Offshore Financial Centers: Parasites or Symbionts? / Andrew K. Rose, Mark Spiegel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rose, Andrew K.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Spiegel, Mark.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12044.

NBER working paper series no. w12044

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Offshore Financial Centers

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

This paper analyzes the causes and consequences of offshore financial centers (OFCs). Since OFCs are likely to be tax havens and money launderers, they encourage bad behavior in source countries. Nevertheless, OFCs may also have unintended positive consequences for their neighbors, since they act as a competitive fringe for the domestic banking sector. We derive and simulate a model of a home country monopoly bank facing a representative competitive OFC which offers tax advantages attained by moving assets offshore at a cost that is increasing in distance between the OFC and the source. Our model predicts that proximity to an OFC is likely to have pro-competitive implications for the domestic banking sector, although the overall effect on welfare is ambiguous. We test and confirm the predictions empirically. OFC proximity is associated with a more competitive domestic banking system and greater overall financial depth.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2006.