Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Tax Havens and Their Uses 1. What is a Tax Haven? 2. Tax Havens: Vital Statistics 3. The Instruments of Tax Havens Part II: The Evolution of Tax Havens 4. Origins of the Tax Havens 5. The British Empire Strikes Back Part III: Tax Havens in World Politics 6. Tax Havens and the Developed World 7. Issues in Development Part IV: The Battle for Hearts And Minds 8. Signs of Discontent 9. Institutional Attacks on Tax Havens 10. Tax Havens in the Twenty-First Century Conclusion Glossary References Index

About the Author

Ronen Palan is Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of The Offshore World: Sovereign Markets, Virtual Places, and Nomad Millionaires (published by Cornell); the coauthor of Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works (also from Cornell); The Imagined Economies of Globalisation; and (with Christian Chavagneux) Paradis Fiscaux; and the coeditor of International Political Economy: A Reader and Globalizing Economic Regimes and Institution. Richard Murphy is CEO of Tax Research, LLP, based in the UK. He is a frequent adviser to the media, NGOs, and politicians, and writes a blog at taxresearch.org.uk. Christian Chavagneux, based in Paris, is deputy editor in chief of Alternatives Economiques and editor of L'Economie politique. He is coauthor, with Ronen Palan, of Paradis Fiscaux.

Reviews

"If you are looking to understand how tax havens and offshore financial centers work, how they are governed (or not!), and what kind of economic and political impacts they have, then this book is for you! This recent text by well-recognized experts in the field is a most welcome addition to the literatures... It fills an important void, since there was not until now a general but nevertheless detailed reference text on tax havens ... it should be mandatory for courses in IPE, international finance, and international business."-Patrick Leblond, Political Science Quarterly (Fall 2012) "Impeccably researched and packed with new insights, this groundbreaking book exposes financial capitalism's best-kept secret."-John Christensen, Director, Tax Justice Network International Secretariat, London "This book calls attention to one of the major scandals of our time."-James K. Galbraith, author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too "This book is an invaluable guide to the lightly studied subject of tax havens. Clearly written and thoroughly researched, it vividly demonstrates how central the scattered archipelago of so-called Preferential Tax Regimes is to the operation of contemporary global finance. Tax Havens belongs on the shelf of every specialist in the international political economy of money."-Benjamin J. Cohen, Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy, University of California, Santa Barbara