IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp665.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fancy a Stay at the 'Hotel California'? Foreign Direct Investment, Taxation and Firing Costs

Author

Listed:
  • Görg, Holger

    (Kiel Institute for the World Economy)

Abstract

This paper looks at the trade off between investment incentives and exit costs for the location of foreign direct investment (FDI). This issue does not appear to have been tackled in much detail in the literature. The analysis considers the effect of profit taxation (as a measure of investment incentives) and an index of hiring and firing costs (proxying exit costs) on the location of US outward FDI in 33 host countries. The results suggest that US FDI, in particular in manufacturing is negatively affected by the level of profit taxation and exit costs. Hence, if countries want to attract FDI it may not suffice that incentives are provided in order to ease the entry of multinationals. Instead, it also appears to be important that exit costs are at a level attractive to multinationals. In other words, multinationals may not check into an attractive looking Hotel California type host country if it is difficult to leave.

Suggested Citation

  • Görg, Holger, 2002. "Fancy a Stay at the 'Hotel California'? Foreign Direct Investment, Taxation and Firing Costs," IZA Discussion Papers 665, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp665
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp665.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:scandj:v:101:y:1999:i:4:p:631-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim & Mody, Ashoka, 2002. "The Role of Information in Driving FDI: Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 3619, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, December.
    4. Jan I. Haaland & Ian Wooton, 1999. "International Competition for Multinational Investment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 631-649, December.
    5. Edward P. Lazear, 1990. "Job Security Provisions and Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 699-726.
    6. Flamm, Kenneth, 1984. "The volatility of offshore investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 231-248, December.
    7. Sourafel Girma & David Greenaway & Katharine Wakelin, 2013. "Who Benefits from Foreign Direct Investment in the UK?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(5), pages 560-574, November.
    8. Dixit, Avinash K, 1989. "Entry and Exit Decisions under Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 620-638, June.
    9. Jackman, R. & Layard, R. & Nickell, S., 1996. "Combatting unemployment: is flexibility enough?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47446, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene & Oh, Yonghyup, 2001. "Information and capital flows: The determinants of transactions in financial assets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 783-796, May.
    11. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2016. "‘Footloose’ Multinationals?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 6, pages 95-113, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Haufler, Andreas & Wooton, Ian, 1999. "Country size and tax competition for foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 121-139, January.
    13. Jan I. Haaland & Ian Wooton & Giulia Faggio, 2002. "Multinational Firms: Easy Come, Easy Go?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 59(1), pages 3-26, February.
    14. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel, 1998. "Taxes and the location of production: evidence from a panel of US multinationals," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 335-367, June.
    15. Kind, Hans Jarle & Knarvik, Karen Helene Midelfart & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2000. "Competing for capital in a 'lumpy' world," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 253-274, November.
    16. Head, C. Keith & Ries, John C. & Swenson, Deborah L., 1999. "Attracting foreign manufacturing: Investment promotion and agglomeration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 197-218, March.
    17. Hines, James R, Jr, 1996. "Altered States: Taxes and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment in America," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1076-1094, December.
    18. Walter Y. Oi, 1962. "Labor as a Quasi-Fixed Factor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(6), pages 538-538.
    19. Nigel Pain, 2002. "Fiscal Incentives, European Integration and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 195, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    20. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "Chains of Ownership, Regional Tax Competition, and Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Working Papers 9224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Robert E. Lipsey, 2001. "Foreign Direct Investment and the Operations of Multinational Firms: Concepts, History, and Data," NBER Working Papers 8665, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Florence Hubert & Nigel Pain, 2002. "Fiscal Incentives, European Integration and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 70(3), pages 336-363, June.
    23. repec:bla:manchs:v:70:y:2002:i:3:p:336-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. repec:bla:scotjp:v:48:y:2001:i:2:p:119-33 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Schneider, Friedrich & Frey, Bruno S., 1985. "Economic and political determinants of foreign direct investment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 161-175, February.
    26. Haaland, Jan I. & Wooton, Ian, 2002. "Multinational Investment, Industry Risk and Policy Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 3152, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    27. Roberts, Mark J & Tybout, James R, 1997. "The Decision to Export in Colombia: An Empirical Model of Entry with Sunk Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 545-564, September.
    28. Campa, Joe Manuel, 1993. "Entry by Foreign Firms in the United States under Exchange Rate Uncertainty," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 614-622, November.
    29. Grubert, Harry & Mutti, John, 2000. "Do Taxes Influence Where U.S. Corporations Invest?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 53(n. 4), pages 825-40, December.
    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. Ghodsi, Mahdi, 2020. "How do technical barriers to trade affect foreign direct investment? Tariff jumping versus regulation haven hypotheses," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 269-278.
    2. Davies, Ronald B. & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2013. "A race to the bottom in labor standards? An empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-14.
    3. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment regulations through the eyes of employers - do they matter and how do firms respond to them?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3463, The World Bank.
    4. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2007. "How labor market policies can combine workers'protection with job creation : a partial review of some key issues and policy options," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 41439, The World Bank.
    5. Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, 2015. "Rewards of (Dis)Integration," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(1), pages 3-27, January.

