IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v165y2020i3d10.1007_s10551-018-4090-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Status and Tax Haven Investment of Emerging Market Firms: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Ziliang Deng

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Jiayan Yan

    (Renmin University of China
    University of South Carolina)

  • Pei Sun

    (Fudan University)

Abstract

Tax haven investment has become an increasingly important topic in business ethics. Given the considerable tax haven investments from emerging market firms, understanding how home-country institutions shape their investments in tax havens is theoretically intriguing and practically crucial. By integrating resource dependence and institutional theories, we hypothesize the existence of a negative relationship between firms’ home-country political status and tax haven investment. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) controlled by the central government dominate the political hierarchy. Compared with other types of enterprises, central SOEs receive the strongest institutional support and are the most prone to institutional oversight, thereby exhibiting the weakest tendency to invest in tax havens. This top group is followed by SOEs controlled by local governments, politically connected private firms, and private firms without political connections. These groups exhibit an increasing tendency to invest in overseas tax havens. The empirical analysis of Chinese listed firms during 2003–2013 supports our hypotheses. This research contributes to the business ethics literature by identifying institutional drivers of overseas tax haven investment by emerging market firms, thereby adding to the ethical debate on international tax avoidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Ziliang Deng & Jiayan Yan & Pei Sun, 2020. "Political Status and Tax Haven Investment of Emerging Market Firms: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 469-488, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:165:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4090-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4090-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-018-4090-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-018-4090-0?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. Gokalp, Omer N. & Lee, Seung-Hyun & Peng, Mike W., 2017. "Competition and corporate tax evasion: An institution-based view," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 258-269.
    2. Chinn, Menzie D. & Ito, Hiro, 2006. "What matters for financial development? Capital controls, institutions, and interactions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 163-192, October.
    3. Seung Ho Park & Shaomin Li & David K Tse, 2006. "Market liberalization and firm performance during China's economic transition," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(1), pages 127-147, January.
    4. Jones, Chris & Temouri, Yama, 2016. "The determinants of tax haven FDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 237-250.
    5. Blau, Benjamin M. & Brough, Tyler J. & Thomas, Diana W., 2013. "Corporate lobbying, political connections, and the bailout of banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3007-3017.
    6. Dinah M. Payne & Cecily A. Raiborn, 2018. "Aggressive Tax Avoidance: A Conundrum for Stakeholders, Governments, and Morality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 469-487, February.
    7. Nianhang Xu & Xinzhong Xu & Qingbo Yuan, 2013. "Political Connections, Financing Friction, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Chinese Listed Family Firms," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(4), pages 675-702, September.
    8. Poncet, Sandra & Steingress, Walter & Vandenbussche, Hylke, 2010. "Financial constraints in China: Firm-level evidence," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 411-422, September.
    9. Lãœ, Xiaobo & Landry, Pierre F., 2014. "Show Me the Money: Interjurisdiction Political Competition and Fiscal Extraction in China," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 706-722, August.
    10. He, Xiaoming & Eden, Lorraine & Hitt, Michael A., 2016. "Shared Governance: Institutional Investors as a Counterbalance to the State in State Owned Multinationals," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 115-130.
    11. Gravelle, Jane G., 2009. "Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(4), pages 727-753, December.
    12. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    13. Pei Sun & Kamel Mellahi & Mike Wright & Haoping Xu, 2015. "Political Tie Heterogeneity and the Impact of Adverse Shocks on Firm Value," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(8), pages 1036-1063, December.
    14. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_021 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Chari, Murali & Acikgoz, Senay, 2016. "What drives emerging economy firm acquisitions in tax havens?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 664-671.
    16. Ziliang Deng & Jiayan Yan & Marc van Essen, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," Post-Print hal-02312122, HAL.
    17. Hong Zou & Mike B Adams, 2008. "Corporate ownership, equity risk and returns in the People's Republic of China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(7), pages 1149-1168, October.
    18. Peter J. Buckley & Dylan Sutherland & Hinrich Voss & Ahmad El-Gohari, 2015. "The economic geography of offshore incorporation in tax havens and offshore financial centres: the case of Chinese MNEs," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 103-128.
    19. 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.
    20. Saunders, Anthony & Strock, Elizabeth & Travlos, Nickolaos G, 1990. "Ownership Structure, Deregulation, and Bank Risk Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 643-654, June.
    21. Brent B Allred & Michael G Findley & Daniel Nielson & J C Sharman, 2017. "Anonymous shell companies: A global audit study and field experiment in 176 countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(5), pages 596-619, July.
    22. Dharmapala, Dhammika & Hines Jr., James R., 2009. "Which countries become tax havens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1058-1068, October.
    23. Adhikari, Ajay & Derashid, Chek & Zhang, Hao, 2006. "Public policy, political connections, and effective tax rates: Longitudinal evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 574-595.
    24. Amon Chizema & Xiaohui Liu & Jiangyong Lu & Lan Gao, 2015. "Politically connected boards and top executive pay in Chinese listed firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 890-906, June.
    25. Wenfeng Wu & Oliver M. Rui & Chongfeng Wu, 2013. "Institutional environment, ownership and firm taxation," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 21(1), pages 17-51, January.
