IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v28y2021i1d10.1007_s10797-020-09615-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Too high a price? Tax treaties with investment hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Beer

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Jan Loeprick

    (World Bank Group)

Abstract

This paper investigates the costs and benefits of concluding double tax treaties with investment hubs. Based on a sample of 41 African economies from 1985 to 2015, the results suggest that signing treaties with investment hubs is not associated with additional investments; yet, these treaties tend to come with non-negligible revenue losses. Building on a theoretical model, the paper investigates the role of treaty shopping in driving nominal investment flows and provides indirect evidence for its importance in the sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Beer & Jan Loeprick, 2021. "Too high a price? Tax treaties with investment hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(1), pages 113-153, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:28:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10797-020-09615-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-020-09615-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10797-020-09615-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-020-09615-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2008. "International profit shifting within multinationals: A multi-country perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1164-1182, June.
    2. David L. Carr & James R. Markusen & Keith E. Maskus, 2021. "Estimating The Knowledge-Capital Model of the Multinational Enterprise," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 5, pages 95-110, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Thiess Buettner & Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2018. "Anti profit-shifting rules and foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 553-580, June.
    4. Michael Carlos Best & Anne Brockmeyer & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Johannes Spinnewijn & Mazhar Waseem, 2015. "Production versus Revenue Efficiency with Limited Tax Capacity: Theory and Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(6), pages 1311-1355.
    5. Ernesto Crivelli & Ruud De Mooij & Michael Keen, 2016. "Base Erosion, Profit Shifting and Developing Countries," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(3), pages 268-301, September.
    6. Sunghoon Hong, 2018. "Tax treaties and foreign direct investment: a network approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1277-1320, October.
    7. Martin Hearson, 2017. "What makes countries negotiate away their corporate tax base?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-122, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Balabushko,Oleksii & Beer,Sebastian & Loeprick,Jan & Pinto Vallada,Felipe, 2017. "The direct and indirect costs of tax treaty policy : evidence from Ukraine," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7982, The World Bank.
    9. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H. & Egger, Peter, 2007. "A knowledge-and-physical-capital model of international trade flows, foreign direct investment, and multinational enterprises," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 278-308, November.
    10. Peter Egger & Mario Larch & Michael Pfaffermayr & Hannes Winner, 2006. "The impact of endogenous tax treaties on foreign direct investment: theory and evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(3), pages 901-931, August.
    11. Jannick Damgaard & Thomas Elkjaer, 2017. "The Global FDI Network: Searching for Ultimate Investors," IMF Working Papers 2017/258, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2008. "FDI as an outcome of the market for corporate control: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 2-20, January.
    13. Fabian Barthel & Matthias Busse & Eric Neumayer, 2010. "The Impact Of Double Taxation Treaties On Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From Large Dyadic Panel Data," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(3), pages 366-377, July.
    14. Hearson, Martin, 2015. "Tax treaties in sub-Saharan Africa: a critical review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67903, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    16. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    17. World Bank, 2019. "World Development Report 2019 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2019]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 30435.
    18. Harry Grubert & Joel Slemrod, 1998. "The Effect Of Taxes On Investment And Income Shifting To Puerto Rico," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 365-373, August.
    19. Francis Weyzig, 2013. "Tax treaty shopping: structural determinants of Foreign Direct Investment routed through the Netherlands," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(6), pages 910-937, December.
    20. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    21. Maarten ‘t Riet & Arjan Lejour, 2018. "Optimal tax routing: network analysis of FDI diversion," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1321-1371, October.
    22. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Jack Mintz, 2008. "What determines the use of holding companies and ownership chains?," Working Papers 0803, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    23. Petr Janský & Marek Šedivý, 2019. "Estimating the revenue costs of tax treaties in developing countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1828-1849, June.
    24. Maarten ‘t Riet & Arjan Lejour, 2018. "Optimal tax routing: network analysis of FDI diversion," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1321-1371, October.
    25. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    26. Bob Rijkersb & Hassen Arouri & Leila Baghdadi, 2017. "Are Politically Connected Firms More Likely to Evade Taxes? Evidence from Tunisia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 30(Supplemen), pages 166-175.
    27. Ho, Daniel E. & Imai, Kosuke & King, Gary & Stuart, Elizabeth A., 2007. "Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 199-236, July.
    28. Kunka Petkova & Andrzej Stasio & Martin Zagler, 2020. "On the relevance of double tax treaties," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 575-605, June.
    29. Kimberly A. Clausing, 2016. "The Effect of Profit Shifting on the Corporate Tax Base in the United States and Beyond," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 69(4), pages 905-934, December.
    30. Thomas Rixen & Peter Schwarz, 2009. "Bargaining over the Avoidance of Double Taxation: Evidence from German Tax Treaties," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 65(4), pages 442-471, December.
    31. Eric Neumayer, 2007. "Do double taxation treaties increase foreign direct investment to developing countries?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(8), pages 1501-1519.
    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. Mantian Xue & Yuwei Zhang, 2024. "Did tax treaties restrain the profit shifting of Chinese multinationals?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 160(3), pages 1151-1165, August.
    2. West, Ashley & Wilkinson, Brett, 2024. "What do we know about tax treaties and how can accounting research contribute?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    3. Steens, Bert & Roques, Thibaut & Gonnet, Sébastien & Beuselinck, Christof & Petutschnig, Matthias, 2022. "Transfer pricing comparables: Preferring a close neighbor over a far-away peer?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

