金手铐还是银马刺？遗产税对创业的影响（英）

THE IMPLICATIONS OF INHERITANCE TAXESFOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP Yang Zhang, Ziang Qiu, Donghyun Park, and Shu Tian ADB ECONOMICSWORKING PAPER SERIES ADB Economics Working Paper Series Golden Handcuffs or Silver Spurs? The Implicationsof Inheritance Taxes for Entrepreneurship Yang Zhang (yzhang@um.edu.mo) is an associateprofessor and Ziang Qiu (yc37004@connect.um.edu.mo)is a PhD student at the University of Macau, China.Donghyun Park (dpark@adb.org) is an economicadvisor and Shu Tian (stian@adb.org) is aprincipal economist at the Economic Researchand Development Impact Department, AsianDevelopment Bank, Philippines. Yang Zhang, Ziang Qiu, Donghyun Park,and Shu Tian No. 805 | September 2025 TheADB Economics Working Paper Seriespresents research in progress to elicit commentsand encourage debate on development issuesin Asia and the Pacific. The views expressedare those of the authors and do not necessarilyreflect the views and policies of ADB orits Board of Governors or the governmentsthey represent. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) © 2025 Asian Development Bank6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, PhilippinesTel +63 2 8632 4444; Fax +63 2 8636 2444www.adb.org Some rights reserved. Published in 2025. ISSN 2313-6537 (print), 2313-6545 (PDF)Publication Stock No. WPS250371-2DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/WPS250371-2 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policiesof the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for anyconsequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that theyare endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, ADB does notintend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. This publication is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be boundby the terms of this license. For attribution, translations, adaptations, and permissions, please read the provisionsand terms of use at https://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess. This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributedto another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it.ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material. Please contact pubsmarketing@adb.org if you have questions or comments with respect to content, or if you wishto obtain copyright permission for your intended use that does not fall within these terms, or for permission to usethe ADB logo. Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda. ABSTRACT The intricate relationship between wealth redistribution policies and entrepreneurial vitality haslong captivated the attention of economists and policymakers. Drawing on data from the GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and manually collected information on inheritance taxationpolicy reforms across a diverse panel of 55 countries from 2000 to 2023, this study uses astaggered difference-in-differences model to examine how the changing rules for wealth transfertaxation influence entrepreneurial activity. Our results show that higher inheritance tax rates areassociated with elevated entrepreneurial index scores and that rising inheritance taxes correlatewith increases in the entrepreneurial index, while tax cuts correspond to declines. This finding isrobust to alternative measures of key constructs and identification strategies. Our results offervaluable insights into how inheritance tax policies influence entrepreneurial behavior, providingessential guidance for policymakers and economists aiming to comprehend the intricate dynamicsof wealth transfer and entrepreneurship on a global scale. Keywords:inheritance tax, entrepreneurship, cross-country, difference-in-differencesJEL codes:L26, H24 I.INTRODUCTION The term “inheritocracy” describes a societal structure in which wealth, power, and privilege areinherited and perpetuated across generations. Inherited advantages can serve as barriers forindividuals who do not come from an affluent or influential background, perpetuating a cycle ofprivilegethat is challenging to break.Inheritance is increasingly becoming the primarydeterminant of an individual’s advancement to the upper echelons of wealth distribution inWestern economies, while the capacity of labor income to drive mobility across the wealthspectrum is diminishing rapidly (Fi