IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2020-169.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Illicit financial flows and the Global South: A review of methods and evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Kasper Brandt

Abstract

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) constitute a major challenge for development in the Global South, as domestic resource mobilization is imperative for providing crucial public services. While several methods offer to measure the extent of IFFs, each has its benefits and drawbacks. Critically, methods based on the balance of payments identity may capture licit as well as illicit flows, and a method based on macroeconomic trade discrepancies suffers from doubtful assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kasper Brandt, 2020. "Illicit financial flows and the Global South: A review of methods and evidence," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-169, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-169.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cyril Chalendard & Gaël Raballand & Antsa Rakotoarisoa, 2019. "The use of detailed statistical data in customs reforms: The case of Madagascar," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(4), pages 546-563, July.
    2. Jannick Damgaard & Thomas Elkjaer & Niels Johannesen, 2019. "What Is Real and What Is Not in the Global FDI Network?," IMF Working Papers 2019/274, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Alstadsæter, Annette & Johannesen, Niels & Zucman, Gabriel, 2018. "Who owns the wealth in tax havens? Macro evidence and implications for global inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 89-100.
    4. Anne Brockmeyer & Spencer Smith & Marco Hernandez & Stewart Kettle, 2019. "Casting a Wider Tax Net: Experimental Evidence from Costa Rica," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-87, August.
    5. Hallsworth, Michael & List, John A. & Metcalfe, Robert D. & Vlaev, Ivo, 2017. "The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 14-31.
    6. Matthew Collin, 2020. "Illicit Financial Flows: Concepts, Measurement, and Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 35(1), pages 44-86.
    7. Katarzyna Anna Bilicka, 2019. "Comparing UK Tax Returns of Foreign Multinationals to Matched Domestic Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(8), pages 2921-2953, August.
    8. Clifford, Sarah, 2019. "Taxing multinationals beyond borders: Financial and locational responses to CFC rules," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 44-71.
    9. Sarah Godar & Petr Janský, 2021. "Corporate profit misalignment: evidence from German headquarter companies and their foreign affiliates," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 726-750, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saila Stausholm & Petr Janský & Marek Šedivý, 2022. "Illicit financial flows and country-by-country reporting in extractive industries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-76, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Joshua Adeyemi Afolabi, 2024. "Does illicit financial flows crowd‐out domestic investment? Evidence from Sub‐Saharan Africa economic regions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 1417-1431, April.
    3. Johnny Flentø & Leonardo Santos Simao, 2022. "Illicit Financial Flows - Illicit drug trafficking and tax evasion," DERG working paper series 22-16, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Development Economics Research Group (DERG).
    4. Johnny Flentø & Leonardo Santos Simao, 2022. "llicit Financial Flows - The illusion of a common denominator," DERG working paper series 22-15, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Development Economics Research Group (DERG).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arjan Lejour & Jan Möhlmann & Maarten ’t Riet, 2022. "The immeasurable tax gains by Dutch shell companies," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 316-357, April.
    2. Hoang Ha Nguyen Thi & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2023. "Tax Haven Welfare and the Crackdown on Secrecy: Evidence from Night Light Emissions," CESifo Working Paper Series 10721, CESifo.
    3. Jakob Miethe, 2020. "The Elusive Banker: Using Hurricanes to Uncover (Non-)Activity in Offshore Financial Centers," CESifo Working Paper Series 8625, CESifo.
    4. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Clément Imbert & Johannes Spinnewijn & Teodora Tsankova & Maarten Luts, 2021. "How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-Wide Experiments in Belgium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1425-1463.
    5. Dina Pomeranz & José Vila-Belda, 2019. "Taking State-Capacity Research to the Field: Insights from Collaborations with Tax Authorities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 755-781, August.
    6. Rogelio Madrueño & Magdalene Silberberger, 2022. "Dimensions and Cartography of Dirty Money in Developing Countries: Tripping Up on the Global Hydra," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 25-39.
    7. Garcia-Bernardo, Javier & Janský, Petr, 2024. "Profit shifting of multinational corporations worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Roland Beck & Antonio Coppola & Angus Lewis & Matteo Maggiori & Martin Schmitz & Jesse Schreger, 2024. "The geography of capital allocation in the euro area," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), External statistics in a fragmented and uncertain world, volume 62, Bank for International Settlements.
    9. Johannesen, Niels, 2022. "The global minimum tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    10. Delatte, Anne-Laure & Guillin, Amelie & Vicard, Vincent, 2022. "Grey zones in global finance: The distorted geography of cross-border investments," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Patricia Gil & Justin Holz & John List & Andrew Simon & Alejandro Zentner, 2023. "Toward an Understanding of Tax Amnesties: Theory and Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00772, The Field Experiments Website.
    12. Katarzyna A. Bilicka & Michael P. Devereux & İrem Güçeri, 2024. "Tax Policy, Investment and Profit Shifting," NBER Working Papers 33132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Martinangeli, Andrea F.M. & Windsteiger, Lisa, 2024. "Inequality shapes the propagation of unethical behaviours: Cheating responses to tax evasion along the income distribution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 135-181.
    14. Lejour, Arjan, 2021. "The Role of Conduit Countries and Tax Havens in Corporate Tax Avoidance," Other publications TiSEM e0530ca3-b3b3-4aca-826b-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Müller, Raphael & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2020. "On the determinants and effects of corporate tax transparency: Review of an emerging literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Kern, Andreas & Nosrati, Elias & Reinsberg, Bernhard & Sevinc, Dilek, 2023. "Crash for cash: Offshore financial destinations and IMF programs," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2020. "Do Multinational Firms Use Tax Havens to the Detriment of Other Countries?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8275, CESifo.
    18. Jaqueline Hansen & Valeria Merlo & Georg Wamser, 2023. "Taxes, Profit Shifting, and the Real Activities of MNEs: Evidence from Corporate Tax Notches," CESifo Working Paper Series 10593, CESifo.
    19. Migchelbrink, Koen & Raymaekers, Pieter, 2023. "Nudging people to pay their parking fines on time. Evidence from a cluster-randomized field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    20. Lejour, Arjan, 2021. "The Role of Conduit Countries and Tax Havens in Corporate Tax Avoidance," Discussion Paper 2021-014, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Illicit financial flows; Tax havens; Multinational firms; Profit shifting;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.