title: Political Economy of Offshore Finance
abstract: This dissertation analyzes the patterns of business elites' offshore usage and its impact on domestic politics. I advance two theoretical claims. First, the availability of offshore zones makes autocracies stronger by facilitating patron-client exchanges that keep regimes in power. Second, I argue that vulnerability to political risks prevents firms from using tax havens for tax avoidance.\tAfter providing some historical and economic background on the evolution of tax havens, I present a simple
journal: eScholarship (California Digital Library)