Tax evasion and the productivity distribution

Abstract

We develop a heterogeneous-firm macroeconomic model to investigate how tax evasion affects the productivity distribution in general equilibrium. In our model, entrepreneurs choose capital and labor to produce with their firms, invest in bonds, and evade taxes to maximize their intertemporal utility, derived from dividends. Firms face leverage constraints and uninsurable productivity shocks. The results reveal that tax evasion redistributes capital toward low-productivity firms, relaxing their leverage constraints. It also increases public debt, raising the cost of capital and crowding out firms at the margin. As a result of these forces, we demonstrate that (i) the decline in high-productivity firms’ average productivity drives the negative correlation between the size of the shadow economy and aggregate productivity, and (ii) the productivity gains from reduced tax evasion are smaller in economies with higher public debt and stricter leverage constraints.