Publications

March 2017
Article

Institutional Ownership and Corporate Tax Avoidance: New Evidence

By: Mozaffar N. Khan, Suraj Srinivasan and Liang Tan

We provide new evidence on the agency theory of corporate tax avoidance (Slemrod, 2004; Crocker and Slemrod, 2005; Chen and Chu, 2005) by showing that increases in institutional ownership are associated with increases in tax avoidance. Using the Russell index... View Details

Keywords: Tax Avoidance; Agency Costs; Institutional Ownership; Private Ownership; Crime and Corruption; Taxation; Agency Theory

August 2009
Article

Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Value

By: Mihir Desai and D. Dharmapala

Keywords: Taxation; Business Ventures; Value

March 2004
Article

New Foundations for Taxing Multinational Corporations

By: Mihir A. Desai

Keywords: Taxation; Global Range; Business Ventures

January 2006
Article

Corporate Tax Avoidance and High Powered Incentives

By: Mihir A. Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

Keywords: Taxation; Motivation and Incentives

winter 2006
Article

Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation: The Missing Link

By: Mihir A. Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Taxation

December 2017
Response

Reply: Do Powerful Politicians Really Cause Corporate Downsizing?

By: Lauren Cohen, Joshua D. Coval and Christopher J. Malloy

While we commend the initiative of Snyder and Welch (2017), we lay out in this short reply why we remain highly confident in our results and our interpretation thereof. We welcome authors to continue to explore the data for themselves and look forward to the new... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Private Sector; Taxation; Interest Rates; Business and Government Relations; Investment; Employment; Power and Influence

07 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Corporate Tax Strategies Mirror Personal Returns of Top Execs

not delve into the psychology behind those choices. He and Silva, now husband and wife, co-authored the 2015 working paper Tax-Minded Executives and Corporate Tax Strategies: Evidence from the 2013 Tax Hikes. A correlation on tax... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

2009
Working Paper

The Impact of Private Equity Ownership on Portfolio Firms' Corporate Tax Planning

By: Brad Badertscher, Sharon P. Katz and Sonja Olhoft Rego

This study investigates whether private equity (PE) firms influence the tax practices of their portfolio firms. Prior research documents that PE firms create economic value in portfolio firms through effective governance, financial, and operational engineering. Given... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Taxation; Ownership Stake; Value Creation

March 2018
Teaching Note

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (A) and (B)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines the ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must determine how to... View Details

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Corporate Inversions: Stanley Works and the Lure of Tax Havens

By: Mihir A. Desai, James R. Hines, Jr and Mark Veblen

In response to Stanley Work's announcement that it is moving to Bermuda--and the associated jump in market value--a major competitor sets out to determine how the market is valuing the consequences of moving to a tax haven and whether his company should invert to a tax... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Taxation; Financial Strategy; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; International Finance; Valuation; Financial Markets; Financial Statements; United States

Educators

August 2005
Teaching Note

Corporate Inversions: Stanley Works and the Lure of Tax Havens (TN)

By: Mihir A. Desai, Mark Veblen and Kathleen Luchs

Keywords: Taxation; Corporate Accountability

September 26, 2011
Article

A Two-Pronged Approach to Reforming International Corporate Taxes in the U.S.

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; United States

December 2004
Article

Old Rules and New Realities: Corporate Tax Policy in a Global Setting

By: Mihir A. Desai and James R. Hines Jr.

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Policy; Business Ventures

December 1996
Background Note

Financial Engineering and Tax Risk: The Case of Times Mirror PEPS

By: Peter Tufano

Provides general background on the taxation of corporate securities, and shows how the inconsistent taxation of functionally-similar securities can permit financial engineers to bear tax risk to earn positive returns. Designed to be used with Times Mirror Co. PEPS... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Taxation; Corporate Finance

Educators

2020
Working Paper

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

The U.S. employer-based health insurance tax exclusion created a system of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) with limited insurance choices and transparency that may lock employed households into health plans that are costlier or different from those they prefer to... View Details

Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Employees; Income; Taxation; Policy; United States

July 1982 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

Tax Factors in Business Combinations

By: Henry B. Reiling

Discusses the theory and rules governing the taxation of business combinations (mergers and acquisitions). Related information from state corporate law, federal securities law, accounting, and finance is also provided. A rewritten version of an earlier note. View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Law

Educators

07 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Debate over Taxing Foreign Profits

taxation or, said another way, simply tax corporations on their domestic income. Interestingly, the United States is increasingly an outlier in the way it tries to tax overseas income of corporations. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July–August 2012
Article

A Better Way to Tax U.S. Businesses

By: Mihir Desai

The article argues that U.S. taxation reform should reduce corporate taxes, incorporate an awareness of the global marketplace, and generate revenue-neutral incentives for innovation. According to the article, a reduction in corporate tax rates would be offset by a tax... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Taxation; Globalization; Labor; Innovation and Invention; United States