This study develops and validates an ex-ante measure of firm-specific overall tax risk. We define tax risk as the potential that current actions or activities, or the failure to take actions or pursue activities, will lead to future tax outcomes that are different from expectations. Tax risk...

Tax codes regularly create conflicts of interests between small and large shareholders with respect to the payout decision of firms. We use this fact to study (i) whether firm behavior reflects preferences of blockholders and (ii) the effectiveness of minority shareholder protection on...

[This testimony was delivered on December 8, 2021, to the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Oversight, as part of a hearing on "The Pandora Papers and Hidden Wealth."]The US is the world’s leading investment destination for offshore wealth. Our laws enable foreigners—through...

We study the effect of tax policy on stock market returns in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom using GARCH models and a unique daily dataset of legislative tax changes during the period 1978 to 2018. We find that days of discretionary tax legislation during all stages of the...

Measuring various ways of seeking political influence and potential monetary return from such an endeavor is difficult. To address that challenge, we collect data on four mechanisms of acquiring political influence: lobbying spending, PAC contributions, lobbying through trade associations, and...

In 1971, after the demise of the international monetary system, the so-called Bretton Woods system that ensured semi-fixed exchange rates thanks to capital controls, James Tobin conceived his now famous “Tobin tax”. Since then, some supporters of his original proposal have introduced some...

Using variation in book-tax conformity across EU countries, we provide new evidence on whether mandatory IFRS adoption leads to increases in earnings quality. Specifically, we examine if the relation between earnings quality and IFRS adoption differs among firms in countries with and without a...

A key motivation underlying the October 2020 OECD Pillar One and Pillar Two Blueprints is the goal of reducing tax complexity for taxpayers and tax authorities. In this article, we assess the tax complexity of the Blueprints relative to the 2017 OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines (TPG) and the...

This paper studies the impact of a place-based tax credit policy, the Opportunity Zone program created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, on local private investments and entrepreneurship. Using a difference-in-differences approach and comparing census tracts designated as Opportunity...

Soaring inflationary pressure and the ripple effects of the base rate spikes by the US Federal Reserve are expected to lead the Bank of Korea (BOK) to raise its base rate at least three times during the remainder of 2022.Korean firms rely primarily on indirect financing for their financial needs...