The Regulatory Dance in Tax Competition - A Case Study in Multi-Lateral Governance
30 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2008 Last revised: 4 Jun 2009
Date Written: February 2008
Abstract
As the pace and intensity of globalisation gathers pace and national economies become more inter-dependent, so there grows a greater emphasis on the structures and processes of multi-lateral governance. This paper shows these processes at work by examining the efforts in recent years by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to shape what should be prevailing international standards in the area of tax competition through its various initiatives regarding what the OECD terms Harmful Tax Practices. The analysis highlights the strategic importance of: accountability and governance; relative strengths/weaknesses of international protocols, eg treaties, conventions, frameworks of understanding; the appropriate roles of regulatory actors - national, regional and international; the inevitable effects of self-interest on both regulated and regulating actors; and regulatory capacity, especially in less developed economies. The paper's case study illustrates the regulatory reality that political contexts, allied with issues of power and legitimacy are crucial in determining how much impact in reality a multi-lateral regulatory actor such as the OECD can have.
Keywords: multi-lateral governance, OECD, tax competition
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