A recently published book adds further insights into the political economy of offshore jurisdictions. It raises questions about why offshore has been off-limits for serious political discussion for so many decades. What is the importance of the offshore economy? Is online Gambling a Game Changer to Money Laundering? What is the rationale behind the Secrecy Index of Tax Justice Network? How does Automatic Tax Information Exchange work? Is Austria a tax haven? With which ideology and with which narratives was it possible to avoid public discussions about the offshore economy? Which were the effects of “offshore leaks” in the spring 2013?
April 3, 2014 | Walter Otto Ötsch, Gerd Grözinger, Karl Michael Beyer, Lars Bräutigam (eds.)
The Political Economy of Offshore Jurisdictions
Description
Trying to understand the financial crisis since 2008 economists have learned that large parts of the economy are hardly known and little explored. This is especially true for the area of the so-called shadow banks. Here – and not in the traditional banks – the crisis has manifested and they were saved from collapse by the central banks. But behind the shadow banks is the even more unknown zone of the offshore economy, since many shadow banks are legally settled in “tax and regulatory havens”. They can be called secrecy jurisdictions as well. Their aim is to establish a high level of financial opacity, e.g. by banking secrecy laws, by establishing trusts and foundations whose ownership and purpose is difficult to identify, or by a lack in serious due diligence or no records and statistics on transactions.
The book provides first information about a little-studied area. What is the importance of the offshore economy? Is online Gambling a Game Changer to Money Laundering? What is the rationale behind the Secrecy Index of Tax Justice Network? How does Automatic Tax Information Exchange function? Is Austria a tax haven? With which ideology and with which narratives was it possible to avoid public discussions about the offshore economy? Which were the effects of “offshore leaks” in the spring 2013?
Table of contents
Introduction
Michaela Schmidt and Walter Otto Oetsch
The Political Economy of Offshore Jurisdictions
Theories and Discourses
Laura Seelkopf
Tax Competition and National Welfare
Silke Oetsch
Our Banking Secrecy is a Strong Castle. Assessing the State of Regulation by Analysing Metaphors and Narratives of the Offshore Economy
Walter Otto Oetsch
How to Hide Secrecy Jurisdictions. The Role of the Concept of "The Market”
Practices
Ingo Fiedler
Online Gambling as a Game Changer to Money Laundering?
Markus Meinzer
Current Practice of Automatic Tax Information Exchange in Selected Countries
Petr Janský
Illicit Financial Flows and Financial Secrecy
Karl M. Beyer and Lars Braeutigam
Offshore Aspects of Shadow Banking. With Considerations on the Recent Financial Crisis
Country Examples
Martina Neuwirth
Austria: A Tax Haven? The Era of Austria's Banking Secrecy is not (yet) over
Otto Farny
Is Austria a Tax Haven?
Brigitte Unger
Is the Netherlands a Tax Haven?
Outlook
Peter Hornung
Global Investigations: The International Journalists' Project Offshore-Leaks
Source: metropolis, Verlag für Ökonomie, Gesellschaft und Politik
