Immigrant inventors and local income taxes: Evidence from Swiss municipalities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Widmann, Rainer
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104822
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Inventor mobility; personal income taxes; regional development

摘要

This paper studies the relationship between local personal income tax rates and the attractiveness of municipalities as residential locations for immigrant inventors in Switzerland. Exploiting sharp differ-ences in top income tax rates across state borders, I find an elasticity of the probability that an inventor takes residence in a border municipality with respect to the top net-of-tax rate of around 3.2. Additional evidence suggests that inventors' residential location choices are consequential for the localization of entrepreneurial activity and local knowledge spillovers. CO 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.