A local political scientist is part of a nine-member team that has won a US$1.2 million bid to undertake research on systems of tax evasion in the Caribbean and across the world.
Dr Don Marshall, Senior Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies (UWI), told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that the research undertaken during the four-year Systems Of Tax Evasion And Laundering (STEAL) project should shed more light on whether “offshore financial centres or international business centres like ours are a haven for hot money.”
The study is funded by the NORGLOBAL Fund, which is run by the government of Norway and administrated by the Norwegian Institute.
“The group of nine scholars from across the world will be looking at international financial systems and the extent to which some spaces might be more susceptible to financial abuse than other places,” said Marshall, who will be studying the Caribbean while the others will be responsible for the Pacific, Europe, Africa and Latin America.
The launch will take place in Oslo, Norway, from May 13 to 15.
Following that event, Marshall explained, he and a team of researchers and industry players will begin gathering vital data.
“I’m going to be looking at the extent to which there is regulatory forbearance in the Caribbean and after applying for field-work funding from the $1.2 million, we go out like bees and gather information about the different regulations.
“We’ll be speaking to the Financial Services Commission, actual players in the industry, and we’ll be getting a feel for what the sector feels,” he said.
“Then every year there are policy briefs to be done, so in May 2013 there would be a major conference in Barbados to address Caribbean-specific policy measures.
“But ultimately we’re looking to get about eight scholarly essays and one book-length manuscript at the end of four years.”
Marshall has been studying Caribbean offshore financial centres for some time, and has argued the need for the region to carry out its own research about the sector and not simply accept “knowledge from the West”.
