Official government policies against money laundering in the EU have been in place for roughly 25 years, after much concerted effort and a great deal of time and money invested. This volume examines the anti-money laundering policy of the EU Member States in connection to the threat of money laundering they face. During a three-year study the authors analyzed the policies in-depth by traveling to 27 Member States to interview over a hundred people involved in the fight against money laundering. The analysis includes an inquiry into the national supervisory architectures, a comparison of the definitions of money laundering used in practice, a breakdown of the role of Financial Intelligence Units and a cost-benefit analysis of anti-money laundering policy. Skillfully assessing the economic and legal effectiveness of anti-money laundering efforts in the EU, this comprehensive study will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners working in economics, banking, finance and law. Contents 1. Introduction and Operationalization 2. Threat of Money Laundering 3. Harmonization of Substantive Norms in Preventative AML 4. Implementing International Conventions and the Third EU Directive 5. Supervisory Architectures in the Preventive AML Policy 6. Definitions of Money Laundering in Practice 7. FIU's in the European Union - Facts and Figures, Functions and Facilities 8. Information Flows and Repressive Enforcement 9. International Cooperation 10. Collection of Statistics 11. Effectiveness: Threat and Corresponding Policy Response 12. Cost Benefit Analysis 13. Summary and Conclusions

Présentation de l'éditeur : "While Anti-Money Laundering instruments are ever increasing in scope and complexity, policymakers have often lost sight of the objectives pursued. As a consequence, legislation is, in many cases, shaped by unrealistic political expectations and inconsistent design. Against this backdrop, this book explains key deficiencies of existing law and develops policy proposals to enhance both effectiveness and respect for fundamental rights. To this end, it thoroughly examines the interplay between criminal justice, regulatory law and data protection rules in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and contrasts these findings with the frameworks of the Financial Action Task Force and of the European Union. The results of this collaborative research project emphasise the need to approach Anti-Money Laundering as a complex architecture that consists of numerous diverse but highly interdependent areas of law. Reform debates must therefore overcome a fragmented vision, in particular as regards the shape of criminal proceedings, the function of Financial Intelligence Units and supervisory authorities, the aims of private sector involvement and the scope of public-private information sharing. Only then does one learn from past mistakes and avoid ill-conceived remedies that ultimately fail to adapt supranational standards to the institutional and constitutional reality of countries' domestic legal order."

Official government policies against money laundering in the EU have been in place for roughly 25 years, after much concerted effort and a great deal of time and money invested. This volume examines the anti-money laundering policy of the EU Member Sta

This book deals with the widespread economic and financial crime issues of corruption, the shadow economy and money laundering. It investigates both the theoretical and practical aspects of these crimes, identifying their effects on economic, social and political life. This book presents these causes and effects with a state of the art review and with recent empirical research. It compares the international and transnational aspects of these economic and financial crimes through discussion and critical analysis. This volume will be of interest to researchers and policy makers working to study and prevent economic and financial crime, white collar crime, and organized crime.

Macro statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI) are blurred by offshore centers with enormous inward and outward investment positions. This paper uses several new data sources, both macro and micro, to estimate the global FDI network while disentangling real investment and phantom investment and allocating real investment to ultimate investor economies. We find that phantom investment into corporate shells with no substance and no real links to the local economy may account for almost 40 percent of global FDI. Ignoring phantom investment and allocating real investment to ultimate investors increases the explanatory power of standard gravity variables by around 25 percent.

This book investigates the paradox of rich countries of Western Europe, who have high levels of poverty whilst proclaiming its eradication as one of the primary social and economic goals. It looks at how policies often do not achieve their goals, why countries need mechanisms to reduce wage inequality and why they choose to provide universal benefits instead of systems of selective benefits targeted at the poor. Along with cross-countries comparisons, the volume also presents analysis of the minimum income in France, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Belgium, and Greece.