Transfer Pricing by Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Foreign Firm Ownerships

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2016
Volume: 8
Issue: 3
Pages: 170-202

Authors (2)

Anca D. Cristea (not in RePEc) Daniel X. Nguyen (Københavns Universitet)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Using a firm-level dataset of Danish exports between 1999-2006, we find robust evidence for profit shifting by multinational corporations. Our triple difference estimations exploit the response of export unit values to acquisitions of foreign affiliates and to changes in statutory corporate tax rates. This identification strategy corrects for a downward bias resulting from firms adjusting arm's length prices to obscure transfer price manipulations. We find that Danish multinationals reduce the unit values of their exports to low tax countries between 5.7 to 9.1 percent. This difference corresponds to a tax revenue loss of 3.24 percent of Danish multinationals' tax returns.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:8:y:2016:i:3:p:170-202
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26