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Tax Competition, Relative Performance, And Policy Imitation

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  • ANDREAS WAGENER

Abstract

Rather than about their absolute payoffs, governments in fiscal competition often seem to care about their performance relative to other governments. Moreover, they often appear to mimic policies observed elsewhere. I study such behavior in a standard tax competition game. Both with relative payoff concerns and for imitative policies, evolutionary stability for games with finitely many players is the appropriate solution concept. Independently of the number of jurisdictions involved, an evolutionarily stable tax policy coincides with the competitive outcome of a tax competition game with infinitely many players. It, thus, involves drastic efficiency losses.

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  • Andreas Wagener, 2013. "Tax Competition, Relative Performance, And Policy Imitation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1251-1264, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:54:y:2013:i:4:p:1251-1264
    DOI: 10.1111/iere.12035
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    2. Hsiao‐Chi Chen & Yunshyong Chow & Shi‐Miin Liu, 2022. "International environmental agreements under an evolutionary mechanism of imitation and asymmetric countries," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 18(3), pages 285-309, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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