Tax Competition, Foreign Direct Investments and Growth: Using the Tax System to Promote Developing Countries

44 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2003

See all articles by Yoram Y. Margalioth

Yoram Y. Margalioth

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Abstract

I propose to use tax incentives to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) to developing countries to promote growth, and explain what practical and conceptual changes in the tax systems of developing as well as developed countries (introducing a notion of inter-nation equity) should be made to make this work. Such a proposal could be justified on equity (redistribution) as well as efficiency grounds, being an exception to the usual tradeoff between the two considerations.

The motivation for writing this paper stems from the following facts: (a) in spite of transfers of well over $1 trillion from developed to developing countries over the past 50 years, the gap is widening as many poor countries fail to experience economic growth; (b) according to "the new growth theories" endogenous technological progress is the engine of growth; (c) nevertheless, the standard advice of international bodies to developing countries continues to be limited to: more savings and more schooling; (d) nearly all of the world's technological progress originates in about 20 leading countries; (e) foreign direct investments (FDI) could transfer technology from developed to developing countries that could have spillover effects promoting growth in developing countries; (f) little implementation of the "new growth theories" was done in the legal literature; (g) no implementation was done in the field of law and development and tax policy.

Keywords: Tax Incentives, Law and Development, Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, Tax Competition

JEL Classification: F23, H25, H32, K34, O23

Suggested Citation

Margalioth, Yoram Y., Tax Competition, Foreign Direct Investments and Growth: Using the Tax System to Promote Developing Countries. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=462622 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.462622

Yoram Y. Margalioth (Contact Author)

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel
+972-3-6407014 (Phone)
+972-3-6409576 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,455
Abstract Views
5,989
Rank
24,287
PlumX Metrics