Determinants of Regional Investment Decisions in China: An Econometric Model of Tax Incentive Policy

This paper examines whether concessionary tax rates and tax incentives can attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into certain designated areas in China. Since China opened its doors to foreign investors in 1979, tax benefits have been used extensively to attract FDI into different areas. In 1991, a new tax law was introduced which superseded two previous income tax laws. This new law provides additional tax benefits which improve the investment environment for foreign investors. This study investigates the effect of China's tax rates and tax incentive policy on FDI and on the locational choices of foreign firms. Our empirical results indicate that tax rates and incentives are important determinants of regional investment decisions in China, after controlling for potential confounding variables covering infrastructure, unemployment rate, wage rate and agglomeration economics. Specifically, areas offering lower tax rates and increased tax incentives are found to attract greater amounts of FDI. The impetus of the tax effect on FDI is more apparent in the post-1991 period due to changes in the tax laws. Our results also suggest that infrastructure variables are important determinants of regional investment decisions.     

Anti profit-shifting rules and foreign direct investment

This paper explores the effects of unilateral tax provisions aimed at restricting multinationals’ tax planning on foreign direct investment (FDI). Using a unique dataset which allows us to observe the worldwide activities of a large panel of multinational firms, we test how limitations of interest tax deductibility, so-called thin-capitalization rules, and regulations of transfer pricing by the host country affect investment and employment of foreign subsidiaries. The results indicate that introducing a typical thin-capitalization rule or making it more tight exerts significant adverse effects on FDI and employment in high-tax countries. Moreover, in countries that impose thin-capitalization rules, the tax-rate sensitivity of FDI is increased. Regulations of transfer pricing, however, are not found to exert significant effects on FDI or employment.     

Multiple taxes and alternative forms of FDI: evidence from cross-border acquisitions

This paper explores the role of tax instruments in affecting foreign direct investment (FDI), paying particular attention on their effect on two forms of FDI strategy, ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’. Applying a decomposition of FDI strategies to the universe of cross-border mergers (the dominant form of FDI) over the period 1999–2010, it emerges that taxes have a much more nuanced effect on FDI than frequently suggested; while corporate taxes affect FDI negatively, the tax elasticity varies depending on the FDI strategy (with vertical FDI being in general more responsive), the exact measure of taxation, and international tax considerations (double taxation, withholding taxes). Sales taxes also affect FDI, but only horizontally.     

Firm-specific forward-looking effective tax rates

This paper computes effective (marginal and average) tax rates that account for bilateral aspects of taxation and, therefore, vary across country-pairs and years. These tax rates serve to estimate the impact of corporate taxation on outbound stocks of bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) among OECD countries between 1991 and 2002. The findings indicate that outbound FDI is positively related to the parent and host country tax burden and negatively associated with bilateral effective tax rates. Relying only on unilateral (country and time variant) rather than on both unilateral and bilateral (country-pair and time variant) effective tax rates leads to biased estimates of the impact of corporate taxation on FDI.     

Bilateral effective tax rates and foreign direct investment

This paper computes effective (marginal and average) tax rates that account for bilateral aspects of taxation and, therefore, vary across country-pairs and years. These tax rates serve to estimate the impact of corporate taxation on outbound stocks of bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) among OECD countries between 1991 and 2002. The findings indicate that outbound FDI is positively related to the parent and host country tax burden and negatively associated with bilateral effective tax rates. Relying only on unilateral (country and time variant) rather than on both unilateral and bilateral (country-pair and time variant) effective tax rates leads to biased estimates of the impact of corporate taxation on FDI.     

Globalization and Outward Foreign Direct Investment

While recent research into foreign direct investment (FDI) has focused on examining the importance of institutions, corruption, money laundering, and tax havens, the role of globalization on FDI has not yet been explored. This research investigates the impacts of globalization on outward FDI. We find that both overall globalization and its economic and social dimensions significantly positively influence outward FDI flows. We also demonstrate that beyond the level of globalization, corruption, money laundering, and the status of a country as a tax haven, cross-country similarity also plays an important role. Accordingly, policies specifically designed to increase the transparency of outward FDI flows should be required to address money laundering and the existence of tax havens.     

