Publications
Publications
- February 2011
- Review of Economics and Statistics
Dividend Taxes and International Portfolio Choice
By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala
Abstract
This paper investigates how dividend taxes influence portfolio choices, using the response to the distinctive treatment of a subset of foreign dividends in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA) of 2003. An open-economy after-tax capital asset pricing model is used to derive the hypothesis that JGTRRA should lead to a portfolio reallocation by U.S. investors towards equities in tax-favored countries. A difference-in-difference analysis that compares U.S. equity holdings in affected and unaffected countries finds a substantial portfolio reallocation towards the former. This effect cannot be explained by several potential alternative hypotheses, including differential changes to the preferences of American investors, differential changes in investment opportunities, differential time trends in investment, changed tax evasion behavior, or changes in stock prices associated (or contemporaneous) with JGTRRA.
Keywords
Dividends; Portfolio Choice; Taxes; Tax Treaties; Foreign Portfolio Investment; Taxation; Lawfulness; Economy; Price; Equity; Stocks; Investment Portfolio; Opportunities; Behavior; United States
Citation
Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Dividend Taxes and International Portfolio Choice." Review of Economics and Statistics 93, no. 1 (February 2011): 266–284.