Hidden Profits, Lost Jobs? Tax Havens and Employment Decisions

Ronald B. Davies, Margarita Lopez-Forero, Benjamin Michallet and Johannes Scheuerer

No 202603, Working Papers from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: Despite their advantages, multinational enterprises (MNEs) receive significant criticism, particularly with regard to offshoring jobs and shifting profits abroad to avoid taxation. Using administrative data for the universe of Norwegian and French firms and workers, we link these two issues by documenting a negative relation between MNE investment in a tax haven and employment in the high-tax country. In particular, exploiting the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision on the Cadbury-Schweppes case which upheld the use of EU tax havens, we are able to establish a causal link in which tax haven use lowers domestic employment by 6%. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the effects are mainly concentrated among high-skilled workers. We further link the employment changes to the substance requirements mandated by the ECJ’s ruling and the secrecy inherent to tax havens.

Keywords: Tax havens; Multinational firms; Employment; Mass layoffs; Economic substance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 H26 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2026-02
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