• Media type: Report; E-Book
  • Title: Profit Taxation, R&D Spending, and Innovation
  • Contributor: Lichter, Andreas [Author]; Löffler, Max [Author]; Isphording, Ingo E. [Author]; Nguyen, Thu-Van [Author]; Pöge, Felix [Author]; Siegloch, Sebastian [Author]
  • imprint: Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2021
  • Language: English
  • Keywords: R&D ; patents ; firms ; innovation ; corporate taxation ; O32 ; H25 ; O31 ; H32
  • Origination:
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  • Description: We study how profit taxation affects plants' R&D spending and innovation activities. Relying on geocoded survey panel data which approximately covers the universe of R&D-active plants in Germany, we exploit around 7,300 changes in the municipal business tax rate over the period 1987–2013 for identification. Applying event study models, we find a negative and statistically significant effect of an increase in profit taxation on plants' R&D spending with an implied long-run elasticity of −1.25. Reductions in R&D are particularly strong among more credit-constrained plants. In contrast, homogeneity of effects across the plant size distribution questions policy makers common practice to link targeted R&D tax incentives to plant size. We further find lagged negative effects on the (citation-weighted) number of filed patents.
  • Access State: Open Access