diff --git a/include/yaml-cpp/node/detail/node_data.h b/include/yaml-cpp/node/detail/node_data.h
index 07cf81a..18810a1 100644
--- a/include/yaml-cpp/node/detail/node_data.h
+++ b/include/yaml-cpp/node/detail/node_data.h
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class YAML_CPP_API node_data {
                     shared_memory_holder pMemory);
 
  public:
-  static const std::string& empty_scalar();
+  static std::string empty_scalar;
 
  private:
   void compute_seq_size() const;
diff --git a/include/yaml-cpp/node/impl.h b/include/yaml-cpp/node/impl.h
index 312281f..3a97b0c 100644
--- a/include/yaml-cpp/node/impl.h
+++ b/include/yaml-cpp/node/impl.h
@@ -166,13 +166,13 @@ inline T Node::as(const S& fallback) const {
 inline const std::string& Node::Scalar() const {
   if (!m_isValid)
     throw InvalidNode(m_invalidKey);
-  return m_pNode ? m_pNode->scalar() : detail::node_data::empty_scalar();
+  return m_pNode ? m_pNode->scalar() : detail::node_data::empty_scalar;
 }
 
 inline const std::string& Node::Tag() const {
   if (!m_isValid)
     throw InvalidNode(m_invalidKey);
-  return m_pNode ? m_pNode->tag() : detail::node_data::empty_scalar();
+  return m_pNode ? m_pNode->tag() : detail::node_data::empty_scalar;
 }
 
 inline void Node::SetTag(const std::string& tag) {
diff --git a/src/node_data.cpp b/src/node_data.cpp
index 8f5422a..a88c879 100644
--- a/src/node_data.cpp
+++ b/src/node_data.cpp
@@ -15,10 +15,8 @@ namespace YAML {
 namespace detail {
 YAML_CPP_API std::atomic<size_t> node::m_amount{0};
 
-const std::string& node_data::empty_scalar() {
-  static const std::string svalue;
-  return svalue;
-}
+std::string node_data::empty_scalar;
+
 
 node_data::node_data()
     : m_isDefined(false),