    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. Holger Görg, 2003. "Foreign direct investment, investment incentives, and firing costs: A disadvantage for "inflexible Europe"?," European Economy Group Working Papers 30, European Economy Group.
    2. Gross, Dominique M. & Ryan, Michael, 2008. "FDI location and size: Does employment protection legislation matter?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 590-605, November.
    3. Isabel Faeth, 2009. "Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment – A Tale Of Nine Theoretical Models," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 165-196, February.
    4. Jan I. Haaland & Ian Wooton, 2007. "Domestic Labor Markets and Foreign Direct Investment," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 462-480, August.
    5. C. Dembour, 2008. "Competition for Business Location: A Survey," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 89-111, June.
    6. Haaland, Jan I. & Wooton, Ian, 2002. "Multinational Investment, Industry Risk and Policy Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 3152, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Amina Lahrèche-Révil, 2006. "Who’s Afraid of Tax Competition? Harmless Tax Competition from the New European Member States," Working Papers 2006-11, CEPII research center.
    8. Peter Egger & Simon Loretz & Michael Pfaffermayr & Hannes Winner, 2006. "Corporate Taxation and Multinational Activity," CESifo Working Paper Series 1773, CESifo.
    9. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2003. "A theory of the spatial distribution of foreign direct investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 149-169.
    10. Jan I. Haaland & Ian Wooton & Giulia Faggio, 2002. "Multinational Firms: Easy Come, Easy Go?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 59(1), pages 3-26, February.
    11. Manta Eduard Mihai & Davidescu Adriana Ana Maria & Geambasu Maria Cristina & Florescu Margareta Stela, 2023. "Exploring the research area of direct taxation. An empirical analysis based on bibliometric analysis results," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 18(s1), pages 355-383, December.
    12. Aikaterini Kokkinou & Yannis Psycharis, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Attractiveness in Southeastern European countries," ERSA conference papers ersa05p382, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Görg, Holger & Molana, Hassan & Montagna, Catia, 2009. "Foreign direct investment, tax competition and social expenditure," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 31-37, January.
    14. Haufler, Andreas & Wooton, Ian, 2001. "Regional tax coordination and foreign direct investment," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 14, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    15. Deborah Schanz & Andreas Dinkel & Sara Keller, 2017. "Tax attractiveness and the location of German-controlled subsidiaries," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 251-297, January.
    16. Martin Robson & Roxana Radulescu, 2004. "Does stricter employment protection legislation deter FDI?," Money Macro and Finance (MMF) Research Group Conference 2003 81, Money Macro and Finance Research Group.
    17. Haufler, Andreas & Wooton, Ian, 2006. "The effects of regional tax and subsidy coordination on foreign direct investment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 285-305, February.
    18. Becker, Sascha & Egger, Peter H & Merlo, Valeria, 2008. "How Low Business Tax Rates Attract Multinational Headquarters: Municipality-Level Evidence from Germany," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2008-30, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    19. Becker, Sascha O. & Egger, Peter H. & Merlo, Valeria, 2012. "How low business tax rates attract MNE activity: Municipality-level evidence from Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 698-711.
    20. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2015. "Does Corporate Taxation Deter Multinationals? Evidence from a Historic Event in Ireland," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 788-804, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    investment incentives; taxation; firing costs; exit costs; foreign direct investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp665. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.