Patent boxes design, patents location, and local R&D

B-Tier
Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2018
Volume: 33
Issue: 93
Pages: 131-177

Score contribution per author:

0.402 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Maria Skonieczna, and Antonio Vezzani?>Patent boxes have been heavily debated for their role in corporate tax competition. This paper uses firm-level data for the period 2000–12 for the top 2,000 corporate research and development investors worldwide to consider the determinants of patent registration across a large sample of countries. Importantly, we disentangle the effects of corporate income taxation from the tax advantage of patent boxes and exploit a new and original dataset on patent box features such as the conditionality on performing research in the country or their coverage. We find that patent boxes have a considerable effect on attracting patents, mostly because of their favourable tax treatment. Patents with high earnings potential are particularly sensitive. Patent boxes with a large coverage also have stronger effects on the location of patents. We also analyse the impact of patent boxes and their tax advantages on local R&D activities and find that R&D development conditions tend to attenuate the dominant fiscal effect of patent boxes.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:ecpoli:v:33:y:2018:i:93:p:131-177.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-24