Transfer pricing rules and competing governments

Pascalis Raimondos-MoØller, Kimberley Scharf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The literature on the regulation of multinational's transfer prices has not considered the possibility that governments may use transfer pricing rules strategically when they compete with other governments. The present paper analyses this case and shows that, even in the absence of agency considerations, a non-cooperative equilibrium is characterised by above-optimal levels of effective taxation. We then derive conditions under which harmonization of transfer pricing rules lead to a Pareto improvement, and show that harmonization according to the 'arm's length' principle-the form of harmonization advocated by the OECD-may not be Pareto improving.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)230-246
Number of pages17
JournalOxford Economic Papers
Volume54
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics

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