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Sustainability of coalitional equilibria within repeated tax competition

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  • Brangewitz, Sonja
  • Brockhoff, Sarah

Abstract

This paper analyzes the sustainability of capital tax harmonization agreements in a stylized model where countries have formed coalitions to agree on a common tax rate in order to avoid the inefficient, fully non-cooperative Nash equilibrium. In particular, for a given coalition structure we study to what extent the sustainability of tax agreements is affected by the coalitions that have formed. In our setup, countries are symmetric, but coalitions can be of arbitrary size. We analyze sustainability by means of a repeated game setting employing simple trigger strategies and we allow a sub-coalition to deviate from the coalitional equilibrium. For a given form of punishment we rank the sustainability of different coalition structures. We show that sub-coalitions consisting of singleton regions have the largest incentives to deviate and that the sustainability of cooperation depends on the degree of cooperative behavior ex-ante. Bilateral agreements between pairs of regions turn out to be the form of cooperation that is the easiest to sustain.

Suggested Citation

  • Brangewitz, Sonja & Brockhoff, Sarah, 2017. "Sustainability of coalitional equilibria within repeated tax competition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:49:y:2017:i:c:p:1-23
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2016.11.003
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    2. Marija A. Troyanskaya, 2017. "Competition in Taxation and the Forms of its Implementation among the Subjects of the Russian Federation," Journal of Tax Reform, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 3(3), pages 182-198.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital tax competition; Tax coordination; Coalitional equilibria; Repeated game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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