Productivity slowdown and tax havens: Where is measured value creation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bricongne, Jean-Charles; Delpeuch, Samuel; Lopez-Forero, Margarita
• 署名单位: Institut d'Etudes Politiques Paris (Sciences Po); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Aix-Marseille Universite; Universite Paris Saclay
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2023.103757
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Tax havens Profit-shifting FDI Productivity slowdown Productivity mismeasurement Intangible capital

摘要

Based on French firm-level data, we evaluate the contribution of the micro-level profit-shifting -through tax haven foreign direct investments- to the aggregate productivity slowdown mea-sured in France. We show that firm measured productivity in France declines over the years following the establishment in a tax haven, with an average estimated drop by 3.5% in appar-ent labor productivity. To isolate the contribution of multinational enterprises' (MNEs) tax optimization to the decline in productivity, we then exploit the 2006 Cadbury-Schweppes de-cision of the European Court of Justice limiting the extent to which member States can counter European MNEs' tax planning strategies. We find that multinational groups benefiting from that loosening of the legal constraints do exhibit a lower labor productivity following that ruling. Finally, given these firms' weight, our results imply an annual loss of 5.7% in terms of the aggregate annual labor productivity growth. & COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.