Intangible assets are one major source of profit shifting opportunities due to a highly intransparent transfer pricing process. Our paper argues that multinational enterprises (MNEs) optimize their profit shifting strategy by locating shifting–relevant intangible property at affiliates with a...

This paper measures quantity and quality effects of corporate taxation on foreign direct investments (FDI). While corporate taxes are well known to reduce the equilibrium stock of foreign capital in a given country, they may also change the quality of investment projects. Our analysis focuses on...

This paper presents a new approach to estimating the existence and magnitude of tax-motivated income shifting within multinational corporations. Existing studies of income shifting use changes in corporate tax rates as a source of identification. In contrast, this paper exploits exogenous...

Corporate patents are perceived to be the key profit-drivers in many multinational enterprises (MNEs). Moreover, as the transfer pricing process for royalty payments is often highly intransparent, they also constitute a major source of profit shifting opportunities between multinational...

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether politicians manipulate the timing of tax rate changes in a strategic way to maximize reelection prospects. To do so, we exploit the German local business tax as a testing ground which is set autonomously by German municipalities. As election dates...

This paper argues that profit-shifting activities exist for multi-jurisdictional enterprises (MJEs) under a tax system of consolidation and formula apportionment (FA). A theoretical model discusses how a MJE can exploit strategically its impact on the definition of the consolidated group. The...

As the number of multinational enterprises increases, the number of transactions between entities be-longing to the same multinational group rises as well. Intercompany transactions generally offer the opportunity to shift income from one jurisdiction to the other. Income shifting can be driven...

In a recent study, Becker & Riedel (EER, 2012), we show that an increase in foreign taxes is associated with a decrease in domestic investment. In this paper, we explore the implications of this finding for tax competition. If foreign taxes decrease domestic investment instead of increasing it,...

This paper examines the impact of tax incentives on corporate research and development (R&D) activity. Traditionally, R&D tax incentives have been provided in the form of special tax allowances and tax credits. In recent years, several countries moreover reduced their income tax rates on R&D...