IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbt/econwp/16-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Under Cover: Estimating the Existence of Profit-Shifting by MNCs in China

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This paper investigates profit-shifting behaviour among a large sample of multinational corporations (MNCs) in China. While profit-shifting behaviour is difficult to observe directly, it can be inferred from the behaviour of firms. That is the approach taken by Egger, Merlo, & Wamser (2014, henceforth EM&W) in their seminal analysis of tax elasticity of German MNCs. They developed a two-component mixture model that categorized MNCs into tax “avoiders” and “non-avoiders” based upon the estimated elasticities of investment to taxes. We apply their approach to our sample of MNCs in China. Like EM&W we find evidence of two distinct groups of MNCs. One group is responsive to changes in taxes, reducing investment when taxes increase. The other group is unresponsive to taxes, so that investment is not significantly associated with changes in tax rates. We show that the characteristics of these groups closely match the “avoiders” and “non-avoiders” of EM&W’s sample. Even so, our estimated tax elasticities are much smaller than EM&W. This suggests that the extent of profit-shifting was relatively small during China’s period of preferential tax treatment for foreign investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuefeng Qian & Bifei Tian & W. Robert Reed & Zirou Chen, 2016. "Under Cover: Estimating the Existence of Profit-Shifting by MNCs in China," Working Papers in Economics 16/36, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbt:econwp:16/36
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.canterbury.ac.nz/cbt/econwp/1636.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Devereux, Michael P & Griffith, Rachel, 2003. "Evaluating Tax Policy for Location Decisions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 107-126, March.
    3. Xiaowen Tian, 2007. "Accounting for sources of FDI technology spillovers: evidence from China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(1), pages 147-159, January.
    4. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2014. "What Do We Know about Base Erosion and Profit Shifting? A Review of the Empirical Literature," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 35, pages 421-448, December.
    5. An, Zhiyong & Tan, Congyan, 2014. "Taxation and income shifting: Empirical evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 588-596.
    6. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Qian, Xuefeng & Tian, Bifei & Reed, W. Robert & Chen, Ziruo, 2018. "Searching for profit-shifting in China," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 12, pages 1-25.
    2. Arulampalam, Wiji & Devereux, Michael P. & Liberini, Federica, 2019. "Taxes and the location of targets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 161-178.
    3. Qian, Xuefeng & Tian, Bifei & Reed, W. Robert & Chen, Ziruo, 2017. "Under cover: detecting the existence of profit-shifting in China," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-26, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    4. Danai Christopoulou & Nikolaos Papageorgiadis & Chengang Wang & Georgios Magkonis, 2021. "IPR Law Protection and Enforcement and the Effect on Horizontal Productivity Spillovers from Inward FDI to Domestic Firms: A Meta-analysis," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 235-266, April.
    5. Hu, Chenguang & Li, Jiatao & Yun, Kyung Hwan, 2023. "Re-examining foreign subsidiary survival in a transition economy: Impact of market identity overlap and conflict," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(3).
    6. Ludvig Wier & Hayley Erasmus, 2023. "The Dominant Role of Large Firms in Profit Shifting," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(3), pages 791-816, September.
    7. Wu, Jie & Zahoor, Nadia & Khan, Zaheer & Meyer, Martin, 2023. "The effects of inward FDI communities on the research and development intensity of emerging market locally domiciled firms: Partial foreign ownership as a contingency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    8. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2016. "The Economics of Corporate and Business Tax Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 5864, CESifo.
    9. Livanis, Grigorios & Lamin, Anna, 2016. "Knowledge, Proximity and R&D Exodus," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 8-26.
    10. Bilicka, Katarzyna & Qi, Yaxuan & Xing, Jing, 2022. "Real responses to anti-tax avoidance: Evidence from the UK Worldwide Debt Cap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    11. Maximilian Todtenhaupt & Johannes Voget, 2021. "International Taxation and Productivity Effects of M&As," CESifo Working Paper Series 8967, CESifo.
    12. Mengmeng Wang & Shufeng Simon Xiao & Sang Hyun Han, 2023. "Exploring the double-edged sword effect of outward FDI spillovers on domestic firms’ productivity in an emerging market," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 275-299, February.
    13. Sean Mc Auliffe & Georg U. Thunecke & Georg Wamser, 2023. "The Tax-Elasticity of Tangible Fixed Assets: Evidence from Novel Corporate Tax Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 10628, CESifo.
    14. Haiyang Li & Xiwei Yi & Geng Cui, 2017. "Emerging Market Firms' Internationalization: How Do Firms' Inward Activities Affect Their Outward Activities?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(13), pages 2704-2725, December.
    15. Edward Fox, 2020. "Does Capital Bear the U.S. Corporate Tax After All? New Evidence from Corporate Tax Returns," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 71-115, March.
    16. Jing Li & Jun Xia & Edward J. Zajac, 2018. "On the duality of political and economic stakeholder influence on firm innovation performance: Theory and evidence from Chinese firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 193-216, January.
    17. Fernhaber, Stephanie & Li, Dan & Wu, Aiqi, 2019. "Internationalization of emerging-economy new ventures: The role of within-country differences," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 497-507.
    18. Amendolagine, Vito & De Pascale, Gianluigi & Faccilongo, Nicola, 2021. "International capital mobility and corporate tax revenues: How do controlled foreign company rules and innovation shape this relationship?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Sebastian Beer & Mr. Alexander D Klemm & Ms. Thornton Matheson, 2018. "Tax Spillovers from US Corporate Income Tax Reform," IMF Working Papers 2018/166, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "International taxation and productivity effects of M&As," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multinational Corporations (MNCs); Profit shifting; Tax elasticity of investment; Finite mixture model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cbt:econwp:16/36. 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: Albert Yee (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decannz.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.