股息税与资本配置：评论

中文摘要

Boissel和Matray（2022）发现，2013年后，面临更高股息税的法国企业投资有所增加。我们发现，绘制该项改革对投资影响的事件研究图时所使用的代码存在一处改动。使用相同数据并移除这一改动后，我们发现处理组企业与控制组企业之间存在差异化的事前趋势。我们还证实，在所有双重差分设定中使用、被称为“规模增长”的控制变量，实际上是对滞后投资（即主要结果变量）的控制。移除此类控制变量会减弱差异化的事前趋势，但事件研究并未留下关于股息征税对投资产生正向影响的明确证据。（JEL D22、G31、G35、H25、H32）

Abstract

Boissel and Matray (2022) find that investment increased after 2013 in French firms facing higher dividend taxes. We identify an alteration in the code plotting the event study of the effect of this reform on investment. Using identical data and removing this alteration, we find differential pre-trends between treated and control firms. We also establish that the controls referred to as “size growth,” used in all the difference-in-difference specifications, effectively are controls for lagged investment, i.e., the main outcome variable. Removing such controls attenuates differential pre-trends but leaves no clear event study evidence of a positive effect of dividend taxation on investment. (JEL D22, G31, G35, H25, H32)