On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa

On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa investigates the dynamics of capital flight from Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, and South Africa, countries that have witnessed large-scale illicit financial outflows in recent decades. Quantitative, qualitative, and institutional analysis for each country is used to examine the modus operandi of capital flight; that is, the 'who', 'how', and 'where' dimensions of the phenomenon. 'Who' refers to major domestic andforeign players; 'how' refers to mechanisms of capital acquisition, transfer, and concealment; and 'where' refers to the destinations of capital flight and the transactions involved. The evidence reveals a complex network of actors and enablers involved in orchestrating and facilitating capital flight and theaccumulation of private wealth in offshore secrecy jurisdictions. This underscores the reality that capital flight is a global phenomenon, and that measures to curtail it are a shared responsibility for Africa and the global community. Addressing the problem of capital flight and related issues such as trade misinvoicing, money laundering, tax evasion, and theft of public assets by political and economic elites will require national and global efforts with a high level ofcoordination.

This book is a valuable resource for understanding the intricacies of capital flight., Many developing countries continue to suffer significant resource outflows, largely due to illicit capital flight. On the trail of capital flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers — edited by Leonce Ndikumana and James Boyce — studies this blight in sub-Saharan Africa. The world has much to learn from their forensic analysis... The West's piecemeal approach to sanctions targeting individuals is recognized as costly, time-consuming and ineffectual. Instead, the editors recommend a pre-emptive, across-the-board effort to undermine transnational networks enabling illicit financial flows. This should begin with closing financial system loopholes., This important book should be read widely by anyone interested in African political economy as well as the global mechanisms of capital flight. While most work on capital flight focuses on aggregate figures, Ndikumana, Boyce and their co-authors provide cutting-edge analysis of three major African countries as well as of the destinations for stolen funds. Marrying the best available work on the economics of capital flight with insightful case studies, the book shows the importance of fine-grained qualitative analysis for an understanding of the consequences of capital flight for Africa and the global economy more broadly., Léonce Ndikumana and James Boyce have been at the forefront of research on illicit financial flows since before that term was even coined, and this book confirms it once again. But where Ndikumana and Boyce are most well known for their comprehensive quantitative analyses, here they have edited a volume that focuses deliberately on the experience of specific countries suffering illicit flows. The result, part investigative journalism and part academic analysis, is to bring the damage done to countries' governance into sharp focus. The book contributes powerfully to the case to understand illicit financial flows, facilitated by rich countries as they are, as a continuation of imperial extraction which robs people not only of resources but ultimately of the right to effective statehood., Under the right conditions, external capital can help lift people out of poverty in poor, capital-scarce, places. However, the social benefit from capital inflows can largely vanish if local elites syphon-off the capital and park it elsewhere for themselves. Earlier Ndikumana-Boyce calculations exposed the alarming extent of illicit capital flight from Africa. Their new edited volume provides three detailed country case studies, pointing to better data for monitoring and better policies globally. The volume provides a welcome foundation for both further research and effective action to help assure that global capital flows reduce global poverty.

Léonce Ndikumana is a Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the African Development Policy Program at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, and an Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He held seniorpositions at the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. His previous books include Africa's Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent (with James K. Boyce, Zed Books, 2011), and Capital Flight from Africa Causes, Effects, and Policy Issues(with S. Ibi Ajay, OUP, 2014)James K. Boyce is a senior fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His previous books include Economics for People and the Planet (Anthem, 2019), Africa's Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent (with Léonce Ndikumana, Zed Books 2011), Investing in Peace: Aid and Conditionality after Civil Wars (Oxford University Press 2002); The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth andImpoverishment in the Marcos Era (Macmillan, 1993), and Agrarian Impasse in Bengal (OUP, 1987).