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What Drives the Location of Profits: Examining the Behavior of Multinational Enterprises from Country-by-Country Reporting
Boukal, Tomáš ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Palanský, Miroslav (referee)
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly using offshore financial centers to pay lower taxes on their profits. This behavior has distortive effects on the global economy, as the concentration of MNE activities resembles the global map of taxation. In this thesis, I exploit the OECD country-by-country reporting statistics to analyze the determinants behind the location of profits. I employ a gravity model and demonstrate that profits are highly sensitive to geographical proximity, with both physical and societal distance being significant factors. Furthermore, my findings suggest that, first, the existing literature's definition of financial secrecy lacks a conclusive role in attraction of extra profits, as its effects are likely to be already conveyed through taxation. Second, regarding the profits specifically located in offshore jurisdictions, a reverse gravity relationship exists, where multinationals are willing to incur extra costs to shift profits to more distant tax havens, revealing yet another geographical aspect of taxation.
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