Skip Navigation


Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on August 9, 2005
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2006 30(2):235-252; doi:10.1093/cje/bei057
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
30/2/235    most recent
bei057v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Liebig, T.
Right arrow Articles by Sousa-Poza, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow H20 - General
Right arrow R23 - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; [...]
Right arrow H70 - General
Right arrow J60 - General
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Article

The influence of taxes on migration: evidence from Switzerland

Thomas Liebig and Alfonso Sousa-Poza*

* Department of Economics and Research Institute for Labour Economics and Labour Law, University of St Gallen

Address for correspondence: Thomas Liebig, Research Institute for Labour Economics and Labour Law, Guisanstrasse 92, CH-9010 St. Gallen, Switzerland; email: Thomas.Liebig{at}unisg.ch

Abstract

Empirical studies on the impact of taxation on migration have been limited by a lack of comparable data in an international context and a lack of variation in tax burdens within countries. A notable exception to the latter is Switzerland. Prior empirical studies on tax competition in Switzerland have had to rely on aggregated data. In general, these studies have been supportive of the notion of tax competition, i.e., high earners tend to relocate to low-tax regions. The authors use an alternative panel approach based on micro-data from the first three waves of the newly established Swiss Household Panel. Despite active community tax policies aimed at attracting new residents and a significant increase in tax-burden dispersion among communities in the past decade, no tax-induced migration is observed. Migration decisions are found to be strongly influenced by accommodation-related factors that point to important housing-market effects.

Key Words: Migration • Tax competition • Switzerland

JEL classifications: H2, H7, J6, R23

Manuscript received May 3, 2004; final version received September 24, 2004.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.