On the Sensitivity of R&D to Delicate Tax Changes: The Behavior of U.S. Multinationals in the 1980s

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This paper explores the effect of recent U.S. tax changes on the R&D activities of American multinational corporations. Prior to 1986, U.S. multinational firms could deduct all of their domestic R&D expenses against their U.S. income for tax purposes. After 1986, some firms could take only a partial deduction (while other multinationals continued to receive the benefits of 100% deductibility). By comparing the behavior of firms in these two situations (after 1986), it is possible to estimate the responsiveness of R&D to changes in after-tax prices. The results indicate that the price elasticity of demand for R&D lies between -1.2 and -1.6, thereby implying considerably more price sensitivity than is typically assumed to be true of R&D. Based on these results, the 1986 tax change appears to have been responsible for a reduction of between $1.4 billion and $2.2 billion in annual R&D in the United States, in return for $1.2 billion in additional annual tax revenue.

Published:

• Studies in International Taxation, edited by Alberto Giovannini, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Joel Slemrod, pp. 149-187. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993. ,
• On the Sensitivity of R&D to Delicate Tax Changes: The Behavior of U. S. Multinationals in the 1980s , James R. Hines, Jr., R. Glen Hubbard, Joel Slemrod, in Studies in International Taxation (1993), University of Chicago Press
  

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