两法合并对FDI的影响分析

两法合并解决了因企业"身份"不同而享受不同税收待遇的问题,为各类企业创造了一个公平竞争的税收法制环境。新企业所得税法对FDI税收政策的变化,导致了外商来华投资的方式也发生了变化。这表明两法合并对FDI会产生短期影响,至于是否会改变长期发展态势是由综合因素体系决定的,因此,今后要注意防范税收累积效应。     

ODI与我国企业所得税激励政策

税收激励是促进我国对外直接投资发展的重要税收政策手段。但是我国的现行对外直接投资企业所得税激励政策存在诸多问题,如政策导向性弱、避免国际重复征税的措施不健全等。在借鉴国外激励对外直接投资的税收政策基础上,我们提出明确ODI税收政策的区域和产业导向,进一步完善消除国际双重征税的措施等建议,以优化我国对外直接投资企业所得税激励政策。     

An empirical study of the impact of corporate taxation on the global allocation of foreign direct investment: a broad tax attractiveness index approach

The question of whether a country’s corporate tax regime has a significant influence on the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) into that country is an important consideration in the design of national tax policy. This is especially relevant today in view of the recent increase in the global mobility of capital and subsequent increase in the importance of FDI to nations’ economies. Although several prior quantitative studies have investigated the link between taxation and FDI, they have tended to be restricted in geographical scope and in their measure of taxation.This study constructs indices of “corporate tax attractiveness” for selected countries and then analyses the relationship between the indices and measures of the flow of FDI into those countries. The indices are constructed by obtaining evaluations from international investors and taxation experts on the various attributes of the tax systems of those selected countries. A significant positive relationship was found to exist between the indices and measures of FDI inflows, and between individual tax system attributes and those inflows, thus adding support to the supposition that host country corporate taxation influences the size of FDI inflows.     

国际资本流入促进我国经济增长的实证分析

改革开放以来我国一直鼓励外资的流入,随着经济的发展和外资流入规模的不断扩大,国际直接投资成为外资流入的主要形式。从近几年我国GDP的增长与外资增长趋势看,两者基本上是同步的。那么,外资的增长是否真正促进我国经济的发展呢?本文通过实证分析,得出外资流入在一定程度上促进我国经济增长的结论。     

外商对华直接投资的经济增长效应分析

随着中国经济的平稳和快速增长,外商对华直接投资呈现出不断增长的趋势。就外商对华直接投资的经济效应而言,FDI与GDP的增长率高度吻合。FDI对我国宏观经济的多个变量都产生了深远的影响,并且FDI通过影响这些变量,进而增加了国民收入水平,促进了经济增长。     

“走出去”战略下中国对外直接投资的母国约束研究

本文以一般性的对外直接投资决定因素为模板,改进OLI折衷模型,引入"母国约束",在总结中国近年来对外直接投资的发展历程及潜在的动因的基础上,构建了中国对外直接投资的母国决定因素的分析框架。然后,结合中国的经济发展水平、开放程度和政策措施,分析了中国对外直接投资的驱动因素及其影响机制,据此设定若干假设并一一进行了验证。同时,从中国的"走出去"战略出发,分析了中国对外投资的政策因素影响。     

A partial race to the bottom: corporate tax developments in emerging and developing economies

This paper assembles a new dataset on corporate income tax regimes in 50 emerging and developing economies over 1996–2007 and analyzes their impact on corporate tax revenues and domestic and foreign investment. It computes effective tax rates to take account of special regimes, such as tax holidays, temporarily reduced rates and increased investment allowances. There is evidence of a partial race to the bottom: countries have been under pressure to lower tax rates in order to lure and boost investment. In the case of standard tax systems (i.e. tax rules applying under normal circumstances), the effective tax rate reductions have not been larger than those witnessed in advanced economies, and revenues have held up well over the sample period. However, a race to the bottom is evident among special regimes, most notably in the case of Africa, creating effectively a parallel tax system where rates have fallen to almost zero. Regression analysis reveals higher tax rates adversely affect domestic investment and FDI, but do raise revenues in the short run.     

