Does Information Asymmetry Affect Corporate Tax Aggressiveness?
We investigate the effect of information asymmetry on corporate tax avoidance. Using a difference-in-differences matching estimator to assess the effects of changes in analyst coverage caused by broker closures and mergers, we find that firms avoid tax more aggressively after a reduction in analyst...
Main Authors: | , |
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Other Authors: | |
Format: | Journal Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2018
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/87979 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44541 |
Summary: | We investigate the effect of information asymmetry on corporate tax avoidance. Using a difference-in-differences matching estimator to assess the effects of changes in analyst coverage caused by broker closures and mergers, we find that firms avoid tax more aggressively after a reduction in analyst coverage. We further find that this effect is mainly driven by firms with higher existing tax-planning capacity (e.g., tax-haven presence), smaller initial analyst coverage, and a smaller number of peer firms. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced in industries where reputation matters more and in firms subject to less monitoring from tax authorities. |
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