US corporations have accumulated record‐high amounts of cash, and most of it is trapped in foreign accounts. This study tests the hypothesis that the marginal value of cash decreases in the presence of tax repatriation costs, as these costs are a strong indication that part of the cash is trapped abroad. Cash abroad is not readily available to the company because it is subject to an additional layer of tax before it can be used or distributed. Moreover, uncertainty surrounds the potential use of foreign cash, and research documents that firms holding high amounts of cash abroad are likely to invest in negative net present value activities. Finally, possible changes in tax regulation are an additional source of uncertainty. Consequently, foreign cash should be worth less than domestic cash. Using a large sample of US firms drawn from COMPUSTAT during the 1991–2012 period, the analysis suggests that shareholders value an extra dollar of cash at $1.086. However, this result changes dramatically when the change in cash is interacted with the tax cost of repatriating the earnings. That is, the marginal value of cash decreases significantly in the presence of tax repatriation costs, and shareholders discount cash when it is likely to be held abroad. This study contributes to the literature on cash holding by investigating whether tax repatriation costs affect the value of corporate cash. Moreover, the findings show that there are important economic consequences linked to the phenomenon of cash accumulation in foreign countries and therefore provide regulators with a sound foundation on which to take additional actions to require more disclosure of and transparency in the actual location of firms’ cash holdings.

中文翻译：

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毕竟这不是一个平坦的世界：退税费用和现金价值

美国公司积累了创纪录的高额现金，其中大部分被困在外国账户中。这项研究检验了以下假设：现金的边际价值在存在税收返还成本的情况下下降，因为这些成本有力地表明部分现金被困在国外。国外现金对公司而言并不容易获得，因为在使用或分配现金之前，它还需要额外征税。此外，不确定性围绕着外国现金的潜在用途，研究文件表明，在国外持有大量现金的公司可能会投资于负净现值活动。最后，税收法规的可能变化是不确定性的另一个来源。因此，外国现金应少于国内现金。使用从1991年至2012年期间从COMPUSTAT抽取的大量美国公司样本，分析表明，股东对额外的现金价值为1.086美元。但是，当现金变化与汇回收益的税收成本相互作用时，此结果将发生巨大变化。也就是说，现金的边际价值在存在税收返还成本的情况下显着下降，而股东有可能在国外持有现金时就将现金折价。该研究通过调查退税成本是否影响公司现金的价值，为现金持有的文献做出了贡献。此外，