Multinational Tax Incentives and Offshored US Jobs

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Williams, Braden M.
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/accr-52008
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 293-324
• 关键词: FOREIGN DIRECT-INVESTMENT; capital structure; corporate; determinants; location; Repatriation; earnings; COSTS; LABOR; FIRMS

摘要

This paper examines if, when, and to what extent multinational tax incentives incrementally explain where firms move offshored U.S. jobs. Using jobs data from a Department of Labor program called Trade Adjustment Assistance, I find a significant association between tax incentives and both the likelihood that a foreign country hosts offshored U.S. jobs and the number of U.S. jobs it hosts. This association is stronger when managers have discretion to coordinate cross-border transactions internally and when they do not face political costs imposed by labor unions. Following instances of offshoring, I find some evidence that offshoring firms have lower effective tax rates, but these reductions are concentrated within larger layoffs in which jobs are sent to low-tax countries. These findings are relevant to understanding the real effects and welfare consequences of incentives created by current U.S. tax policy.