(w/ W. Gentry) in J. Poterba (ed.), Tax Policy and the Economy 18 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), 1-36.
This paper analyzes how corporate capital gains taxes affect the capital gain realization decisions of firms.
Read MoreEvaluating International Tax Reform
/(w/ J. R. Hines Jr.) National Tax Journal 56, no. 3 (September 2003), 487-502.
This paper introduces “capital ownership neutrality” (CON) and “national ownership neutrality” (NON) as benchmarks for evaluating the desirability of international tax reforms, and applies them to analyze recent U.S. tax reform proposals.
Read MoreReading Off the Same Page→
/The Harvard Crimson
One of the oft-overlooked aspects of President George W. Bush’s plan to provide dividend tax relief is the selective awarding of those benefits to shareholders of corporations that pay federal taxes.
Read MoreA Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure Choice and Internal Capital Markets→
/(w/ C. F. Foley and J. R. Hines Jr.) Journal of Finance 59, no. 6 (December 2004), 2451-2488 (Lead Article). Reprinted in S. Claessens and L. Laeven (eds.), A Reader in International Corporate Finance, The World Bank, 2006.
This paper examines the impact of local tax rates and capital market conditions on the level and composition of borrowing by foreign affiliates of American multinational corporations.
Read MoreThe Divergence Between Book Income and Tax Income
/in J. Poterba (ed.) Tax Policy and the Economy 17 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003), 169-206. This paper is a revision of NBER Working Paper 8866, entitled "The Corporate Profit Base, Tax Sheltering Activity, and the Changing Nature of Employee Compensation."
This paper examines the evolution of the corporate profit base and the relationship between book income and tax income for U.S. corporations over last two decades.
Read MoreExpectations and Expatriations: Tracing the Causes and Consequences of Corporate Inversions
/(w/ J. R. Hines Jr.) National Tax Journal 55, no. 3 (September 2002), 409-441. Excerpted in M. J. Graetz (ed.), Foundations of International Income Taxation (Westbury, NY: Foundation Press, 2004).
This paper investigates the determinants of corporate expatriations.
Read MoreChains of Ownership, Regional Tax Competition and Foreign Direct Investment→
/(w/ C.F. Foley and J.R. Hines Jr.) Foreign Direct Investment in the Real and Financial Sector of Industrial Countries, in Heinz Herrmann and Robert Lipsey (ed.), Springer Verlag: Heidelberg (2003), 61-98.
This paper considers the effect of taxation on the location of foreign direct investment (FDI) and taxable income reported by multinational firms with particular attention to the regional dynamics of tax competition and the role of chains of ownership.
Read MoreRepatriation Taxes and Dividend Distortions
/(w/ C. F. Foley and J. R. Hines Jr.) National Tax Journal 54, no. 4 (December 2001), 829-851.
This paper analyzes the effect of repatriation taxes on dividend payments by the foreign affiliates of American multinational firms. The United States taxes the foreign incomes of American companies, grants credits for any foreign income taxes paid, and defers any taxes due on the unrepatriated earnings for those affiliates that are separately incorporated abroad. This system thereby imposes repatriation taxes that vary inversely with foreign tax rates and that differ across organizational forms. As a consequence, it is possible to measure the effect of repatriation taxes by comparing the behavior of foreign subsidiaries that are subject to different tax rates and by comparing the behavior of foreign incorporated and unincorporated affiliates. Evidence from a large panel of foreign affiliates of U.S. firms from 1982 to 1997 indicates that 1 percent lower repatriation tax rates are associated with 1 percent higher dividends. This implies that repatriation taxes reduce aggregate dividend payouts by 12.8 percent, and, in the process, generate annual efficiency losses equal to 2.5 percent of dividends. These effects would disappear if the United States were to exempt foreign income from taxation.
Exchange Rates and Tax-Based Export Promotion
/(w/ J. R. Hines Jr.) Proceedings of the 93rd Annual Conference on Taxation (Washington D.C.: National Tax Association, 2001), 275-285.
This paper examines the impact of tax-based export promotion on exchange rates and patterns of trade.
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Mihir Desai's academic publications have appeared in leading economics, finance, and law journals. His work has emphasized the appropriate design of tax policy in a globalized setting, the links between corporate governance and taxation, and the internal capital markets of multinational firms. His research has been cited in The Economist, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and several other publications.