International taxation and productivity effects of M&As

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Todtenhaupt, Maximilian; Voget, Johannes
• 署名单位: Norwegian School of Economics (NHH); University of Munich; University of Mannheim
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2021.103438
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: M&A; PRODUCTIVITY; international taxation

摘要

We investigate how changes in firm productivity after M&As are affected by differences in profit taxation between the target and the acquirer. We argue that tax differentials distort the efficient allocation of productive factors following an M&A and thus inhibit the realization of productivity improvements. Using firm-level data on inputs and outputs of production as well as on corporate M&As, we show that the absolute tax differential between the locations of two merging firms reduces the subsequent total factor productivity gain. This effect is concentrated in horizontal M&As and less pronounced when firms can use international profit shifting to attenuate effective differences in taxation. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.