Taxation and the Global Allocation of Intangibles

2025/01/01 by Fernando M. Martin, Ana María Santacreu, Jesse LaBelle · 1 voice
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Corporate Taxation and Avoidance #Economic and Fiscal Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.20955/wp.2025.025

openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

We study how international tax regimes and intellectual property (IP) rights shape the global allocation of intangible assets.Using a new dataset of crossborder patent transactions, we find that tax differentials are a key determinant of intra-firm transfers within multinational companies.Stronger IP rights play a bigger role in inter-firm transactions.To interpret these patterns, we develop a model in which firms choose to license, sell, or profit-shift patents depending on tax wedges and differences in IP protection.The theory rationalizes these findings and highlights how differences in global taxation and IP rights jointly determine the movement of intangible assets across borders.

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• Highly recommended! "Taxation and the Global Allocation of Intangibles" by Jesse LaBelle, Fernando M. Martin, and Ana Maria Santacreu doi.org/10.20955/wp.... [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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