Specific vs. ad valorem taxation and social welfare in mixed duopoly with foreign ownership.

In this paper, we set up a mixed duopoly competition model between state-owned and private firms in order to compare specific and ad valorem taxes. Assuming that the total output under specific and ad valorem taxation remains unchanged, we find that if the public firm is completely privatised, the output of the private firm under the two tax schemes will be the same. If the public firm is not completely privatised, the output of the the private firm under specific taxation will be greater than that under ad valorem taxation. If the private firm is a pure local one, the social benefits will be the same under the two tax schemes. However, if the private firm is a joint venture that involves domestic and foreign entities, social welfare under ad valorem taxation will be greater than that under specific taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]