ABSTRACT
Offshore finance is a sector that has grown considerably since the 1970s. For the majority of banks and a large number of companies, the use of offshore jurisdictions tends to be the rule rather than the exception. Offshore economies are not only significant because of their dimensions; in our view, they embody a parallel set of economic rules used by financial and economic elites to circumvent democratic rules on financial regulation and the repartition of funds. In this chapter, we will explain the notion of the offshore economy and its related terms; introduce some academic approaches and theories on the offshore sector; describe the development of offshore finance and tax evasion; outline its actors, techniques, dimensions and effects; and we will finally address regulation. We underline that offshore and onshore economies are closely linked. Offshore finance evolved due to sociocultural, economic, political and technical factors. This is why we have chosen an interdisciplinary approach to outline this complex phenomenon.
