On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers

Описание: What are the ‘who,’ ‘how’ and ‘where’ of capital flight from Africa?

In their new book, “On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers,” Léonce Ndikumana and his collaborators investigate the dynamics of capital flight from Angola, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa, countries that have witnessed large-scale illicit financial outflows in recent decades, using quantitative, qualitative and institutional analysis for each country. 'Who' refers to major domestic and foreign players; 'how' refers to mechanisms of capital acquisition, transfer and concealment; and 'where' refers to the destinations of capital flight and the transactions involved.

The evidence reveals a complex network of actors and enablers involved in orchestrating and facilitating capital flight and the accumulation of private wealth in offshore secrecy jurisdictions. This underscores the reality that capital flight is a global phenomenon, and that measures to curtail it are a shared responsibility for Africa and the global community. Addressing the problem of capital flight and related issues such as trade misinvoicing, money laundering, tax evasion and theft of public assets by political and economic elites will require national and global efforts with a high level of coordination.

On Thursday, October 20, Léonce Ndikumana, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the African Development Policy Program at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst joined us for a discussion on capital flight. This webinar is part of the Fall 2022 Global Economic Governance Book Talk Series.