Are Innovating Firms Victims or Perpetrators? Tax Evasion, Bribe Payments, and the Role of External Finance in Developing Countries

Ayyagari, Meghana ; Demirgü ; ç ; -Kunt, Asli ; Maksimovic, Vojislav

关键词: ACCESS TO CREDIT;    AGENCY PROBLEM;    ANTI-CORRUPTION;    ANTICORRUPTION;    ASSETS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5389
RP-ID  :  WPS5389

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper investigates corruption andtax evasion and their firm-level determinants across 25,000firms in 57 countries, a large fraction of which are smalland medium enterprises in developing countries. Firms thatpay more bribes also evade more taxes. Corruption acts as atax on innovation, particularly that of small and youngfirms. Innovating firms pay a larger percentage of theirrevenues in bribes to government officials thannon-innovating firms. They do not, however, pay moreprotection money to private parties than other firms.Comparing the magnitudes of bribes and taxes evaded,innovating firms and firms that use formal finance are morelikely to be net victims. The findings point to thechallenges facing innovators in developing countries and therole of banks in curbing corruption and tax evasion.