    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. Beer,Sebastian & Loeprick,Jan, 2018. "The Cost and Benefits of Tax Treaties with Investment Hubs : Findings from Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8623, The World Bank.
    2. Petr Janský & Jan Láznička & Miroslav Palanský, 2021. "Tax treaties worldwide: Estimating elasticities and revenue foregone," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 359-401, May.
    3. West, Ashley & Wilkinson, Brett, 2024. "What do we know about tax treaties and how can accounting research contribute?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Sebastian Beer & Ruud de Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Review Of The Channels, Magnitudes, And Blind Spots," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 660-688, July.
    5. Martin Hearson, 2017. "Political role models, child marriage, and women’s autonomy over marriage in India," WIDER Working Paper Series 122, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Lee, Siwook & Kim, Daeyong, 2022. "The impact of tax treaties on foreign direct investment: The evidence reconsidered," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 44(3), pages 27-48.
    7. Kunka Petkova & Andrzej Leszek Stasio & Martin Zagler, 2020. "Bilateral Tax Competition and Regional Spillovers in Tax Treaty Formation," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2020-07, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Laudage, Sabine, 2020. "Corporate tax revenue and foreign direct investment: Potential trade-offs and how to address them," IDOS Discussion Papers 17/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    9. Arjan Lejour, 2014. "The Foreign Investment Effects of Tax Treaties," Working Papers 1403, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    10. Maria Borga & Perla Ibarlucea Flores & Monika Sztajerowska, 2020. "Drivers of divestment decisions of multinational enterprises - A cross-country firm-level perspective," OECD Working Papers on International Investment 2019/03, OECD Publishing.
    11. Arjan Lejour, 2014. "The Foreign Investment Effects of Tax Treaties," Working Papers 1403, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    12. Hearson, Martin, 2018. "When do developing countries negotiate away their corporate tax base?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87762, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Damgaard, Jannick & Elkjaer, Thomas & Johannesen, Niels, 2024. "What is real and what is not in the global FDI network?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    14. Arjan Lejour & Jan Möhlmann & Maarten ’t Riet, 2022. "The immeasurable tax gains by Dutch shell companies," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 316-357, April.
    15. Tibor Hanappi & Ana Cinta González Cabral, 2022. "The impact of the international tax reforms under Pillar One and Pillar Two on MNE’s investment costs," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1495-1526, December.
    16. Francis Weyzig, 2013. "Tax treaty shopping: structural determinants of Foreign Direct Investment routed through the Netherlands," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(6), pages 910-937, December.
    17. Martin Hearson, 2017. "What makes countries negotiate away their corporate tax base?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-122, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Kunka Petkova & Andrzej Stasio & Martin Zagler, 2020. "On the relevance of double tax treaties," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 575-605, June.
    19. Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2009. "Who Cares About Corporate Taxation? Asymmetric Tax Effects on Outbound FDI," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(12), pages 1657-1684, December.
    20. Arjan Lejour & Jan Möhlmann & Maarten van 't Riet & Thijs Benschop, 2019. "Dutch Shell Companies and International Tax Planning," CPB Discussion Paper 402, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax treaty policy; Double tax treaties; Domestic resource mobilization; Investment hubs; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • 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:kap:itaxpf:v:28:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10797-020-09615-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.