Friday, October 22, 2010

Liberia, flags of convenience and corporate capitalism

Flags of convenience - the Liberia shipping registry, or Panama's, or that of the Marshall Islands - are maritime versions of tax havens, allowing shipping operators to do what they would not otherwise be allowed to do at home, whether it be paying taxes properly, or evading environmental regulations or other prohibitions.

This latest article from Khadija Sharife, a South African writer exploring the role of flags of convenience in evading anti-Apartheid sanctions, is another useful contribution on this subject, and well worth reading. It covers an important, but hitherto grossly under-researched, piece of global economic history.

1 Comments:

Blogger James said...

Flags of convenience - the Liberia shipping registry, or Panama's, or that of the Marshall Islands - are maritime versions of tax havens.

An observation. If this is true, why are the ships operated by Condor Ferries between Jersey and Guernsey registered in Nassau in the Bahamas? :-)

2:45 pm  

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