Regional Blocks and Imperial Legacies

Mapping the Global Offshore FDI Network

Bibliographic Data

ID4043293
AuthorsDaniel Haberly (Department of Geography University of Sussex Falmer Brighton BN1 9SJ United Kingdom, corresponding author), Daniel Wojcik (0000-0003-2158-284X, School of Geography and the Environment and St. Peter's College University of Oxford South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3QY United Kingdom, corresponding author), Dariusz Wójcik (0000-0002-4200-3432)
Year2015
Volume91
Issue3
Pages251-280
Publication date2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0095 • E-ISSN: 1944-8287
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ecge.12078
OpenAlexW2123629945
LanguageEN
Citations received50
References cited49

While foreign direct investment (FDI) is generally assumed to represent long-term investments within the real economy, approximately 30-50 percent of global FDI is accounted for by networks of offshore shell companies created by corporations and individuals for tax and other purposes. To date, there has been limited systematic research on the global structure of these networks. Here we address this gap by employing principal component analysis to decompose the global bilateral FDI anomaly matrix into its primary constituent subnetworks. We find that the global offshore FDI network is highly globalized, with a centralized core of jurisdictions in Northwest Europe and the Caribbean exercising a largely homogenous worldwide influence. To the extent that the network is internally differentiated, this appears to primarily reflect a historic layering of social and political relationships. We identify four primary offshore FDI subnetworks, bearing the imprint of four key processes and events: European, particularly UK colonialism, the post-WWII hegemonic alliance between the United States and Western Europe, the fall of Soviet communism, and the rise of Chinese capitalism. We also find evidence of qualitative, but not quantitative, variation in offshore FDI based on national rule of law and communist history

Business · Capitalism · Communism · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Foreign direct investment · Globalization · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Submarine pipeline · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · State Capitalism and Financial Governance