    26. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    27. Scott D. Dyreng & Bradley P. Lindsey, 2009. "Using Financial Accounting Data to Examine the Effect of Foreign Operations Located in Tax Havens and Other Countries on U.S. Multinational Firms' Tax Rates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1283-1316, December.
    28. Grubert, Harry, 1998. "Taxes and the division of foreign operating income among royalties, interest, dividends and retained earnings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 269-290, May.
    29. Kevin Markle, 2016. "A Comparison of the Tax†Motivated Income Shifting of Multinationals in Territorial and Worldwide Countries," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 7-43, March.
    30. Klaus E Meyer & Yuan Ding & Jing Li & Hua Zhang, 2014. "Overcoming distrust: How state-owned enterprises adapt their foreign entries to institutional pressures abroad," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 1005-1028, October.
    31. Zahra Bhanji & Joanne E Oxley, 2013. "Overcoming the dual liability of foreignness and privateness in international corporate citizenship partnerships," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 290-311, May.
    32. Glen Dowell & Brad Killaly, 2009. "Effect of Resource Variation and Firm Experience on Market Entry Decisions: Evidence from U.S. Telecommunication Firms' International Expansion Decisions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 69-84, February.
    33. Iftekhar Hasan & Chun‐Keung (Stan) Hoi & Qiang Wu & Hao Zhang, 2017. "Does Social Capital Matter in Corporate Decisions? Evidence from Corporate Tax Avoidance," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 629-668, June.
    34. Michael A Witt & Arie Y Lewin, 2007. "Outward foreign direct investment as escape response to home country institutional constraints," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 579-594, July.
    35. Chengqi Wang & Junjie Hong & Mario Kafouros & Mike Wright, 2012. "Exploring the role of government involvement in outward FDI from emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(7), pages 655-676, September.
    36. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    37. Paul Brockman & Oliver M Rui & Huan Zou, 2013. "Institutions and the performance of politically connected M&As," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(8), pages 833-852, October.
    38. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Jimmy Lee & Chee Yeow Lim & Gerald J. Lobo, 2018. "Cross-Country Evidence on the Role of Independent Media in Constraining Corporate Tax Aggressiveness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 879-902, July.
    39. Dylan Sutherland & Lutao Ning, 2011. "Exploring 'onward-journey' ODI strategies in China's private sector businesses," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 43-65.
    40. Ming Hua Li & Lin Cui & Jiangyong Lu, 2014. "Varieties in state capitalism: Outward FDI strategies of central and local state-owned enterprises from emerging economy countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 980-1004, October.
    41. Sea Jin Chang & Dean Xu, 2008. "Spillovers and competition among foreign and local firms in China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 495-518, May.
    42. Kenneth J. Klassen & Stacie Kelley Laplante, 2012. "The Effect of Foreign Reinvestment and Financial Reporting Incentives on Cross†Jurisdictional Income Shifting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 928-955, September.
    43. Deng, Ziliang & Yan, Jiayan & van Essen, Marc, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 893-903.
    44. Xufei Ma & Tony W Tong & Markus Fitza, 2013. "How much does subnational region matter to foreign subsidiary performance? Evidence from Fortune Global 500 Corporations’ investment in China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(1), pages 66-87, January.
    45. Lin Cui & Fuming Jiang, 2012. "State ownership effect on firms' FDI ownership decisions under institutional pressure: a study of Chinese outward-investing firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(3), pages 264-284, April.
    46. Liu, Guy S. & Sun, Pei & Woo, Wing Thye, 2006. "The Political Economy of Chinese-Style Privatization: Motives and Constraints," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2016-2033, December.
    47. Herita Akamah & Ole-Kristian Hope & Wayne B Thomas, 2018. "Tax havens and disclosure aggregation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 49-69, January.
    48. Jiangyong Lu & Xiaohui Liu & Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev, 2014. "International experience and FDI location choices of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of home country government support and host country institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(4), pages 428-449, May.
    49. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Hinrich Voss & Ping Zheng, 2007. "The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 499-518, July.
    50. Hung-Gay Fung & Jot Yau & Gaiyan Zhang, 2011. "Reported trade figure discrepancy, regulatory arbitrage, and round-tripping: Evidence from the China–Hong Kong trade data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(1), pages 152-176, January.
    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. Pei Sun & Ziliang Deng & Mike Wright, 2021. "Partnering with Leviathan: The politics of innovation in foreign-host-state joint ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(4), pages 595-620, June.
    2. Ziliang Deng & Peter W Liesch & Zeyu Wang, 2021. "Deceptive signaling on globalized digital platforms: Institutional hypnosis and firm internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(6), pages 1096-1120, August.
    3. Pei Sun & Ziliang Deng & Mike Wright, 0. "Partnering with Leviathan: The politics of innovation in foreign-host-state joint ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-26.
    4. Andrei Panibratov & Daria Klishevich, 2023. "Emerging market state-owned multinationals: a review and implications for the state capitalism debate," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 84-117, February.
    5. Chenhao Hu, 2023. "The dual role of state shareholders in disclosed corporate misconduct: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1732-1748, April.
    6. Pei Sun & Jonathan P. Doh & Tazeeb Rajwani & Donald Siegel, 2021. "Navigating cross-border institutional complexity: A review and assessment of multinational nonmarket strategy research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1818-1853, December.
    7. Abdullah Almutairi & Baban Eulaiwi & Robert Evans & Grantley Taylor, 2023. "Tax Haven Use and Related‐Party Transactions: Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(4), pages 352-374, December.