我国外商直接投资税收敏感性分析

采用现状分析、理论论证和实证分析等经济分析方法,对税收政策对外商投资的影响作用进行分析,可得出以下结论:税收优惠对吸引外商直接投资有促进作用,但其影响作用并不显著。我国应正确对待税收优惠的作用地位,并全面考虑影响优惠政策的因素,采用更为有效的税收优惠工具,有的放矢地运用税收优惠政策。     

税收优惠因抵免制而失效?——基于美国对华直接投资的研究

在国际直接投资研究领域,人们普遍认为,当母国对来源于外国的所得实行抵免制以避免国际重复课税时,东道国对外资企业的税收优惠往往转化为母国政府的财政收入,母国的投资者无法获得东道国给予的税收优惠.通过对1990～2004年实行抵克制的美国及实行豁免制和饶让抵免制的其它西方发达国家在华直接投资进行比较,未发现美国与其它西方发达国家在华直接投资的积极性存在显著差异.由于美国对该国投资者给予税收递延,使得投资者依然能够获得东道国的税收优惠,美国实行的抵免制并未阻碍该国投资者的在华投资热情.     

"两税"并轨对我国引进外国直接投资的影响

由于目前我国来自香港、台湾地区的直接投资以及一些国际避税地的外国直接投资占绝大多数,已将近总额的60%,因此,提高外资企业所得税率很可能会导致大量外资流向周边低税国家,从而对我国引进外资的总量产生较大影响。所以我们对税收优惠的调整在时间上和优惠方式的取舍上,都应有一个平稳的过渡,使我国对外开放和引进外资的政策保持延续性。     

Taking the Long Way Home: U.S. Tax Evasion and Offshore Investments in U.S. Equity and Debt Markets

We empirically investigate one form of illegal investor‐level tax evasion and its effect on foreign portfolio investment. In particular, we examine a form of round‐tripping tax evasion in which U.S. individuals hide funds in entities located in offshore tax havens and then invest those funds in U.S. securities markets. Employing Becker's ( 1968 ) economic theory of crime, we identify the tax evasion component by examining how foreign portfolio investment varies with changes in the incentives to evade and the risks of detection. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence of investor‐level tax evasion affecting cross‐border equity and debt investment.     

Host-country governance, tax treaties and US direct investment abroad

We investigate how the quality of the host-country governance and a bilateral US income tax treaty affect the rates of return that US companies require on their foreign direct investment (FDI). Using indexes of corruption and political instability, we find that poor governance causes the companies to require significantly higher rates of return. This lends support to earlier authors who have concluded that poor governance discourages both local investment and inward FDI. After accounting for the quality of host-country governance, however, no evidence could be found that an income tax treaty has any effect on the required rates of return.      

河南省外商直接投资的现状及对策分析

跨国公司对外直接投资（FDI）是海外对华投资的主要形式,对各地区经济的长期发展起了重要作用。地处内陆的河南省是我国经济大省,虽然近些年在引进外商直接投资方面取得较大进展,但依旧存在着诸如外资引进质量不高、管理不善、产业投向和地区分布不均衡等问题。河南省应该扬长避短,突破地域范围条件限制,狠抓投资环境,提高引资质量,并加大外资的产业导向,提高外资管理水平;借助当前＂中原经济区建设＂的有利时机,协调省内各地市引资状况,充分利用外商直接投资以促进本省域经济的持续快速发展。     

估算中国的IFDI和OFDI——来自“避税天堂”与返程投资的证据

本文梳理了现有文献对离岸金融中心导致的直接投资头寸统计偏差进行修正的方法,详细比较了直接投资头寸数据集的优劣差异,并以CDIS宏观数据集为基础,引入Orbis微观企业数据库作为重要补充,对直接投资的动机按避税目的和境外上市目的进行区分,以此估算我国的IFDI和OFDI存量。结果表明:(1)估算后,来自离岸金融中心的IFDI调减1.1万亿美元,其中超过80%是出于避税目的进行的返程投资;(2)考虑VIE架构境外上市企业的影响后,返程投资占比增长至近37%,规模约1万亿美元,其中VIE架构境外上市企业贡献了16%;(3)我国对外投资存在经过“避税天堂”进行中转的现象,其中最终投向英属维尔京群岛的OFDI存量约占1/4,是我国实际OFDI的最主要投向地。