Foreign Cash: Taxes, Internal Capital Markets, and Agency Problems
研究发现企业海外现金占比越高，股东对其估值越低，这不仅是税收效应，还因税收摩擦扰乱内部资本市场，导致国内投资不足、海外过度投资。
When the fraction of a firm’s cash held overseas is greater, its shareholders value that cash lower. This goes beyond a pure tax effect: the repatriation tax friction disrupts the firm’s internal capital market, distorting its investment policy. Firms underinvest domestically and overinvest abroad. Our findings are more pronounced when firms are subject to higher repatriation tax rates, higher costs of borrowing, and more agency problems. Overall, our evidence suggests that a combination of taxes, financing frictions, and agency problems leads to a valuation discount for foreign cash and documents real effects of how foreign earnings are taxed.