IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v144y2022i1p298-327.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign investment of US multinationals: The effect of tax policy and agency conflicts

Author

Listed:
  • Albertus, James F.
  • Glover, Brent
  • Levine, Oliver

Abstract

We estimate a dynamic model, featuring agency conflicts and a stochastic tax reform arrival, to evaluate how the change from a worldwide to territorial tax system, enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), affects foreign investment. Although a worldwide system imposes a higher tax liability on foreign income, we show it encourages excess foreign investment by depressing the opportunity cost of capital. In our estimated model, the TCJA reduces foreign investment by 15.6% on average, with larger declines for services firms and firms with lesser agency conflicts. The reform probability, which we estimate in the model, significantly affects firms’ investment and cash holdings.

Suggested Citation

  • Albertus, James F. & Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2022. "Foreign investment of US multinationals: The effect of tax policy and agency conflicts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 298-327.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:144:y:2022:i:1:p:298-327
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.06.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X21002701
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.06.004?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hassett, Kevin A. & Hubbard, R. Glenn, 2002. "Tax policy and business investment," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 20, pages 1293-1343, Elsevier.
    2. Zhao, Jake, 2020. "Accounting for the corporate cash increase," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    3. Lee, Bong-Soo & Ingram, Beth Fisher, 1991. "Simulation estimation of time-series models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2-3), pages 197-205, February.
    4. Joel Slemrod, 2018. "Is This Tax Reform, or Just Confusion?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 73-96, Fall.
    5. Christopher A. Hennessy & Toni M. Whited, 2007. "How Costly Is External Financing? Evidence from a Structural Estimation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1705-1745, August.
    6. Leigh A. Riddick & Toni M. Whited, 2009. "The Corporate Propensity to Save," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1729-1766, August.
    7. Arnold C. Harberger, 1962. "The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 215-215.
    8. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Whited, Toni M., 2012. "Dynamic Models and Structural Estimation in Corporate Finance," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 6(1–2), pages 1-163, November.
    9. Dominika Langenmayr & Li Liu, 2020. "Where Does Multinational Profit Go with Territorial Taxation? Evidence from the UK," CESifo Working Paper Series 8047, CESifo.
    10. Patrick Bolton & Hui Chen & Neng Wang, 2014. "Debt, Taxes, and Liquidity," NBER Working Papers 20009, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Hugonnier, Julien & Malamud, Semyon & Morellec, Erwan, 2015. "Credit market frictions and capital structure dynamics," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 1130-1158.
    12. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    13. Boris Nikolov & Toni M. Whited, 2014. "Agency Conflicts and Cash: Estimates from a Dynamic Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(5), pages 1883-1921, October.
    14. Vasia Panousi & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2012. "Investment, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Ownership," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1113-1148, June.
    15. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    16. Nathalie Moyen, 2004. "Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities: Constrained versus Unconstrained Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(5), pages 2061-2092, October.
    17. Han, Chirok & Phillips, Peter C. B., 2010. "Gmm Estimation For Dynamic Panels With Fixed Effects And Strong Instruments At Unity," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 119-151, February.
    18. Babkin, Anton & Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2017. "Are corporate inversions good for shareholders?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 227-251.
    19. Andrea Gamba & Alexander Triantis, 2008. "The Value of Financial Flexibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2263-2296, October.
    20. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    21. Hanlon, Michelle & Lester, Rebecca & Verdi, Rodrigo, 2015. "The effect of repatriation tax costs on U.S. multinational investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 179-196.
    22. Jean-Paul Decamps & Sebastian Gryglewicz & Erwan Morellec & Stephane Villeneuve, 2016. "Corporate Policies with Permanent and Transitory Shocks," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 16-18, Swiss Finance Institute.
    23. Sun, Qi & Xiaolan, Mindy Z., 2019. "Financing intangible capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 472-496.
    24. Palazzo, Berardino, 2012. "Cash holdings, risk, and expected returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 162-185.
    25. Blouin, Jennifer & Core, John E. & Guay, Wayne, 2010. "Have the tax benefits of debt been overestimated?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 195-213, November.
    26. Erwan MORELLEC & Norman SCHURHOFF, 2009. "Dynamic Investment and Financing under Asymmetric Information," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 09-09, Swiss Finance Institute.
    27. Décamps, Jean-Paul & Gryglewicz, S. & Morellec, E. & Villeneuve, Stéphane, 2015. "Corporate Policies with Temporary and Permanent Shocks," IDEI Working Papers 843, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Mar 2016.
    28. Auerbach, Alan J., 2002. "Taxation and corporate financial policy," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 19, pages 1251-1292, Elsevier.
