IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v43y2010i1p232-253.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International corporate taxation and U.S. multinationals' behaviour: an integrated approach

Author

Listed:
  • Céline Azémar

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of corporate taxation on U.S. capital invested abroad and on tax planning practices. The econometric analysis first indicates that investment is strongly influenced by average tax rates, with a magnified impact particularly for low-tax rates, implying that the attractiveness of low-tax countries is not weakened by anti-deferral rules and cross-crediting limitations. Further explorations suggest that firms report higher profit, higher Subpart F income, and are less likely to repatriate dividends when they are located in low-tax jurisdictions. Finally, when the role of effective transfer pricing regulations is estimated, it appears that low degrees of law enforcement are associated with higher income shifting.

Suggested Citation

  • Céline Azémar, 2010. "International corporate taxation and U.S. multinationals' behaviour: an integrated approach," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 232-253, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:43:y:2010:i:1:p:232-253
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01570.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01570.x
    Download Restriction: access restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01570.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce A. Blonigen & Ronald B. Davies & Glen R. Waddell & Helen T. Naughton, 2019. "FDI in Space: Spatial Autoregressive Relationships in Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 2, pages 55-88, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Karolina Ekholm & Rikard Forslid & James R. Markusen, 2021. "Export-Platform Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 6, pages 111-130, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Robert E. Lipsey, 2007. "Defining and Measuring the Location of FDI Output," NBER Working Papers 12996, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Henry Louie & Donald Rousslang, 2008. "Host-country governance, tax treaties and US direct investment abroad," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(3), pages 256-273, June.
    5. Jan Willem Gunning & Paul Collier, 1999. "Explaining African Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 64-111, March.
    6. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    7. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth without governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123226, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. de Mooij, Ruud A & Ederveen, Sjef, 2003. "Taxation and Foreign Direct Investment: A Synthesis of Empirical Research," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 673-693, November.
    9. Hines, James R. Jr., 1999. "Lessons From Behavioral Responses to International Taxation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(2), pages 305-322, June.
    10. Daniel Kaufmann & Aart Kraay, 2002. "Growth without Governance," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2002), pages 169-230, August.
    11. Grubert, Harry & Mutti, John, 1991. "Taxes, Tariffs and Transfer Pricing in Multinational Corporate Decision Making," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 285-293, May.
    12. Rosanne Altshuler & Harry Grubert & T. Scott Newlon, 2000. "Has U.S. Investment Abroad Become More Sensitive to Tax Rates?," NBER Chapters, in: International Taxation and Multinational Activity, pages 9-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. James H. Stock & Motohiro Yogo, 2002. "Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression," NBER Technical Working Papers 0284, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Céline Azémar & Rodolphe Desbordes & Jean-Louis Mucchielli, 2007. "Do tax sparing agreements contribute to the attraction of FDI in developing countries?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(5), pages 543-562, October.
    15. Chan, K. Hung & Chow, Lynne, 1997. "An empirical study of tax audits in China on international transfer pricing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 83-112, May.
    16. Baltagi, Badi H. & Egger, Peter & Pfaffermayr, Michael, 2007. "Estimating models of complex FDI: Are there third-country effects?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 260-281, September.
    17. Kant, Chander, 1990. "Multinational firms and government revenues," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 135-147, July.
    18. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "The costs of shared ownership: Evidence from international joint ventures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 323-374, August.
    19. Michael J. Boskin & William G. Gale, 1987. "New Results on the Effects of Tax Policy on the International Location of Investment," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation, pages 201-222, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Michael J. Boskin, 1987. "Tax Policy and the International Location of Investment," NBER Chapters, in: Taxes and Capital Formation, pages 73-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Lall, Sanjaya, 1979. "Transfer pricing and developing countries: Some problems of investigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 59-71, January.