    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. Deng, Ziliang & Yan, Jiayan & van Essen, Marc, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 893-903.
    2. Päivi Karhunen & Svetlana Ledyaeva & Keith D. Brouthers, 2022. "Capital Round-Tripping: Determinants of Emerging Market Firm Investments into Offshore Financial Centers and Their Ethical Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 117-137, November.
    3. Huang, Yuanyuan & Xie, En & Li, Yu & Reddy, K.S., 2017. "Does state ownership facilitate outward FDI of Chinese SOEs? Institutional development, market competition, and the logic of interdependence between governments and SOEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 176-188.
    4. Dylan Sutherland & Jean-Francois Hennart & John R. Anderson, 2019. "How does the routing of FDI to and via tax havens confound our understanding of Chinese MNE identity? A critical review of the empirical literature on Chinese MNEs," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 337-359, November.
    5. Huiying Luo & Xiaohui Liu & Aiqi Wu & Xiaotong Zhong, 2021. "Is it possible to escape? Local protectionism and outward foreign direct investment by Chinese privately-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1499-1524, December.
    6. Jing Li & Klaus E Meyer & Hua Zhang & Yuan Ding, 2018. "Diplomatic and corporate networks: Bridges to foreign locations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(6), pages 659-683, August.
    7. Guangyuan Guo & Jing Li & Dan Wang & Lina Zhang, 2022. "Political connection, contract intensity, and OFDI: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 534-557, July.
    8. Ren, Monica & Manning, Stephan & Vavilov, Stanislav, 2019. "Does state ownership really matter? The dynamic alignment of China's resource environment and firm internationalization strategies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    9. Xie, En & Reddy, K.S. & Liang, Jie, 2017. "Country-specific determinants of cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A comprehensive review and future research directions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 127-183.
    10. Renfei Gao, 2023. "Inward FDI spillovers and emerging multinationals’ outward FDI in two directions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 265-293, March.
    11. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Hinrich Voss & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Ping Zheng, 2018. "A retrospective and agenda for future research on Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 4-23, January.
    12. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Li, Cheng, 2021. "State ownership and internationalization: The advantage and disadvantage of stateness," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    13. Schweizer, Denis & Walker, Thomas & Zhang, Aoran, 2019. "Cross-border acquisitions by Chinese enterprises: The benefits and disadvantages of political connections," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 63-85.
    14. Li, Linjie & Liu, Xiaming & Yuan, Dong & Yu, Miaojie, 2017. "Does outward FDI generate higher productivity for emerging economy MNEs? – Micro-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 839-854.
    15. Pei Sun & Jonathan P. Doh & Tazeeb Rajwani & Donald Siegel, 2021. "Navigating cross-border institutional complexity: A review and assessment of multinational nonmarket strategy research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1818-1853, December.
    16. Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Dieleman, Marleen, 2018. "The internationalization paradox: Untangling dependence in multinational state hybrids," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 39-51.
    17. Lebedev, Sergey & Sun, Sunny Li & Markóczy, Lívia & Peng, Mike W., 2021. "Board political ties and firm internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3).
    18. Chidlow, Agnieszka & Wang, Jue & Liu, Xiaohui & Wei, Yingqi, 2021. "A co-evolution perspective of EMNE internationalization and institutions: An integrative framework of 5Cs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    19. Bai, Tao & Chen, Stephen & Xu, Youzong, 2021. "Formal and informal influences of the state on OFDI of hybrid state-owned enterprises in China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5).
    20. Weichieh Su & Danchi Tan, 2018. "Business Groups and Tax Havens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1067-1081, December.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:165:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4090-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.