    29. Bolton, Patrick & Chen, Hui & Wang, Neng, 2013. "Market timing, investment, and risk management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 40-62.
    30. Michael W Faulkender & Kristine W Hankins & Mitchell A Petersen, 2019. "Understanding the Rise in Corporate Cash: Precautionary Savings or Foreign Taxes," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(9), pages 3299-3334.
    31. Michael Faulkender & Mitchell Petersen, 2012. "Investment and Capital Constraints: Repatriations Under the American Jobs Creation Act," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(11), pages 3351-3388.
    32. Hartman, David G., 1985. "Tax policy and foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 107-121, February.
    33. Alan J. Auerbach, 1979. "Wealth Maximization and the Cost of Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(3), pages 433-446.
    34. Bakke, Tor-Erik & Gu, Tiantian, 2017. "Diversification and cash dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 580-601.
    35. Danny Yagan, 2015. "Capital Tax Reform and the Real Economy: The Effects of the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3531-3563, December.
    36. Joao F. Gomes, 2001. "Financing Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1263-1285, December.
    37. Desai, Mihir A. & Hines, James R. Jr., 2002. "Expectations and Expatriations: Tracing the Causes and Consequences of Corporate Inversions," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 55(3), pages 409-440, September.
    38. Albertus, James F. & Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2019. "Heads I win, tails you lose: Asymmetric taxes, risk taking, and innovation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 24-40.
    39. Lyandres, Evgeny & Palazzo, Berardino, 2016. "Cash Holdings, Competition, and Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1823-1861, December.
    40. Gu, Tiantian, 2017. "U.S. multinationals and cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 344-368.
    41. Arnoud Boot & Dennis Logue & Chester Spatt, 2017. "Statement of the Financial Economists Roundtable: Corporate Tax Reform," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 29(3), pages 65-70, September.
    42. Erickson, Timothy & Whited, Toni M., 2002. "Two-Step Gmm Estimation Of The Errors-In-Variables Model Using High-Order Moments," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 776-799, June.
    43. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    44. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2018. "The Consequences of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act's International Provisions: Lessons from Existing Research," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 71(4), pages 707-728, December.
    45. Dhammika Dharmapala & C. Fritz Foley & Kristin J. Forbes, 2011. "Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 753-787, June.
    46. Chemla, Gilles & Hennessy, Christopher, 2019. "Equilibrium Counterfactuals," CEPR Discussion Papers 14146, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    47. Lisa De Simone & Joseph D Piotroski & Rimmy E Tomy, 2019. "Repatriation Taxes and Foreign Cash Holdings: The Impact of Anticipated Tax Reform," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(8), pages 3105-3143.
    48. Matteo P. Arena & George W. Kutner, 2015. "Territorial Tax System Reform and Corporate Financial Policies," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(8), pages 2250-2280.
    49. Martin Boileau & Nathalie Moyen, 2016. "Corporate Cash Holdings And Credit Line Usage," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1481-1506, November.
    50. Shaojin Li & Toni M. Whited & Yufeng Wu, 2016. "Collateral, Taxes, and Leverage," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(6), pages 1453-1500.
    51. Nikolov, Boris & Schmid, Lukas & Steri, Roberto, 2019. "Dynamic corporate liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 76-102.
    52. Griffith, Rachel & Miller, Helen & O'Connell, Martin, 2014. "Ownership of intellectual property and corporate taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 12-23.
    53. Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2017. "Idiosyncratic risk and the manager," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 320-341.
    54. Li Liu, 2020. "Where Does Multinational Investment Go with Territorial Taxation? Evidence from the United Kingdom," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 325-358, February.
    55. Fritz Foley, C. & Hartzell, Jay C. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2007. "Why do firms hold so much cash? A tax-based explanation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 579-607, December.
    56. Lucas, Robert Jr, 1976. "Econometric policy evaluation: A critique," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-46, January.
    57. Eisfeldt, Andrea L. & Muir, Tyler, 2016. "Aggregate external financing and savings waves," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 116-133.
    58. Jarrad Harford & Cong Wang & Kuo Zhang, 2017. "Foreign Cash: Taxes, Internal Capital Markets, and Agency Problems," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1490-1538.
    59. John R. Graham, 2003. "Taxes and Corporate Finance: A Review," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1075-1129.
    60. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 523-564.
    61. Martin Boileau & Nathalie Moyen, 2016. "Corporate Cash Holdings And Credit Line Usage," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 1481-1506, November.
    62. Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2015. "Uncertainty, investment, and managerial incentives," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 121-137.
    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. Rainer Niemann & Mariana Sailer, 2023. "Is analytical tax research alive and kicking? Insights from 2000 until 2022," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(6), pages 1149-1212, August.

