IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gde/journl/gde_v64_n2-3_p295-322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taxation, Cost of Capital and Investment: Do Tax Asymmetries Matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Giampaolo Arachi

    (University of Lecce, Econpubblica, Bocconi University)

  • Federico Biagi

    (University of Padova, Econpubblica and S.D.A., Bocconi University)

Abstract

This paper provides new evidence on the effects of taxes on the cost of capital and investment based on panel data of 634 Italian firms for the period 1982-1998. In order to reduce the measurement error of the user cost, tax asymmetries are carefully taken into account by using the Shevlin-Graham methodology to proxy the marginal tax rate. The econometric analysis shows that the user cost (and hence taxes) is a relevant determinant of investment behavior (with an estimated elasticity of investment with respect to the user cost of capital which ranges from -0.199 to -0.217). However the careful modeling of tax asymmetries does not significantly improve the statistical performance of the investment model. Possible explanations are discussed with reference to similar findings in Devereux, Keen and Schiantarelli (1994).

Suggested Citation

  • Giampaolo Arachi & Federico Biagi, 2005. "Taxation, Cost of Capital and Investment: Do Tax Asymmetries Matter?," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 64(2-3), pages 295-322, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gde:journl:gde_v64_n2-3_p295-322
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://ftp.gde.unibocconi.it/gde_articles/2005/GDE_V64_N2-3_P295-322.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hassett, Kevin A. & Hubbard, R. Glenn, 2002. "Tax policy and business investment," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 20, pages 1293-1343, Elsevier.
    2. Julian Alworth & Giampaolo Arachi, 2001. "The Effect of Taxes on Corporate Financing Decisions: Evidence from a Panel of Italian Firms," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(4), pages 353-376, August.
    3. Cummins, Jason G. & Hassett, Kevin A. & Hubbard, R. Glenn, 1996. "Tax reforms and investment: A cross-country comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 237-273, October.
    4. Chirinko, Robert S. & Fazzari, Steven M. & Meyer, Andrew P., 1999. "How responsive is business capital formation to its user cost?: An exploration with micro data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 53-80, October.
    5. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    6. Devereux, Michael P. & Keen, Michael & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 1994. "Corporation tax asymmetries and investment : Evidence from U.K. panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 395-418, March.
    7. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    8. Devereux, Michael P, 1989. "Tax Asymmetries, the Cost of Capital and Investment: Some Evidence from United Kingdom Panel Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(395), pages 103-112, Supplemen.
    9. Massimo Bordignon & Silvia Giannini & Paolo Panteghini, 2001. "Reforming Business Taxation: Lessons from Italy?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(2), pages 191-210, March.
    10. Bond, Stephen & Van Reenen, John, 2007. "Microeconometric Models of Investment and Employment," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 65, Elsevier.
    11. Graham, John R., 1996. "Debt and the marginal tax rate," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 41-73, May.
    12. Maria Elena Bontempi & Silvia Giannini & Roberto Golinelli, 2005. "Corporate Tax Reforms and Financial Choices: An Empirical Analysis," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 64(2-3), pages 271-294, November.
    13. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hassett, Kevin, 1992. "Tax policy and business fixed investment in the United States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 141-170, March.
    14. Giuseppe Bertola & Ricardo J. Caballero, 1990. "Kinked Adjustment Costs and Aggregate Dynamics," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1990, Volume 5, pages 237-296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jason G. Cummins & Kevin A. Hassett & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1994. "A Reconsideration of Investment Behavior Using Tax Reforms as Natural Experiments," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(2), pages 1-74.
    16. Graham, John R., 1996. "Proxies for the corporate marginal tax rate," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 187-221, October.
    17. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    18. Colin Mayer, 1986. "Corporation Tax, Finance and the Cost of Capital," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(1), pages 93-112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cristian Bartolucci & Francesco Devicienti & Ignacio Monzón, 2018. "Identifying Sorting in Practice," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 408-438, October.
    2. Cristian Bartolucci & Francesco Devicienti, 2012. "Better Workers Move to Better Firms: A Simple Test to Identify Sorting," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 259, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    3. Keser, Claudia & Kimpel, Gerrit & Oestreicher, Andreas, 2014. "The CCCTB option: An experimental study," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 199, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. David Card & Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida, 2014. "Rent-sharing, Holdup, and Wages: Evidence from Matched Panel Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(1), pages 84-111.
    5. Claudia Keser & Gerrit Kimpel & Andreas Oestreicher, 2014. "The CCCTB option – an experimental study," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-24, CIRANO.
    6. Keser, Claudia & Kimpel, Gerrit & Oestreicher, Andreas, 2014. "The CCCTB option an experimental study," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100490, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Luigi Bernardi, 2005. "Tax Reforms in Italy and in Europe: An Introduction," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 64(2-3), pages 139-158, November.
    8. Claudia Keser & Gerrit Kimpel & Andreas Oestreicher, 2016. "Would a CCCTB mitigate profit shifting?," CIRANO Working Papers 2016s-29, CIRANO.

