The Initiative on Competition for Multinational Investment

Scholars have documented recent increases in the competition for capital. In some cases this competition can facilitate positive political developments, such as fighting corruption and improving the rule of law. In other cases countries may attract investment by restricting workers rights, lowering labor standards, or otherwise providing multinationals exceptions from existing laws. This indirect impact of multinationals on domestic societies remains understudied.

This program has already sponsored research on:

1. the impact of tax rates on multinational activity and
2. tax competition across countries (and the United States) to attract investment. Research papers from these two advanced research projects have been presented at academic conferences and are currently being considered at peer-reviewed academic journals.