IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/unc/tncjou/15.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does tax drive the headquarters locations of the world’s biggest companies?

Author

Listed:
  • Kimberly A. Clausing

Abstract

In recent years, policy-makers have given paramount attention to “competitiveness”, working to ensure that domestic economies attract investment, jobs, and tax revenues. Toward this end, countries have steadily lowered corporate tax rates in an attempt to attract mobile international businesses. This paper discusses the desirability of this policy stance in light of data on the world’s biggest companies. Using Forbes lists of the top “Global 2000” companies over the period 2003–2017, the paper analyzes companies’ headquarters locations, focusing on economic, geographic, and policy determinants. The paper then relates these findings to larger policy questions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kimberly A. Clausing, . "Does tax drive the headquarters locations of the world’s biggest companies?," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:unc:tncjou:15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/diae2018d4a4.pdf?repec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabrice Defever, 2012. "The spatial organization of multinational firms," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 672-697, May.
    2. Gabriel R. G. Benito & Randi Lunnan & Sverre Tomassen, 2011. "Distant Encounters of the Third Kind: Multinational Companies Locating Divisional Headquarters Abroad," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 373-394, March.
    3. Haufler, Andreas & Wooton, Ian, 1999. "Country size and tax competition for foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 121-139, January.
    4. Harry P. Huizinga & Johannes Voget, 2009. "International Taxation and the Direction and Volume of Cross‐Border M&As," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(3), pages 1217-1249, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Barrios, Salvador & Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodème, Gaëtan, 2012. "International taxation and multinational firm location decisions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 946-958.
    7. Danny T Wang & Simon X Zhao & Flora F Gu & Wendy Y Chen, 2011. "Power or Market? Location Determinants of Multinational Headquarters in China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(10), pages 2364-2383, October.
    8. Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker, 2013. "Effective labor taxation and the international location of headquarters," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(4), pages 631-652, August.
    9. Tomi Laamanen & Tatu Simula & Sami Torstila, 2012. "Cross-border relocations of headquarters in Europe," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(2), pages 187-210, February.
    10. Eric J. Allen & Susan C. Morse, 2013. "Tax-Haven Incorporation for U.S.-Headquartered Firms: No Exodus Yet," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(2), pages 395-420, June.
    11. Becker, Sascha & Egger, Peter H & Merlo, Valeria, 2008. "How Low Business Tax Rates Attract Multinational Headquarters: Municipality-Level Evidence from Germany," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2008-30, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    12. Marc G Baaij & Arjen H L Slangen, 2013. "The role of headquarters–subsidiary geographic distance in strategic decisions by spatially disaggregated headquarters," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(9), pages 941-952, December.
    13. Richard Baldwin & Toshihiro Okubo, 2009. "Tax Reform, Delocation, and Heterogeneous Firms," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(4), pages 741-764, December.
    14. Card, David & Hallock, Kevin F. & Moretti, Enrico, 2010. "The geography of giving: The effect of corporate headquarters on local charities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3-4), pages 222-234, April.
    15. Matthias Dischinger & Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel, 2014. "There's No Place Like Home: The Profitability Gap between Headquarters and their Foreign Subsidiaries," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 369-395, June.
    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. Alex Cobham & Petr Janský & Chris Jones & Yama Temouri, . "An evaluation of the effects of the European Commission's proposals for the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

    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. René Belderbos & Helen S. Du & Anthony Goerzen, 2017. "Global Cities, Connectivity, and the Location Choice of MNC Regional Headquarters," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(8), pages 1271-1302, December.
    2. Sunghoon Hong, 2018. "Tax treaties and foreign direct investment: a network approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1277-1320, October.
    3. Hoppe, Thomas & Schanz, Deborah & Sturm, Susann & Sureth, Caren & Voget, Johannes, 2020. "The relation between tax complexity and foreign direct investment: Evidence across countries," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 250, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    4. Deborah Schanz & Andreas Dinkel & Sara Keller, 2017. "Tax attractiveness and the location of German-controlled subsidiaries," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 251-297, January.
    5. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2015. "Does Corporate Taxation Deter Multinationals? Evidence from a Historic Event in Ireland," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 788-804, May.
    6. Ana Botella Andreu & Katiuscia Lavoratori, 2022. "History Matters: Colonial-Based Connectivity and Foreign Headquarter Location Choice," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 711-739, October.
    7. 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.
    8. Miyazawa, Kazutoshi & Ogawa, Hikaru & Tamai, Toshiki, 2019. "Capital market integration and fiscal sustainability," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Perttu Kähäri & Iiris Saittakari & Rebecca Piekkari & Wilhelm Barner-Rasmussen, 2017. "Explaining Mandate Loss of Regional Headquarters: The Difference between Full and Partial Loss," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(8), pages 1206-1240, December.
    10. Deschryvere, Matthias, 2009. "Mobility of Corporate Headquarter Functions: A Literature Review," Discussion Papers 1203, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    11. Fischer, Leonie & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Spengel, Christoph & Steinbrenner, Daniela, 2021. "Tax policies in a transition to a knowledge-based economy: The effective tax burden of companies and highly skilled labour," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-096, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Phillip C. Nell & Philip Kappen & Tomi Laamanen, 2017. "Reconceptualising Hierarchies: The Disaggregation and Dispersion of Headquarters in Multinational Corporations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(8), pages 1121-1143, December.
    13. Pehr‐Johan Norbäck & Lars Persson & Jonas Vlachos, 2009. "Cross‐border acquisitions and taxes: efficiency and tax revenues," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 1473-1500, November.
    14. Oscar Amerighi & Giuseppe De Feo, 2014. "Competition for FDI and Profit Shifting: On the Effects of Subsidies and Tax Breaks," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 70(3), pages 374-404, September.
    15. Regina Ortmann & Erich Pummerer, 2023. "Distortional effects of separate accounting and formula apportionment on factor allocation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(8), pages 1277-1307, October.
    16. Karen Crabbé & Karolien De Bruyne, 2013. "Taxes, Agglomeration Rents and Location Decisions of Firms," De Economist, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 421-446, December.
    17. International Monetary Fund, 2008. "Kingdom of the Netherlands: Netherlands: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2008/172, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Dominika Langenmayr & Franz Reiter, 2022. "Trading offshore: evidence on banks’ tax avoidance," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 797-837, July.
    19. Gaëtan Nicodème, 2008. "Corporate Income Tax and Economic Distortions," Working Papers CEB 08-033.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    20. Azémar, Céline & Desbordes, Rodolphe & Wooton, Ian, 2020. "Is international tax competition only about taxes? A market-based perspective," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 891-912.

    More about this item

    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:unc:tncjou:15. 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: Kumi Endo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/unctach.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.