Intangible assets, like patents and trademarks, are increasingly seen as the key to competitive success and as the drivers of corporate profit. Moreover, they constitute a major source of profit shifting opportunities in multinational enterprises (MNEs) due to a highly intransparent transfer pricing process. This paper argues that for both reasons, MNEs have an incentive to locate intangible property at affiliates with a relatively low corporate tax rate. Using panel data on European MNEs and controlling for unobserved time--constant heterogeneity between affiliates, we find that the lower a subsidiary's tax rate relative to other affiliates of the multinational group the higher is its level of intangible asset investment. This effect is statistically and economically significant, even after controlling for subsidiary size and accounting for a dynamic intangible investment pattern.
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Paper provided by University of Munich, Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers in Economics with number
5294.
Find related papers by JEL classification: H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
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Alberto Alesina & Robert J. Barro & Silvana Tenreyro, 2002.
"Optimal Currency Areas,"
NBER Working Papers
9072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Alberto Alesina & Robert J. Barro & Silvana Tenreyro, 2003.
"Optimal Currency Areas,"
NBER Chapters,
in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2002, Volume 17, pages 301-356
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]