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Editorial Introduction to the Special Section: Deconstructing Offshore Finance

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  • Gordon L. Clark
  • Karen P. Y. Lai
  • Dariusz Wójcik

Abstract

Recent scandals involving large corporations including Amazon, Apple, Google, Starbucks, and HSBC have highlighted the problems of tax avoidance, evasion, and offshore financial activities. Considering their significance to growing inequality and financial instability, renewed media and public attention is well justified, and new research on these topics urgent. At the same time, however, there is confusion in the very use of the term offshore finance. Some apply it interchangeably with tax havens; others go as far as to use it as a synonym of international finance. We argue that offshore finance needs a precise definition and careful positioning in a broader economic geographical framework. We suggest a definition based on the legal and accounting, in addition to financial, aspects of offshore finance, and we propose the concept of global financial networks to situate offshore jurisdictions and offshore finance in the firm–territory nexus and in relation to global production networks. This sets the stage for the three research articles presented in this issue, which map offshore financial networks at global and regional scales, and investigate their causes and mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon L. Clark & Karen P. Y. Lai & Dariusz Wójcik, 2015. "Editorial Introduction to the Special Section: Deconstructing Offshore Finance," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 91(3), pages 237-249, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecgeog:v:91:y:2015:i:3:p:237-249
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alex Cobham, Petr Janský, and Markus Meinzer, 2015. "The Financial Secrecy Index: Shedding New Light on the Geography of Secrecy - Working Paper 404," Working Papers 404, Center for Global Development.
    2. Sell,Susan K., 2003. "Private Power, Public Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521819145.
    3. Alex Cobham & Petr Janský & Markus Meinzer, 2015. "The Financial Secrecy Index: Shedding New Light on the Geography of Secrecy," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 91(3), pages 281-303, July.
    4. Leonard Seabrooke & Duncan Wigan, 2014. "Global wealth chains in the international political economy," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 257-263, February.
    5. Sell,Susan K., 2003. "Private Power, Public Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521525398.
    6. Neil M. Coe & Karen P. Y. Lai & Dariusz W�jcik, 2014. "Integrating Finance into Global Production Networks," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 761-777, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Bůžek & Christoph Scheuplein, 2022. "The Global Wealth Chains of Private‐Equity‐Run Physician Practices," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 113(4), pages 331-347, September.
    2. Ronen Palan & Hannah Petersen & Richard Phillips, 2023. "Arbitrage spaces in the offshore world: Layering, ‘fuses’ and partitioning of the legal structure of modern firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 1041-1061, June.
    3. Richard Phillips & Hannah Petersen & Ronen Palan, 2021. "Group subsidiaries, tax minimization and offshore financial centres: Mapping organizational structures to establish the ‘in-betweener’ advantage," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(2), pages 286-307, June.
    4. Jess Bier, 2020. "It’s a small, small, small world: The Icesave dispute and global orders of difference," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(7-8), pages 1291-1307, November.
    5. Oddný Helgadóttir, 2023. "The new luxury freeports: Offshore storage, tax avoidance, and ‘invisible’ art," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 1020-1040, June.
    6. Petr Janský & Markus Meinzer & Miroslav Palanský, 2022. "Is Panama really your tax haven? Secrecy jurisdictions and the countries they harm," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 673-704, July.
    7. Jonathan Beaverstock & Adam Leaver & Daniel Tischer, 2023. "How financial products organize spatial networks: Analyzing collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations as “networked productsâ€," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 969-996, June.

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