Examining the role and implications of free zones, tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council

审查海湾合作委员会国家自由区、避税天堂和保密管辖区的作用和影响

• 批准号: 2460063
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Queen Mary University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2460063
• 关键词: Examining; role; implications; free; zones

Recent studies indicate that as much as 40% of global corporate profits pass through the world's free zones, tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions. While investigative journalists and leaks such as the Panama Papers have shed light on the workings of these structures, there is limited academic research on the role and implications of free zones within the counties of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, which are often side-lined within studies of global finance. The GCC's development of free zones is not exceptional, but their uses are significant. They form both a key part of the governments' domestic economic agendas and are being exported as development models, designed to increase the GCC states' economic and political power abroad. They are also centres of corporate secrecy, allowing investors to obscure their interests in businesses in the Middle East and beyond and lie outside public scrutiny. My research project therefore aims to address this gap and explore the impact of the GCC's free zones on local, regional and international scales. What effect do these zones have on the local and regional political economy, how are they used to store and move capital, and what is the effect of corporate secrecy and anonymity? In doing so, I hope to contribute to a reassessment of the Gulf as an increasingly significant, and influential, centre of globalised offshore finance.

最近的研究表明，全球多达 40% 的企业利润流经世界各地的自由区、避税天堂和保密管辖区。尽管调查记者和巴拿马文件等泄密事件已经揭示了这些结构的运作情况，但关于海湾合作委员会（GCC）成员国内自由区的作用和影响的学术研究有限；阿联酋、沙特阿拉伯、巴林、卡塔尔、科威特和阿曼，这些国家在全球金融研究中经常被边缘化。海湾合作委员会自由区的发展并不特殊，但其用途却很重要。它们既构成政府国内经济议程的关键部分，又作为发展模式输出，旨在增强海湾合作委员会国家在海外的经济和政治实力。它们也是企业保密中心，使投资者能够掩盖他们在中东及其他地区企业的利益，并不受公众监督。因此，我的研究项目旨在解决这一差距，并探讨海湾合作委员会自由区对地方、区域和国际范围的影响。这些区域对当地和区域政治经济有什么影响，它们如何用来储存和转移资本，以及企业保密和匿名的效果是什么？通过这样做，我希望为重新评估海湾地区作为日益重要和有影响力的全球化离岸金融中心做出贡献。