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Production Location of Multinational Firms under Transfer Pricing: The Impact of the Arm's Length Principle

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  • Hayato Kato

    (Faculty of Economics, Keio University)

  • Hirofumi Okoshi

    (Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University)

Abstract

In what situation does a vertically-integrated multinational enterprise (MNE) establish an upstream affiliate in a different country from its downstream affiliate? When MNEs separate the location of two affiliates, they can shift prots between affiliates by manipulating intra-firm prices. The location choice of the MNE depends on the difference in corporate taxes between the parent and the host countries. This paper shows that if the international tax difference is small, the upstream affiliate is located in the same country as the downstream affiliate. It also investigates the impact of the arm's length principle (ALP) on the location choice, which requires that the intra-firm price of inputs should be set equal to that of similar inputs for the independent downstream firms. The imposition of the ALP may change the location choice of MNEs. This location change brings smaller tax revenues to the host country, but generally greater revenues globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Hayato Kato & Hirofumi Okoshi, 2017. "Production Location of Multinational Firms under Transfer Pricing: The Impact of the Arm's Length Principle," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2017-016, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    • Handle: RePEc:keo:dpaper:2017-016
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    Cited by:

    1. Hayato Kato & Hirofumi Okoshi, 2022. "Economic Integration And Agglomeration Of Multinational Production With Transfer Pricing," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1325-1355, August.
    2. Kopel, Michael & Löffler, Clemens, 2023. "Tax differences and international location strategies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    3. Hiroshi Mukunoki & Hirofumi Okoshi, 2021. "Tariff elimination versus tax avoidance: free trade agreements and transfer pricing," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1188-1210, October.
    4. Jay Pil Choi & Taiji Furusawa & Jota Ishikawa, 2018. "Transfer Pricing and the Arm's Length Principle under Imperfect Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series 7303, CESifo.
    5. Hayato Kato & Hirofumi Okoshi, 2019. "Production location of multinational firms under transfer pricing: the impact of the arm’s length principle," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(4), pages 835-871, August.
    6. Alexander Georgievich Gurinovich & Marina Afanasyevna Lapina & Alexey Evgenievich Ivanov, 2020. "Ways of Restricting the Rights of Taxpayers Under Agreements for the Avoidance of Double Taxation in National Legislation," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    7. MUKUNOKI Hiroshi & OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2022. "Antidumping on Tax-induced Dumping," Discussion papers 22063, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2021. "Innovation for Tax Avoidance: Product Differentiation and the Arm's Length Principle," Discussion papers 21038, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. MUKUNOKI Hiroshi & OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2021. "Wake Not a Sleeping Lion: Free Trade Agreements and Decision Rights in Multinationals," Discussion papers 21036, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transfer pricing; Intra-firm trade; Production location choice; Arm's length principle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

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