{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-09-24","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Pierre Bachas","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"pbachas@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Jakob Brounstein","affiliation":"Institute for Fiscal Studies","email":"jakob.brounstein@gmail.com"},{"name":"Alex Baja\u00f1a","affiliation":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Estad\u00edstica ERGOSTATS","email":"alexvbr@ergostats.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for The Transparency Tax: Discouraging Firm Ownership via Tax Havens","idno":"RR_ECU_2026_719"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, refer to the README file.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5 MP"},{"name":"R","version":"4.5.3"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for The Transparency Tax: Discouraging Firm Ownership via Tax Havens","date":"2026-09","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_ECU_2026_719","zip_package":"RR_ECU_2026_719.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-09-24","abstract":"Tax havens weaken tax enforcement by obscuring firm ownership and facilitating offshore evasion. We study a reform in Ecuador that imposed a corporate tax surcharge on firms with owners in tax havens, using a newly available ownership registry. Comparing haven-owned firms to other foreign-owned firms, we find that the reform reduced haven ownership by 12 percentage points, largely through disclosure of non-haven individual owners. Exposed firms reduced transactions with tax havens and increased corporate tax payments, with no detectable effects on investment or firm size. The results suggest that ownership transparency can meaningfully improve tax compliance at limited efficiency cost.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Ecuador","code":"ECU"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Tax Havens"},{"name":"Beneficial Ownership Registry"},{"name":"Corporate Income Taxation"}],"topics":[{"id":"H26","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Tax Evasion and Avoidance","parent_id":"H2"},{"id":" H25","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Business Taxes and Subsidies","parent_id":"H2"},{"id":" H32","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Firm","parent_id":"H3"},{"id":" F38","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls","parent_id":"F3"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Paper (PRWP)","title":"The Transparency Tax: Discouraging Firm Ownership via Tax Havens"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Pierre Bachas","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"pbachas@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI) Administrative Microdata","note":"Files: A_APS_<year>.csv (2012-2019, firm-level shareholder\/ownership annex), F101_<year>.csv (2012-2019, firm-level annual tax-return records), A_MID_<year>.csv (2012-2019, international currency-transfer annex), f102_processed_all.dta (source of the F102 firm-ID list), and crosswalk_ruc_id_update_16082021.dta (RUC taxpayer-registry crosswalk, used to identify excluded government\/oil firms). All five are raw administrative microdata files provided directly by Ecuador's tax authority (Servicio de Rentas Internas, SRI), read by 1_replication_build.do, and grouped under one access record in the source README. Access requires a signed confidentiality and security agreement with the SRI; contact the corresponding author, Pierre Bachas (pbachas@worldbank.org), or the SRI directly. ","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Confidential; SRI confidentiality and security agreement required","citation":"Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI), Ecuador. 2022. \"Administrative Microdata\" [dataset]. Confidential, restricted access. Accessed April 2022."},{"name":"\u00cdndice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC)","note":"File: cpi_year.dta. Yearly consumer price index for Ecuador. Compiled into Stata format by Alex Baja\u00f1a. Accessed April 2022.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"https:\/\/www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec\/indice-de-precios-al-consumidor-ipc\/","citation":"Instituto Nacional de Estad\u00edstica y Censos (INEC), Ecuador. 2022. \"\u00cdndice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC)\" [dataset]. https:\/\/www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec\/indice-de-precios-al-consumidor-ipc\/. Accessed April 2022.","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License"},{"name":"Offshore Leaks Database, Panama Papers Release","note":"File: icij_all.dta. RUC (taxpayer ID) correspondences for ICIJ-flagged entities, officers, and intermediaries with an Ecuadorian presence. Originates from three node files (nodes-entities.csv, nodes-officers.csv, nodes-intermediaries.csv) downloaded from the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database, Panama Papers release (2016), on 5 March 2022, each merged to nodes-addresses. Observations were restricted to an Ecuadorian presence and matched by name (deterministic exact-name join, then fuzzy join) to Ecuador's public taxpayer registry (ruc_completo_establecimientos.rds, downloaded 27 May 2022 from the SRI's public datasets portal). The matched RUC correspondences were consolidated and handed to SRI personnel, who applied SRI's internal anonymization process and delivered the final icij_all.dta from within the SRI environment. Because it links firm\/individual-level RUC identifiers to ICIJ-flagged entities, this derived, SRI-anonymized file is confidential and cannot be redistributed, even though the original ICIJ source data are public. Not included in this reproducibility package.","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Confidential (SRI-anonymized derivative); original ICIJ source data are public","uri":"https:\/\/offshoreleaks.icij.org\/pages\/database","citation":"International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). 