Review by Choice Review
Palan (international political economy, Univ. of Birmingham, UK; The Offshore World, 2003) and his colleagues contend that the importance of tax havens in world finance is often overlooked and underestimated. In this volume, they attempt to rectify that misconception by assembling and summarizing recently obtained information about this shadowy world of international capital flows, tax avoidance, and lack of regulation. In the initial chapters, the authors define tax havens, discuss indicators of their economic importance (e.g., assets, liabilities, foreign direct investment), and examine the various devices of tax havens that serve their clients. While many tax havens are small, some are not, and collectively they play a major role in the world economy. The authors then trace how tax havens emerged on the international scene in the late 19th century with the rise of modern economies and the British Empire. They find that tax havens tend to increase disparities in income distribution in both the developed and developing world. The volume concludes with the prognostication that the current political climate will tend to constrain the growth and activities of tax havens in the 21st century. With few scholarly books on this topic, this is a welcome addition to the literature. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. E. L. Whalen formerly, Clarke College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
