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03/03/2010 - Ideas Space
Offshore Financial Centres: Help or Hindrance?
Prominent US economist Professor James R. Hines Jr is the Richard A. Musgrave Collegiate Professor of Economics and the L. Hart Wright Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. He recently published a research report commissioned by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners highlighting the importance of offshore financial centres, and their contribution to the investment, employment, and the efficient functioning of markets and government policies in other countries.
He has written that:
"Offshore financial centres play a key role in the international financial system, improving the availability of credit and encouraging competition in domestic banking systems. The result is a boost in investment in the major economies, which ultimately support job creation and growth.
The evidence indicates that offshore centres contribute to financial development and stability in neighbouring countries, encouraging investment, employment and other aspects of business development. They have salutary effects on tax competition, promote good government, and enhance economic growth elsewhere in the world."
Professor Hines also serves as Research Director of the Office of Tax Policy Research at the Ross School of Business where his research concerns various aspects of taxation. Additionally he is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, research director of the International Tax Policy Forum and the co-editor of the American Economic Association’s Journal of Economic Perspectives.
