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Attracting private investment: Tax reduction, investment subsidy, or both?

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  • Sarkar, Sudipto

Abstract

This paper uses a real-option model to examine the net benefit to a government from using tax cut and/or investment subsidy as incentives to induce immediate investment. Although earlier papers generally concluded that investment subsidy dominates tax cut, it is observed that many governments use a combination of subsidy and tax cut. We show that, when the government uses a different discount rate from private firms, and when it has to borrow money to provide an investment subsidy, it is possible to get an internal optimum; that is, it might be optimal for the government to provide an investment subsidy as well as charge a positive tax rate on the profits from the project. Thus, we provide an explanation for the puzzling fact that many governments provide an investment subsidy to a firm while simultaneously taxing its profits.

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  • Sarkar, Sudipto, 2012. "Attracting private investment: Tax reduction, investment subsidy, or both?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1780-1785.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:29:y:2012:i:5:p:1780-1785
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2012.05.030
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    Cited by:

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    2. Luca Corato, 2016. "Investment stimuli under government present-biased time preferences," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 101-111, October.
    3. Tan, Yingxian & Pan, Zhihao & Wang, Rui & Wen, Chunhui, 2023. "Macroeconomic conditions and investment stimuli," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Aneta Bobenič Hintošová & František Sudzina & Terézia Barlašová, 2021. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Investment Incentives in Slovakia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-12, February.
    5. Aneta Hintošová & Terézia Barlašová, 2021. "The Role Of Investment Promotion Policy In Attracting Foreign Direct Investment: The Case Of Slovakia," Public administration issues, Higher School of Economics, issue 5, pages 27-40.
    6. Lukas, Elmar & Thiergart, Sascha, 2019. "The interaction of debt financing, cash grants and the optimal investment policy under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(1), pages 284-299.
    7. Yuchen Lin & Daxin Dong & Jiaxin Wang, 2021. "The Negative Impact of Uncertainty on R&D Investment: International Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    8. Barbosa, Diogo & Carvalho, Vitor M. & Pereira, Paulo J., 2016. "Public stimulus for private investment: An extended real options model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 742-748.
    9. Kai Chang & Ning Lu & Ze Sheng Li & Yi Ran Wang, 2021. "The combined impacts of fiscal and credit policies on green firm's investment opportunity: Evidences from Chinese firm‐level analysis," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(7), pages 1822-1835, October.
    10. Bin Wang & Samia Khalid & Hamid Mahmood, 2024. "R&D Spending and Economic Policy Uncertainty in Asian Countries: an Advanced Panel Data Estimation Study," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4710-4729, March.
    11. Yingjie Niu & Jinqiang Yang & Siqi Zhao, 2022. "Robust stimulus of private investment: Tax rate cut or investment subsidy?," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 18(3), pages 339-357, September.
    12. Zhong, Yuanguang & Yang, Tong & Zillmann, Stefan & Cao, Bin, 2022. "The role of government regulatory policies in financing capital-constrained retailers under competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. Zhang, Zixuan & Chronopoulos, Michail & Kyriakou, Ioannis & Dimitrova, Dimitrina S., 2024. "Bi-level optimisation of subsidy and capacity investment under competition and uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 318(1), pages 327-340.
    14. Renz, André, 2016. "Die Relevanz von Replikationen in der experimentellen Steuerforschung: Eine Replikationsstudie zu Wahrnehmungsverzerrungen bei Subventionen," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 202, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    15. Dosi Cesare & Moretto Michele & Tamborini Roberto, 2022. "Do balanced-budget fiscal stimuli of investment increase its economic value?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 157-179, May.
    16. Nagy, Roel L.G. & Fleten, Stein-Erik & Sendstad, Lars H., 2023. "Don’t stop me now: Incremental capacity growth under subsidy termination risk," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. Zhen Chen & Yaqi Zhao & Xia Zhou & Lin Zhang, 2020. "Investigating Critical Factors That Encourage Private Partners to Participate in Sports and Leisure Characteristic Town Public-Private Partnerships: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Azevedo, Alcino & Pereira, Paulo J. & Rodrigues, Artur, 2021. "Optimal timing and capacity choice with taxes and subsidies under uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2018. "Optimal DOL (degree of operating leverage) with investment and production flexibility," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 172-181.
    20. Tian, Yuan, 2018. "Optimal policy for attracting FDI: Investment cost subsidy versus tax rate reduction," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 151-159.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment incentive; Tax reduction; Investment subsidy; Real option;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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