperfectly integrated economies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(2), pages 1374-1382.
    2. Nelly Exbrayat & Benny Geys, 2014. "Trade integration and corporate income tax differentials," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(2), pages 298-323, April.
    3. Nelly Exbrayat, 2016. "Does trade liberalization trigger tax competition? Theory and evidence from OECD countries," Working Papers 1620, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    4. Nelly Exbrayat, 2016. "Does trade liberalization trigger tax competition? Theory and evidence from OECD countries," Working Papers halshs-01328769, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax competition; trade integration; new economic geography; tax differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

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