Why worry? The impact of the OECD harmful tax competition initiative on Caribbean offshore financial centres

Vlcek, William

doi:10.1080/00358530701463998

Cited by 25 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In contrast, others downplay these factors, arguing that OJs augment the competiveness of emerging market firms by allowing them to harness stronger overseas financial and legal institutions, often by facilitating overseas listings (Sharman 2012;Stal and Cuervo-Cazurra 2011;Sutherland and Matthews 2009). Clearly all of these motivations and effects come into play in various situations; however, we know little about their relative importance, even in the context of the most heavily studied cases such as China (Vlcek 2013).…”

Section: Economic Geographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notwithstanding this attention, however, our understanding of offshore FDI is fragmentary in nature, with only a limited empirical basis to adjudicate between conflicting perspectives. Indeed, a superficial consensus regarding the scope of the offshore problem belies a lack of scholarly agreement on such fundamental issues as whether offshore activity is attracted to or repelled by financial regulation, or the extent to which its organization should be understood with reference to a timescale of centuries as opposed to an individual business day (Baker 2005;Palan et al 2010: Roberts 1994Sharman 2012;Shaxson 2011;Vlcek 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Regional Blocks and Imperial Legacies: Mapping the Global Offshore FDI Network

Haberly

Wójcik

2014

Economic Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While foreign direct investment (FDI) is generally assumed to represent long‐term investments within the real economy, approximately 30–50 percent of global FDI is accounted for by networks of offshore shell companies created by corporations and individuals for tax and other purposes. To date, there has been limited systematic research on the global structure of these networks. Here we address this gap by employing principal component analysis to decompose the global bilateral FDI anomaly matrix into its primary constituent subnetworks. We find that the global offshore FDI network is highly globalized, with a centralized core of jurisdictions in Northwest Europe and the Caribbean exercising a largely homogenous worldwide influence. To the extent that the network is internally differentiated, this appears to primarily reflect a historic layering of social and political relationships. We identify four primary offshore FDI subnetworks, bearing the imprint of four key processes and events: European, particularly UK colonialism, the post–WWII hegemonic alliance between the United States and Western Europe, the fall of Soviet communism, and the rise of Chinese capitalism. We also find evidence of qualitative, but not quantitative, variation in offshore FDI based on national rule of law and communist history.

show abstract

Section: Economic Geographymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Blocks and Imperial Legacies: Mapping the Global Offshore FDI Network

Haberly

Wójcik

2014

Economic Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although banks had predicted in 2004 a cost increase of 43% in the next 3 years, in 2007 they reported an actual increase of 58% for the period (KPMG International, 2007, p. 14). The other blade is the decline in offshore financial institutions as a consequence of this pressure accompanied by a decline in the license revenues collected by these small jurisdictions (Vlcek, 2007). 8…”

Section: A 'Regulatory Tsunami'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Competitive or Coercive? The Experience of Caribbean Offshore Financial Centres with Global Governance

Vlcek

2008

The Round Table

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the readiness to be internationally competitive on the part of small vulnerable economies through a consideration of Caribbean offshore financial centres. More specifically, it analyses the space for decision making to enhance the competitiveness of financial service provision permitted by the increased institutionalization of global financial governance. The promulgation of international standards and best practices for the operation of financial services has moved beyond the concerns with global financial stability and supervision (a predominant concern in the late 1990s) to focus on measures against terrorist financing today as states seek to achieve a measure of security through financial surveillance and discipline. Collectively, increased governance produces increased costs for national financial supervisory authorities, which over-extends in particular the capacity and capability of small jurisdictions. To combine these regimes of governance with initiatives to establish an international 'level playing field' in financial services produces a competitive environment that privileges the larger developed economies. From this perspective, it is less a matter of competition and more a case of coercion, which then lessens the opportunity to structure an internationally competitive small economy using offshore financial services as one avenue towards economic development. At the same time, the nature of the states system continues to provide a space in which offshore financial centres may compete.

show abstract

“…From these circles the initial aggressive stance of the OECD against tax havens also met strong resistance (Sharman, 2006). Research already reports socio-economic damage in tax havens, due to compliance costs in connection with international standards on money laundering, financial stability, terrorism financing and taxation (Vlcek, 2007). A crackdown on zero rates and secrecy would make matters much worse.…”

Section: (I)mentioning

confidence: 99%

From Monterrey to Doha: Taxation and Financing for Development

Lesage

McNair

Vermeiren

2010

Development Policy Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ill‐conceived tax policies cost developing countries vast sums of public revenue, but this issue has received relatively little attention within the Financing for Development (FfD) process of the United Nations. The outcome documents of the FfD conferences in Monterrey (2002) and Doha (2008) largely neglect globalisation‐related tax issues such as under‐taxation of multinationals and capital flight to tax havens. This article analyses how this topic has been marginalised by powerful interests, ideas and institutional factors, but it also shows how a growing coalition of governments, international organisations and NGOs has recently succeeded in raising the issue much higher up the international agenda.

show abstract

Why worry? The impact of the OECD harmful tax competition initiative on Caribbean offshore financial centres

Cited by 25 publications

References 20 publications

Regional Blocks and Imperial Legacies: Mapping the Global Offshore FDI Network

Regional Blocks and Imperial Legacies: Mapping the Global Offshore FDI Network

Competitive or Coercive? The Experience of Caribbean Offshore Financial Centres with Global Governance

From Monterrey to Doha: Taxation and Financing for Development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About