Essays on the Tax-motivated Geography of Inn” by Xuerui Kou

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Committee Members

John Anderson, John Beghin, Yifan Gong

Citation

A dissertation introduced to the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in partial achievement of necessities for the diploma of Doctor of Philosophy

Major: Economics

Under the supervision of Professor Edward Balistreri

Lincoln, Nebraska, August 2025

Abstract

This dissertation explores how taxation and institutional environments form the worldwide methods of United States multinational enterprises (MNEs), with a specific give attention to intangible property and the cross-border allocation of innovation. Positioned on the intersection of worldwide commerce, public economics, and innovation research, the three chapters collectively study agency responses to worldwide tax incentives and regulatory asymmetries.

Chapter 1 introduces the motivation and theoretical foundations of the dissertation, critiques associated literature, and descriptions the core analysis questions and empirical methods. It highlights the growing coverage and tutorial curiosity within the geographic mobility of intangible capital, significantly within the context of latest tax reforms such because the 2017 United States Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Chapter 2 (joint with Edward Balistreri) identifies mispriced mental property transfers to tax-haven nations as they provide mental property to China. The evaluation depends on country-level bilateral knowledge on companies commerce. We discover proof in line with a sample of under-reported mental property values because the asset strikes from the US to a third-country tax haven and in the end to China, significantly in Cayman Islands. When we mixture to complete companies (which embrace mental property as a part), nonetheless, the measured distortion is insignificant. Intangible intellectual-property transfers are thus recognized as the principle supply of under-reported exports by US Multinationals to their associates in tax havens.

Chapter 3 (joint with John Anderson and Yifan Gong) examines the results of the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on the overseas direct funding (FDI) conduct of US multinational enterprises. Using country-industry-level panel knowledge from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis spanning 2011 to 2022, we implement a difference-in-differences and occasion research framework to determine modifications in FDI outflows, disaggregated by reinvested earnings, fairness, and intercompany debt. We discover a important short-term decline in FDI outflows towards tax haven jurisdictions following the TCJA, which is primarily pushed by a sudden drop in reinvestment of earnings. In distinction, we observe restricted influence on actual exercise indexes, akin to employment and compensation. The response is concentrated within the service sector, in line with tax planning methods based mostly on intangible property.

Chapter 4 investigates how multinational enterprises make sequential patent possession location choices utilizing a three-stage framework: whether or not to assign patents overseas, whether or not to decide on tax havens, and which particular vacation spot to pick out. Using complete U.S. patent task knowledge from 2011–2017, we discover that smaller multinationals exhibit tax sensitivity ten instances larger than giant corporations and are extra possible to make use of tax havens, difficult the standard give attention to big firms as main drivers of revenue shifting. Our counterfactual evaluation of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exhibits the 14 share level tax charge discount generates a 60% discount in overseas patent assignments amongst small corporations whereas having minimal results on giant enterprises.

Advisor: Edward Balistreri

Recommended Citation

Kou, Xuerui, “Where Intangibles Travel: Essays on the Tax-motivated Geography of Innovation and Capital” (2025). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 361.