    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. Adam Hal Spencer, 2022. "Policy Effects of International Taxation on Firm Dynamics and Capital Structure [Foreign investment of us multinationals: The effect of tax policy and agency conflicts]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(4), pages 2149-2200.
    2. Macnamara, Patrick, 2019. "Taxes and financial frictions: Implications for corporate capital structure," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 82-100.
    3. Gu, Tiantian, 2017. "U.S. multinationals and cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 344-368.
    4. Antonio Falato & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Jae Sim & Roberto Steri, 2022. "Rising Intangible Capital, Shrinking Debt Capacity, and the U.S. Corporate Savings Glut," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2799-2852, October.
    5. Favara, Giovanni & Gao, Janet & Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2021. "Uncertainty, access to debt, and firm precautionary behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 436-453.
    6. Urooj Khan & Suresh Nallareddy & Ethan Rouen, 2020. "The Role of Taxes in the Disconnect Between Corporate Performance and Economic Growth," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5427-5447, November.
    7. Begenau, Juliane & Palazzo, Berardino, 2021. "Firm selection and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 697-718.
    8. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Whited, Toni M., 2012. "Dynamic Models and Structural Estimation in Corporate Finance," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 6(1–2), pages 1-163, November.
    9. Iván Alfaro & Nicholas Bloom & Xiaoji Lin, 2024. "The Finance Uncertainty Multiplier," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 577-615.
    10. Nikolov, Boris & Schmid, Lukas & Steri, Roberto, 2019. "Dynamic corporate liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 76-102.
    11. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    12. Xiaodan Gao & Jake Zhao, 2022. "R&D Dynamics and Corporate Cash Saving," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 43, pages 263-285, January.
    13. Beyer, Brooke & Downes, Jimmy & Rapley, Eric T., 2017. "Internal capital market inefficiencies, shareholder payout, and abnormal leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 39-57.
    14. Zhao, Jake, 2020. "Accounting for the corporate cash increase," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    15. Missaka Warusawitharana & Toni M. Whited, 2016. "Equity Market Misvaluation, Financing, and Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 603-654.
    16. Martin Boileau & Nathalie Moyen, 2009. "Corporate Cash Savings: Precaution versus Liquidity," Cahiers de recherche 0953, CIRPEE.
    17. Michael P. Donohoe & Hansol Jang & Petro Lisowsky, 2022. "Competitive Externalities of Tax Cuts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 201-259, March.
    18. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/5e3g19l1fn9thpq7ldd8kqr3vu is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Priit Jeenas, 2023. "Firm Balance Sheet Liquidity, Monetary Policy Shocks, and Investment Dynamics," Working Papers 1409, Barcelona School of Economics.
    20. Sylvain Catherine & Thomas Chaney & Zongbo Huang & David Sraer & David Thesmar, 2022. "Quantifying Reduced‐Form Evidence on Collateral Constraints," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 2143-2181, August.
    21. Sun, Qi & Xiaolan, Mindy Z., 2019. "Financing intangible capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 564-588.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA); Foreign direct investment (FDI); Policy uncertainty; Dynamic corporate finance; Multinational corporations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

    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:eee:jfinec:v:144:y:2022:i:1:p:298-327. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    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.