    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. Walch, Florian & Dwenger, Nadja, 2011. "Tax Losses and Firm Investment: Evidence from Tax Statistics," VfS Annual Conference 2011 (Frankfurt, Main): The Order of the World Economy - Lessons from the Crisis 48699, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Giorgia Maffini & Jing Xing & Michael P Devereux, 2016. "The impact of investment incentives: evidence from UK corporation tax returns," Working Papers 1601, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    3. Matjaž Črnigoj, 2016. "The Responsiveness of Corporate Investments to Changes in Corporate Income Taxation During the Financial Crisis: Empirical Evidence from Slovenian Firms," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(9), pages 2165-2177, September.
    4. Eric Zwick & James Mahon, 2017. "Tax Policy and Heterogeneous Investment Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 217-248, January.
    5. Bond, Stephen & Xing, Jing, 2015. "Corporate taxation and capital accumulation: Evidence from sectoral panel data for 14 OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 15-31.
    6. Jacques Mairesse & Benoît Mulkay, 2004. "Une evaluation du credit d’impot recherche en France, 1980-1997," Working Papers 2004-43, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    7. Lei Zhang & Yuyu Chen & Zongyan He, 2018. "The effect of investment tax incentives: evidence from China’s value-added tax reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 913-945, August.
    8. Rosanne Altshuler & Jason G. Cummins, "undated". "Tax Policy and the Dynamic Demand for Domestic and Foreign Capital by Multinational Corporations," Computing in Economics and Finance 1997 174, Society for Computational Economics.
    9. Marcel Gérard & Frédéric Verscueren, 2002. "Finance, uncertainty and investment: assessing the gains and losses of a generalized non linear structural approach using Belgian panel data," Working Paper Research 26, National Bank of Belgium.
    10. Stephen Bond & Jing Xing, 2010. "Corporate taxation and capital accumulation," Working Papers 1015, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    11. Nadja Dwenger, 2014. "User Cost Elasticity of Capital Revisited," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(321), pages 161-186, January.
    12. Caballero, Ricardo J., 1999. "Aggregate investment," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 813-862, Elsevier.
    13. Lewe, Stefan, 2003. "Wachstumseffiziente Unternehmensbesteuerung," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 20042, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    14. Chatelain, Jean-Bernard & Generale, Andrea & Hernando, Ignacio & Vermeulen, Philip & Von Kalckreuth, Ulf, 2001. "Firm investment and monetary transmission in the euro area," Working Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    15. von Kalckreuth, Ulf & Hernando, Ignacio & Generale, Andrea & Chatelain, Jean Bernard & Vermeulen, Philip, 2001. "Firm Investment and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2001,20, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    16. Sebastian Eichfelder & Kerstin Schneider, 2014. "Tax Incentives and Business Investment: Evidence from German Bonus Depreciation," CESifo Working Paper Series 4805, CESifo.
    17. Paul Gaggl & Greg C. Wright, 2017. "A Short-Run View of What Computers Do: Evidence from a UK Tax Incentive," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 262-294, July.
    18. Simeon Djankov & Tim Ganser & Caralee McLiesh & Rita Ramalho & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "The Effect of Corporate Taxes on Investment and Entrepreneurship," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 31-64, July.
    19. Michael P. O'Malley, 1996. "Tax exhaustion, firm investment, and leasing; a test of the Q model of investment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 96-31, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Smith, James, 2008. "That elusive elasticity and the ubiquitous bias: Is panel data a panacea?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 760-779, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate taxation; cost of capital; investment; tax asimmetries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    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:gde:journl:gde_v64_n2-3_p295-322. 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: Erika Somma (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gde.unibocconi.it/ .

    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.