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Global profit shifting, 1975-2019

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  • Ludvig Wier
  • Gabriel Zucman

Abstract

This paper constructs time series of global profit shifting covering the 2015-19 period, during which major international efforts were implemented to curb profit shifting. We find that (i) multinational profits grew faster than global profits, (ii) the share of multinational profits booked in tax havens remained constant at around 37 per cent, and (iii) the fraction of global corporate tax revenue lost due to profit shifting rose from 9 to 10 per cent.

Suggested Citation

  • Ludvig Wier & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "Global profit shifting, 1975-2019," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-121, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-121
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. V. Vicard, 2015. "Profit shifting through transfer pricing: evidence from French firm level trade data," Working papers 555, Banque de France.
    2. Ernesto Crivelli & Ruud De Mooij & Michael Keen, 2016. "Base Erosion, Profit Shifting and Developing Countries," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(3), pages 268-301, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Ferrari & Sébastien Laffitte & Mathieu Parenti & Farid Toubal, 2022. "Profit Shifting Frictions and the Geography of Multinational Activity," Working Papers halshs-04103710, HAL.
    2. Manon François & Carlos Oliveira & Bluebery Planterose & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "A Modern Excess Profit Tax," Post-Print halshs-04103941, HAL.
    3. Amendolagine, Vito & Bruno, Randolph Luca & Cipollina, Maria & De Pascale, Gianluigi, 2023. "Minimum Global Tax: Winners and Losers in the Race for Mergers and Acquisitions," IZA Discussion Papers 16144, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Andreas Hauer & Hayato Kato, 2024. "A Global Minimum Tax for Large Firms Only: Implications for Tax Competition," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 24-06, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    5. Marius Brülhart & Marko Koethenbuerger & Matthias Krapf & Raphaël Parchet & Kurt Schmidheiny & David Staubli, 2023. "Competition, Harmonization and Redistribution: Corporate Taxes in Switzerland," NBER Chapters, in: Policy Responses to Tax Competition, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Andre Sanchez Pacheco, 2023. "Consolidated Foreign Wealth of Nations: Nationality-based measures of international exposure," Trinity Economics Papers tep0623, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    7. Christine L. Dobridge & Patrick Kennedy & Paul Landefeld & Jacob Mortenson, 2023. "The TCJA and Domestic Corporate Tax Rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-078, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Profit shifting; Multinational firms; Taxation; Corporate tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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