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Annual Report 2022 Cover

UNU-WIDER 2022 Annual Report is released

2022 was a key year in the UNU-WIDER 2019–2023 work programme, with great achievements made possible through our partnerships and collaborations Read more in the 2022 Annual Report.
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The Job Ladder: Transforming informal work and livelihoods in developing countries

NEW BOOK - Available now on Open Access. Providing a nuanced view of informality across a range of developing economies using a common conceptual framework.
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UNU-WIDER's LDC5 Conference Exhibition

Visit the virtual booth featuring materials shared at the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha, Qatar. Check out photos, videos, and infographics on our research results from LDCs.
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Check out our new series of short videos on ‘The puzzle of peace’!

Learn about key issues in peace and conflict research in two minutes from top experts in the field. Click here to watch.
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UNU-WIDER Winter School cohort

Capacity development in action: UNU-WIDER Winter School

In collaboration with Stellenbosch University, we organised an intensive winter school course on tax policy research, delivering training to 27 African researchers from 13 countries. Read more
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16 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...

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  • Blog
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  • (-) Tax havens
Journal Article
Global Distribution of Revenue Loss from Corporate Tax Avoidance: Re-estimation and Country Results

Part of Journal Special Issue Fiscal Policy, State Building and Economic Development

  • Corporate income tax
  • International taxation
  • Tax avoidance
Working Paper
How do voters respond to information on self-serving elite behaviour?

Does self-serving elite behaviour make citizens more politically active? This paper presents the results of a randomized field experiment where voters in Tanzania were given information about elite use of tax havens. Information provided in a neutral...

  • Elites
  • Citizens
  • Voter turnout
Working Paper
Illicit financial flows and the Global South

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...

  • Illicit financial flows
  • Tax havens
  • Multinational firms
Journal Article
Illicit financial flows and developing countries

THIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW | Illicit financial flows (IFFs) constitute a major challenge for development in low-income countries, as domestic resource mobilization is imperative for providing crucial public services. This study focuses exclusively...

  • Illicit financial flows
  • Tax havens
  • Multinational firms
Working Paper
Incorporation of offshore shell companies as an indicator of corruption risk in the extractive industries

We show that the incorporation of offshore entities increases when oil and gas exploration licences are awarded. We exploit leaked data on the incorporation of shell companies and detailed information on tax havens and the awarding rounds of oil...

  • Oil
  • Extractives
  • Natural resources
Working Paper
Profit-shifting behaviour of emerging multinationals from India

This paper examines the profit-shifting behaviour of emerging multinational firms from India. It is found that the before-tax profitability of subsidiaries differs according to whether they were established directly or via an Offshore Financial...

  • Corporate tax
  • Multinational firms
  • Offshore financial centres
Working Paper
Profit shifting by multinational corporations

Research on profit shifting by multinational corporations in developing countries is limited due to a lack of data. In this paper we use, for the first time, novel administrative data on the transactions of multinational corporations operating in...

  • Tax havens
  • Multinational firms
  • Profit shifting
Blog
International tax avoidance and development
Placeholder
by Ludvig Wier April 2020

Corporate taxation is at the heart of economic development, and cardiac failure looms if international tax reform is not made globally inclusive There...

  • International taxation
  • Tax avoidance
  • Tax havens
Working Paper
The tax-price elasticity of offshore tax avoidance

This study leverages a unique data set on the universe of transactions exiting the Ecuadorian economy to estimate the tax-price elasticity of demand for tax-sheltering activities using offshore fiscal havens. I determine this elasticity quasi...

  • Tax evasion
  • Tax avoidance
  • Tax havens
Working Paper
Hide–seek–hide? The effects of financial secrecy on cross-border financial assets

Excessive financial secrecy facilitates illicit financial flows, which constitute a major developmental challenge for low-income economies and cause significant tax revenue losses for governments around the world. In this paper we estimate the semi...

  • Financial secrecy
  • Transparency
  • Secrecy jurisdictions
Working Paper
The indirect costs of corporate tax avoidance exacerbate cross-country inequality

Corporate tax avoidance hampers domestic revenue mobilization and, with it, the development of lower- and middle-income countries. While a wide range of studies has shed light on the magnitude of profit shifting by multinational corporations, the...

  • Profit shifting
  • Tax avoidance
  • Tax havens
Blog
$1 trillion in the shade: The annual profits multinational corporations shift to tax havens continues to climb and climb
by Ludvig Wier, Gabriel Zucman March 2023

About a decade ago, the world’s biggest economies agreed to crack down on multinational corporations’ abusive use of tax havens. This resulted in a 15...

  • Illicit financial flows
  • Profit shifting
  • Domestic revenue mobilization
Working Paper
Sanction-busting through tax havens

Financial sanctions, which aim to economically hurt a target by restricting its access to financial assets and markets, require the ability to identify who owns an asset. Although experts have long claimed that offshore financial centres that offer...

  • Sanctions
  • Financial assets
  • Tax havens
Blog
New global estimates on profits in tax havens suggest the tax loss continues to rise
by Ludvig Wier, Gabriel Zucman December 2022

The world has been trying to curb profit shifting to tax havens for a decade, but consistent time series evaluating the impact of these reforms have...

  • Profit shifting
  • Illicit financial flows
  • Domestic revenue mobilization
News
Press Release: New research reveals close to $1 trillion in profits shifted to tax havens

A new research paper published by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) shows the first global estimates of profits shifted to tax havens between 1975-2019. The study documents a remarkable increase in profit shifting, with close to $1 trillion or 40% of multinational profits shifted to tax havens in 2019. Globally, 10% of corporate tax revenues are lost as a result.

  • Profit shifting
  • Corporate tax
  • Taxes
In the media
SA-TIED researcher interviewed on tax haven research

SA-TIED researcher, Ludvig Wier, has featured in multiple South African news outlets explaining new research findings from the programme. Wier was invited to speak to anchors from South Africa’s national news channels, SABC and eNCA. He was also...

  • Profit shifting
  • Multinational firms
  • South Africa
Displaying 16 of 16 results
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