Impacto de los paraísos fiscales en la inversión: Un análisis para América Latina

Abstract

The present thesis work seeks to determine the impact of tax havens on investment in 16 Latin American countries. For this purpose, two proxies of this investment have been proposed: gross capital formation and direct foreign investment. On the other hand, the use of the variables ‘’tax burden’’ and ‘’capital flight’’ have been used as proxies to a tax haven. The methodological design of the research consists in determining an econometric model with panel data, with robust fixed effects.The results show that tax burden and capital flight are determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI), but they are not in the case of gross capital formation. The relation between capital flight and FDI is positive, contrary to a large part of the economic literature; however, it is justified in the fact that its measurement does not demonstrate the true extent or negative effect of tax havens on the economies of Latin America, since its measurement method considers justified money, and not precisely of illegal origin.