Financial Transparency Coalition

Officially Dan Mitchell is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, a conservative public policy research organization, and a researcher on tax reform. Unofficially, he has (perhaps ironically?) called himself the “world’s self-appointed defender of so-called tax havens.” Oddly enough, Mitchell and I agree on many of the facts about these havens. We both have observed, for example, that there are buildings in Delaware and the Cayman Islands that house thousands of corporations. Mitchell concludes there is nothing wrong with either; I conclude there is something wrong with both. Mitchell also agrees that the United States “could be considered the...

Following traces of money flowing through the criminal underworld has long been an important strategy for law enforcement. German investigators were trying to do just that, following US$150 million in corrupt money back from Germany to a number of Russian officials. However, the investigators were forced to give up their search after the trail brought them to an anonymous corporation, and uncooperative Russian officials.

At the Center for Global Development / Washington Post forum yesterday, Nigerian Finance Minister and nominee for the World Bank Presidency Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala answered a series of questions about the World Bank, and the challenges it faces moving into the future. The whole interview is available on video here.