    22. Azemar, Celine & Corcos, Gregory, 2008. "Multinational Firms’ Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: the Role of Transfer Pricing," SIRE Discussion Papers 2008-08, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    23. James R. Hines & Eric M. Rice, 1994. "Fiscal Paradise: Foreign Tax Havens and American Business," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 149-182.
    24. Cragg, John G. & Donald, Stephen G., 1993. "Testing Identifiability and Specification in Instrumental Variable Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 222-240, April.
    25. Forestier, Emmanuel & Grace, Jeremy & Kenny, Charles, 2002. "Can information and communication technologies be pro-poor?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 623-646, December.
    26. Hines, James R. Jr., 1999. "Lessons from Behavioral Responses to International Taxation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 2), pages 305-22, June.
    27. Céline Azémar & Gregory Corcos, 2009. "Multinational Firms’ Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: The Role of Transfer Pricing," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9), pages 1291-1318, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cooper, Maggie & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2020. "Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    2. Cooper, Maggie & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2019. "Understanding the interaction of motivation and opportunity for tax planning inside US multinationals: A qualitative study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1-1.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Azemar, Celine, 2008. "International Corporate Taxation and U.S. Multinationals Behavior: an Integrated Approach," SIRE Discussion Papers 2008-40, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    2. Céline Azémar, 2010. "International corporate taxation and U.S. multinationals' behaviour: an integrated approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 232-253, February.
    3. Azémar, Céline & Delios, Andrew, 2008. "Tax competition and FDI: The special case of developing countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 85-108, March.
    4. Céline Azemar & Grégory Corcos & Andrew Delios, 2006. "Taxation and the international strategy of Japanese multinational enterprises," Working Papers halshs-00590421, HAL.
    5. Ronald B. Davies & Pehr‐Johan Norbäck & Ayça Tekin‐Koru, 2009. "The Effect of Tax Treaties on Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Microdata," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 77-110, January.
    6. Peter Egger & Simon Loretz & Michael Pfaffermayr & Hannes Winner, 2006. "Corporate Taxation and Multinational Activity," CESifo Working Paper Series 1773, CESifo.
    7. Céline Azémar & Gregory Corcos, 2009. "Multinational Firms’ Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: The Role of Transfer Pricing," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9), pages 1291-1318, September.
    8. Azemar, Celine & Corcos, Gregory, 2008. "Multinational Firms’ Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: the Role of Transfer Pricing," SIRE Discussion Papers 2008-08, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    9. James R. Hines Jr., 2005. "Do Tax Havens Flourish?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 19, pages 65-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Lars P. Feld & Jost H. Heckemeyer, 2011. "Fdi And Taxation: A Meta‐Study," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 233-272, April.
    11. Céline Azémar & Rodolphe Desbordes & Jean-Louis Mucchielli, 2007. "Do tax sparing agreements contribute to the attraction of FDI in developing countries?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(5), pages 543-562, October.
    12. Hristu-Varsakelis, Dimitrios & Karagianni, Stella & Saraidaris, Anastasios, 2011. "Equilibrium conditions in corporate tax competition and Foreign Direct Investment flows," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 13-21.
    13. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "Foreign direct investment in a world of multiple taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2727-2744, December.
    14. Hristu-Varsakelis, Dimitrios & Karagianni, Stella & Saraidaris, Anastasios, 2011. "Equilibrium conditions in corporate tax competition and Foreign Direct Investment flows," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 13-21, January.
    15. Michael P Devereux, 2007. "The Impact of Taxation on the Location of Capital, Firms and Profit: a Survey of Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 0702, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    16. Cooper, Maggie & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2020. "Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    17. Alexander Klemm & Stefan Parys, 2012. "Empirical evidence on the effects of tax incentives," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(3), pages 393-423, June.
    18. Bruce Blonigen, 2005. "A Review of the Empirical Literature on FDI Determinants," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 383-403, December.
    19. Egger, Peter H. & Merlo, Valeria & Wamser, Georg, 2014. "Unobserved tax avoidance and the tax elasticity of FDI," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-18.
    20. Rosanne Altshuler & Harry Grubert & T. Scott Newlon, 2000. "Has U.S. Investment Abroad Become More Sensitive to Tax Rates?," NBER Chapters, in: International Taxation and Multinational Activity, pages 9-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:43:y:2010:i:1:p:232-253. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Prof. Werner Antweiler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.