{"id":451632,"date":"2026-08-05T14:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/publication\/451632\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:34:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:34:48","slug":"testing-the-tax-competition-theory-how-elastic-are-national-tax-bases-in-oecd-countries","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/451632\/","title":{"rendered":"Testing the Tax Competition Theory: How Elastic are National Tax Bases in OECD Countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-451632","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text":"To what extent do countries' corporate income tax (CIT) rates attract foreign tax bases? What are the revenue implications of a unilateral tax reduction when tax bases are internationally mobile? These questions are explored using a panel of annual data from 17 OECD countries spanning the period 1982 to 2005. We find significant international fiscal externalities in the form of CIT-induced resource flows. The magnitude, however, indicates that the extent of international corporate tax base mobility is rather modest. Moreover, we find that, on average, a unilateral CIT reduction results in a less-than-proportional increase in the CIT base, thus reducing CIT revenues. The results are robust across a wide range of specifications and point to potential gains from international tax policy coordination.","onlinedate":"2009-06-02 02:00:00","lang":"English","publication_series":"CESifo Working Papers","publication_date":"20090602","publication_date_year":"","publication_date_full":true,"publication_num_pages":"31","keywords":"[\"tax competition\",\"corporate income tax base elasticity\",\"instrumental variables\",\"international fiscal\"]","jelcodes":"[]","related_publications":"[]","pdf":null,"zip":null,"link":"https:\/\/ideas.repec.org\/p\/ces\/ceswps\/_2669.html","monthly_report":false,"monthly_report_main":false,"monthly_report_volume":"","monthly_report_pages":"","monthly_report_pages_sort":"0","issue":"","journal":"","publisher":"CESifo GmbH","invisible":false,"external":true,"embargo_date":null,"types":[208554],"research_groups":[3510],"collaboration":"","persons":[13771,4245],"persons_data":"[{\"personId\":13771,\"personName\":\"Aleksandra Riedl\",\"organisationNames\":[]},{\"personId\":4245,\"personName\":\"Silvia Rocha-Akis\",\"organisationNames\":[]}]","clients":[],"subclients":[],"partners":[],"topics":[41601],"host_publication_title":"","host_publication_subtitle":"","place_of_publication":"","host_publication_editors":"[]","type_description":"","output_media":"","chapter":"","article_number":"","citations":"","scientific_assistance":"[]","scientific_review":"[]","version":"","release_date":null,"expiration_date":null,"surveyor":"","research_assistance":"","edv":"","additional_info_de":"","additional_info_en":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Testing the Tax Competition Theory: How Elastic are National Tax Bases in OECD Countries? - WIFO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/451632\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Testing the Tax Competition Theory: How Elastic are National Tax Bases in OECD Countries?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/451632\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WIFO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFOat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T12:34:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WIFO-Gebaeude-FotoAlexanderMueller-www.alexandermueller.at-IMG_6326-Bearbeitet-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WIFOat\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/451632\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/451632\\\/\",\"name\":\"Testing the Tax Competition Theory: How Elastic are National Tax Bases in OECD Countries? 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