2016. \"Offshore Leaks Database, Panama Papers Release\" [dataset]. https:\/\/offshoreleaks.icij.org\/pages\/database. Accessed 5 March 2022; matched to the SRI taxpayer registry and anonymized by SRI personnel."},{"name":"Official Tax Haven \/ Preferential Tax Regime Country Classifications (SRI, Ecuador)","note":"Files: paises_mid_aps.dta, paises_clasificados.csv. Country-level classification files (tax haven, Caribbean, and Latin American groupings) used throughout the SRI build to construct the paraiso_fiscal, caribe, and latinoamerica indicators. Accessed April 2022. Compiled into Stata format by Alex Baja\u00f1a.","access_type":"Data is included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI), Ecuador. 2022. \"Resoluci\u00f3n NAC-DGERCGC15-00000052 y reformas anuales: Lista de para\u00edsos fiscales y reg\u00edmenes fiscales preferentes\" [dataset]. Compiled into Stata format by Alex Baja\u00f1a. Accessed April 2022."},{"name":"Data on Global Ultimate Owners and Subsidiaries\/Direct Ownership","note":"Files: Export_GUO_New_Alt_<year>.xlsx (global ultimate owner exports, spanning 2016-2024) and Export_EC_bvd_*.xlsx (exports of Ecuadorian subsidiaries and their direct ownership\/shareholder information). Orbis is a subscription-based global database of corporate financial and ownership information; the authors accessed it through a paid subscription user account (historical-data option not available to that user, so a cross-section of active subsidiaries with at least one direct-ownership record was retrieved instead). Accessed September 2025. ","access_type":"Data access requires purchase or human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Orbis (Bureau van Dijk\/Moody's) subscription license","citation":"Orbis, Bureau van Dijk\/Moody's. 2025. \"Data on Global Ultimate Owners and Subsidiaries\/Direct Ownership, Ecuador\" [dataset]. Accessed via subscription, September 2025.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.moodys.com\/web\/en\/us\/legal\/terms-of-use.html"},{"name":"Country List","note":"File: flat-ui___data-Fri Sep 12 2025.csv. List of 2-digit ISO country codes used in the Orbis-based analysis. Accessed September 2025. ","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"https:\/\/datahub.io\/core\/country-list","citation":"Open Knowledge Foundation. 2025. \"Country List\" [dataset]. GitHub repository, datasets\/country-list. https:\/\/github.com\/datasets\/country-list. Accessed September 2025.","license_uri":"https:\/\/opendatacommons.org\/licenses\/pddl\/","license":"Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)"},{"name":"Official Tax Haven List, 2014 Definition (SRI, Ecuador, for Orbis Pipeline)","note":"File: havens_2014.xls. Country-level list identifying tax havens as defined by the SRI in 2014, used in the Orbis-based analysis pipeline.Accessed September 2025.","access_type":"Data is included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI), Ecuador. 2022. \"Resoluci\u00f3n NAC-DGERCGC15-00000052 y reformas anuales: Lista de para\u00edsos fiscales y reg\u00edmenes fiscales preferentes (2014 definition)\" [dataset]. Accessed September 2025."},{"name":"Statistical Classification of Economic Activities (Eurostat)","note":"File: NACE2_CBF_Table.xlsx. Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Revision 2, published by Eurostat on the EU's data portal; used to classify industry activity in the Orbis-based analysis. Accessed September 2025. ","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"https:\/\/data.europa.eu\/data\/datasets\/nace2?locale=en","citation":"Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (NACE Rev. 2) (Version 2). 2025. [dataset]. Publications Office of the European Union. http:\/\/data.europa.eu\/88u\/dataset\/nace2. Accessed September 2025.","license":" European Commission reuse notice","license_uri":"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/eli\/dec\/2011\/833\/oj"}],"technology_requirements":"Run time: ~ 2 hours","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32.0 GB","reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run the Package:**\n     - Update the working directory in do-file \"replication_master\", and run the code.\n     - Update the working directory in line 34 of the R script \"1a_cleaning_subsidiaries.R\", and line 30 of the do-file \"Orbis_replication\/Code 0b_master\", and run the do-file.\n\nSince not all the data is included, the package includes the results produced by replicators. These files can be used to review the results presented in the paper."},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Pierre","familyName":"Bachas","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Jakob","familyName":"Brounstein","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Fiscal Studies","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Alex","familyName":"Baja\u00f1a","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Estad\u00edstica ERGOSTATS","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for The Transparency Tax: Discouraging Firm Ownership via Tax Havens"},{"title":"RR_ECU_2026_719","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_ECU_2026_719","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}