Missing Dollars – Illicit Financial Flows from Commodity Trade

 

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) associated with commodity trade erode the tax base of resource-rich developing countries. Efforts to curb IFFs and reform taxation stumble over enhanced North–South tensions but remain crucial to helping poorer countries mobilise domestic resources for development.

The 17th volume of International Development Policy examines this key part of the wider agenda to restore trust in the multilateral system, calling for a more transparent, effective and equitable trade and tax framework. Based on a six-year multidisciplinary research project encompassing academic institutions in commodity exporting and trading countries, its 24 authors offer a mix of theoretical and empirical contributions and discuss findings of macro- and micro-level studies.

The book is co-edited by CEP founding member Gilles Carbonnier and includes a chapter by CEP colleagues Lucas Millán-Narotzky and Agustín Redonda, together with Christian von Haldenwang and Irma Mosquera Valderrama, on “The Role of Tax Expenditures in Enabling Illicit Financial Flows”. The chapter is available here, and an open access version of the book here.