Profit shifting and investment effects: The implications of zero-taxable profits

Marko Koethenbuerger, Mohammed Mardan and Michael Stimmelmayr

Journal of Public Economics, 2019, vol. 173, issue C, 96-112

Abstract: Recent empirical research documents a tendency of multinational enterprise affiliates to bunch around zero reported profit. We set up a theoretical model of multinational firm behavior in which we allow for corner solutions in the choice of the optimal transfer price due to insufficient profits or losses of affiliates. Such constraints in the choice of the transfer price induce bunching and generate investment effects in the low-tax as well as the high-tax country. In equilibrium, affiliates might overinvest and the investment effects generate a tendency for too high profit taxes. The analysis provides a micro-foundation for the investment effects that result from transfer pricing. The finding stands in contrast to the existing literature where transfer pricing choices are unconstrained.

Keywords: Tax competition; Profit shifting; Corporate losses; Transfer price; Bunching; Investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 H25 H87 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Working Paper: Profit Shifting and Investment Effects: The Implications of Zero-Taxable Profits (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:173:y:2019:i:c:p:96-112

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.01.007

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