Original version

BBC World Service East Asia

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Factual: Money

The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world

Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Tax Havens

Discussion & Talk

News

Tax Havens

17/06/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy, Tax Havens

Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore

When Gabriel Zucman crunched the numbers, he found a big chunk of global wealth illegally stashed in offshore tax havens – making them a significant feature of the modern economy.

The economist Gabriel Zucman is the inventor of an ingenious way to estimate the amount of wealth hidden in the offshore banking system. In theory, if you add up the assets and liabilities reported by every global financial centre, the books should balance. But they don’t. Each individual centre tends to report more liabilities than assets. Zucman crunched the numbers and found that, globally, total liabilities were eight percent higher than total assets. That suggests at least eight percent of the world’s wealth is illegally unreported. Other methods have come up with even higher estimates. As Tim Harford explains, that makes the tax haven a very significant feature of the modern economy.

Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
Producer: Ben Crighton

(Image: Huts along tropical beach, Credit: DonLand/Shutterstock)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Tax Havens

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East Asia

About BBC World Service