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Do tax havens create firm value?

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  • Choy, Siu Kai
  • Lai, Tat-Kei
  • Ng, Travis

Abstract

On October 11, 2011, a non-governmental organization called ActionAid published a report condemning the FTSE 100 firms for holding an unusually large number of subsidiaries in tax havens. Urging the government to implement appropriate actions, the report raised the firms' costs of holding tax haven subsidiaries. After this event, the stock prices of the nonfinancial firms experienced a 0.9% abnormal drop (corresponding to about £9billion in market capitalization). Those better-governed firms and those with larger shares of subsidiaries in tax havens experienced larger drops. We find some evidence that government scrutiny, reputation, and investor sentiment were plausible channels of such a negative impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Choy, Siu Kai & Lai, Tat-Kei & Ng, Travis, 2017. "Do tax havens create firm value?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 198-220.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:198-220
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2016.10.016
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    Cited by:

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    3. Petr Janský, 2020. "European banks and tax havens: evidence from country-by-country reporting," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(54), pages 5967-5985, November.
    4. Robinson Reyes-Peña & Arun Upadhyay & Arun Kumaraswamy, 2023. "Foreign competitive pressure and inversions by U.S. multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(5), pages 829-851, July.
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    6. Chang, Kai & Xue, Chenqi & Zhang, Huijia & Zeng, Yonghong, 2022. "The effects of green fiscal policies and R&D investment on a firm's market value: New evidence from the renewable energy industry in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax havens; Firm value; Corporate governance; Corporate tax; Event study;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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