Do U.S. multinationals use income shifting to facilitate and hide corruption?

Abstract

We investigate whether U.S. multinational companies use income shifting to facilitate and hide corruption activities by examining whether income shifting responds to corruption pressures. We use enforcement actions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as shocks to the costs of direct corruption and find that firms appear to respond to increased costs of direct corruption by shifting income abroad. This corruption-motivated income shifting is more common in industries with greater corruption exposure and among firms with more effective internal controls. We also find evidence that corruption-motivated income shifting acts differently from income shifting for tax avoidance purposes and is difficult for corporate monitors to combat. Overall, our results are consistent with companies using income shifting as an opaque tool for corruption when FCPA enforcement actions curtail more direct forms of corruption.