"Superstar Multinationals and the Global Tax Race"
with Tim Dowd, Paul Landefeld, and Jacob Mortenson

We study the intersection of two trends that have attracted the attention of policymakers and researchers around the globe: first, the worldwide decline in corporate tax rates, and second, the rise of “superstar" firms. We ask: How do the world’s largest multinational firms respond to tax cuts, and how do these responses influence real activity in the US and around the globe? We construct a firm-level panel of de-identified IRS data covering the near-universe of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) and first document novel descriptive evidence on the concentration of corporate activity across US MNEs. We then implement event study analyses exploiting statutory tax variation across countries to estimate the causal effects of changes in tax policies on real capital flows and profit shifting. Tax cuts cause large increases in reported taxable profits and significant reallocation of tangible capital and payroll toward lower-tax jurisdictions. Moreover, the results suggest that accounting for heterogeneity in responses by firm size significantly affects macroeconomic estimates of the global effects of tax policies.

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Tax policy is at the heart of many of the most important public policy issues that we face in our society. How should we allocate the cost of government? Should the tax code be used to influence private behavior? To what extent should tax policy affect economic production or the distribution of wealth in society? This Colloquium is designed to give students an opportunity to participate in serious academic work concerning tax policy and to advance serious and thoughtful research in tax policy and public finance. Each week the UCLA Colloquium on Tax Policy & Public Finance will examine a recent paper or work in progress within its broadly defined subject area. Invited speakers will generally be leading law professors and scholars from other disciplines (e.g., economics, political science, philosophy). Students will be required to attend each week's workshop and prepare several papers reacting to and building on the work of colloquium papers. There will be no final exam. To enroll, students must have completed Introduction to Federal Income Taxation (Law 220) or demonstrate equivalent training or experience in the field.

This a closed event only for UCLA Law students, staff, faculty, and invited guests.