European Central Bank

We provide estimates of profit shifting for over 2 million firm-year observations in 100 countries over the period 2009–2020. Employing nonparametric estimation techniques within a mainstay model of profit shifting, we examine how the profits of both parent and subsidiary firms within a multinational group respond to marginal changes in the composite tax indicator. The key advantage of this approach is that it yields firm-year estimates of profit shifting. Multinational firms engage in extensive profit shifting by maintaining affiliates in low-tax countries and zero-tax havens.

We show that in a canonical model with heterogeneous entrepreneurs, financial frictions, and an imperfectly elastic supply of capital, a fall in the interest rate has an ambiguous effect on aggregate economic activity. In partial equilibrium, a lower interest rate raises aggregate investment both by relaxing financial constraints and by prompting relatively less productive entrepreneurs to invest. In general equilibrium, however, this higher demand for capital raises its price and crowds out investment by more productive entrepreneurs.

In this event study, we analyze the effect of market segmentation on stock returns in Europe amid extreme weather events. We show that local institutional ownership (LIO) mitigates the negative effect of the uncertainty from the occurrence of extreme weather events on stock prices. We assess firms’ exposure to physical climate risks using the Eurosystem’s method that uses physical climate risk indicators. In a sample with materially exposed industries, we find a negative risk-adjusted abnormal return of 99 basis points for storms on the event date.

We characterize optimal monetary policy under state-dependent pricing. The framework gives rise to nonlinear inflation dynamics: The flexibility of the price level increases after large shocks due to an endogenous rise in the frequency of price changes. In response to large cost-push shocks, optimal policy leverages the lower sacrifice ratio to curb inflation. When faced with total factor productivity shocks, an efficient disturbance, the optimal policy commits to strict price stability. The optimal long-run inflation rate is just above zero.