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Transfer Pricing by U.S.-Based Multinational Firms

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Author Info
Andrew Bernard
J. Bradford Jensen
Peter Schott

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper examines how prices set by multinational firms vary across arm’s-length and related party customers. Comparing prices within firms, products, destination countries, modes of transport and month, we find that the prices U.S. exporters set for their arm’s-length customers are substantially larger than the prices recorded for related-parties. This price wedge is smaller for commodities than for differentiated goods, is increasing in firm size and firm export share, and is greater for goods sent to countries with lower corporate tax rates and higher tariffs. We also find that changes in exchange rates have differential effects on arm’s-length and related-party prices; an appreciation of the dollar reduces the difference between the prices.

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File URL: http://www.ces.census.gov/index.php/ces/cespapers?down_key=101837
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: First version, 2008
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau in its series Working Papers with number 08-29.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:08-29

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Web page: http://www.ces.census.gov

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Related research
Keywords: Related party trade; Corporate taxes; Intrafirm trade; Arm’s-length sales; Tariffs; Market structure; Pricing-to-market;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Country and Industry Studies of Trade
H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion
H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Rauch, James E., 1999. "Networks versus markets in international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 7-35, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Jenkins, Glenn P & Wright, Brian D, 1975. "Taxation of Income of Multinational Corporations: The Case of the United States Petroleum Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(1), pages 1-11, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Graetz, Michael J & Reinganum, Jennifer F & Wilde, Louis L, 1986. "The Tax Compliance Game: Toward an Interactive Theory of Law Enforcement," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    Other versions:
  4. Charles E. Hyde & Chongwoo Choe, 2005. "Keeping Two Sets of Books: The Relationship Between Tax and Incentive Transfer Prices," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(1), pages 165-186, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Lall, Sanjaya, 1973. "Transfer-Pricing by Multinational Manufacturing Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 35(3), pages 173-95, August.
  6. Assaf Razin & Joel Slemrod, 1990. "Taxation in the Global Economy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number razi90-1.
  7. David Hummels & Alexandre Skiba, 2004. "Shipping the Good Apples Out? An Empirical Confirmation of the Alchian-Allen Conjecture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1384-1402, December.
    Other versions:
  8. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Zoido-Lobaton, Pablo, 1999. "Governance matters," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2196, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. Aitken, Brian & Harrison, Ann & Lipsey, Robert E., 1996. "Wages and foreign ownership A comparative study of Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 345-371, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Eric J. Bartelsman & Roel M.W.J. Beetsma, 2000. "Why pay more? Corporate Tax Avoidance through Transfer Pricing in OECD Countries," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-054/2, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  11. J. Bradford Jensen & Andrew Bernard & Peter Schott, 2005. "Importers, Exporters, and Multinationals: A Portrait of Firms in the U.S. that Trade Goods," Working Papers 05-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Jean-Thomas Bernard & Robert J. Weiner, 1989. "Multinational Corporations, Transfer Prices, and Taxes: Evidence from the U.S. Petroleum Industry," NBER Working Papers 3013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Michael M. Knetter, 1997. "Goods Prices and Exchange Rates: What Have We Learned?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1243-1272, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Lipsey, Robert E. & Sjoholm, Fredrik, 2004. "Foreign direct investment, education and wages in Indonesian manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 415-422, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Ron S Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2002. "The Longitudinal Business Database," Working Papers 02-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
  16. 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. [Downloadable!]
  17. Chiara Criscuolo & Jonathan E. Haskel & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2005. "Global Engagement and the Innovation Activities of Firms," NBER Working Papers 11479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. James Harrigan, 2005. "Airplanes and Comparative Advantage," NBER Working Papers 11688, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. L. W. Copithorne, 1971. "International Corporate Transfer Prices and Government Policy," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 4(3), pages 324-41, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Michael P. Devereux & Christian Keuschnigg, 2009. "The Distorting Arm’s Length Principle," Working Papers 0910, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Catherine Y. Co, 2007. "Factors That Account for the Large Variations in U.S. Export Prices," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 557-582, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Thede, Susanna & Lindvert, Markus, 2009. "Exploring Determinants of the Firm Boundary for Swedish Multinationals," Working Papers 2009:2, Lund University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2009. "Technology capital and the U.S. current account," Staff Report 406, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Dischinger, Matthias, 2008. "Profit Shifting by Multinationals and the Ownership Share: Evidence from European Micro Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 2029, University of Munich, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Carol Corrado & Paul Lengermann & Larry Slifman, 2007. "The contribution of multinational corporations to U.S. productivity growth, 1977-2000," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-21, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  7. Giorgia Maffini & Socrates Mokkas, 2008. "Transfer-pricing and Measured Productivity of Multinational Firms," Working Papers 0817, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. [Downloadable!]
  8. Barry Bosworth & Susan M. Collins & Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, 2007. "Returns on FDI: Does the U.S. Really Do Better?," NBER Working Papers 13313, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Céline Azémar & Paolo Gregory Corcos, . "Multinational Firms' Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: the Role of Transfer Pricing," Working Papers 2008_04, Department of Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Feb 2008. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-13.

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