Tax Behavior and Investment Behavior of Corporate Managers: Case of Banks and Decentralized Financial Systems (DFS) in Benin

This paper analyses the influence of tax behavior on investment behavior of corporate managers in Benin. The paper applies the generalized method of moments (GMM) to dynamic panel data. The sample used covers 21 firms, i.e. 11 banks for the period from 2011 to 2020 and 10 DFSs for the period from 2016 to 2021. It is found that investment behavior is most positively affected by the tax saving due to the deduction of depreciation allowances on economic assets (EIDDAAE), then by corporate income tax (CIT) and finally by debt (DEBT); and negatively by equity (EQUITY) and past investment (INVESTMENT(‑1)). This paper is one of the first to extend the literature by determining the influence of tax behavior on the investment behavior of corporate managers in Benin.