Tax Policy, Productivity and Innovation

This project examines how profit taxation affects firm performance and innovation through well-defined transmission channels, and what the policy implications that follow are. The project makes three key contributions: first it contributes to the theory of the tax-innovation and tax-productivity nexus with a particular attention to financing constraints of innovating firms. Second, it exploits unique datasets that combine profit tax and firm-level information and that are an ideal match for the issues to be examined empirically. Third, and related to the data it makes use of, the project applies estimation strategies which allow for a compelling identification of the link between taxation and innovation/productivity. The specific questions examined complement previous research on taxation and innovation under the SEEK programme.

Duration: April 2013 - September 2014

• Prof. Norman Gemmell, Victoria Business School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• Prof. Christian Keuschnigg, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria and Institute of Economics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Florian Misch, PhD, Corporate Taxation and Public Finance Department, ZEW Mannheim
• Prof. Johannes Voget, Business School, University of Mannheim
• Dr. Sandra Gottschalk, Industrial Economics and International Management Department, ZEW Mannheim
• Mustafa Yeter, Corporate Taxation and Public Finance Department, ZEW Mannheim