Focus on… Tax havens

International audienceThere has been a very strong resurgence of interest in tax havens with the financialcrisis of 2008, which brought to light the shadows of financial regulation and putpublic debts under pressure. It was not until several scandals occurred, however,that economists have really taken up this issue. This article briefly surveys the academic literature in economics about tax havens, trying to figure out what are thesecountries? How much do they weigh in the global economy? What do we know aboutcross-border flows? What is the extent of tax evasion by multinational firms? Whatis the impact on the revenue of other countries? What role do financial intermediaries play? How effective are the measures implemented to combat tax havens