喻园管理论坛2022年第8期(总第777期)

演讲主题: Historical Origins of Corporate Tax Evasion: Evidence from the African Slave Trade

主 讲 人: 周   洋，武汉大学经济与必赢网址bwi437金融系副教授

主 持 人: 甘   煦，必赢网址bwi437财务金融系讲师

活动时间: 2022年5月20日（周五）10:30-12:00

活动地点：管理大楼119教室

主讲人简介：

周洋，武汉大学经济与必赢网址bwi437金融系副教授，博士毕业于荷兰蒂尔堡大学。研究领域为家庭金融和公司金融。近年研究成果发表于《Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis》、《Journal of Banking and Finance》、《Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization》、《Journal of Business Finance and Accounting》、《Journal of Futures Markets》、《金融研究》、《经济学动态》和《经济科学》等国内外重要期刊上。主持国家自然科学基金项目一项，教育部人文社会科学青年基金项目一项。

活动简介：

We evaluate the impact of the African slave trade between 1400 and 1900 on corporate tax evasion in modern Africa. Using a large sample of African firms, we document that firms are more likely to evade taxes in countries that suffered a higher level of historical slave extraction. Estimates using instrumental variables and by exploring within-country variations in slave trade intensity suggest that this association is causal. Using household survey data, we further find that the historical slave trade has a negative impact on individuals’ tax compliance attitudes and their evaluation of tax-related institutions. These findings are consistent with the arguments that the historical slave trade has a persistent deteriorating effect on the society’s tax compliance norms and the quality of tax-related institutions, thereby reducing the moral, social, and regulatory costs of corporate tax noncompliance. In addition, the historical slave trade has a negative impact on corporate tax avoidance based on a sample of listed companies and on a country’s corporate income tax revenues based on country-level aggregate data. Overall, by demonstrating the long-term effects of historical traumatic shocks, our study contributes to understanding the determinants of modern corporate tax strategies from a historical path-dependency perspective.