Offshore

Harrington takes us deep into the offshore wealth industry, combining a fantastic ethnographic examination (with a shoutout to my thesis reader John Van Maanen!) with macro data on offshore wealth havens to paint a damning picture of a global welfare-reducing complex. Harrington clearly contrasts the current system with capitalism and open markets, arguing convincingly that the current structure is designed to eliminate risk for the ultra wealthy while externalizing their costs to the rest of society. I found the sections detailing developments in Panama, the Cook Islands, and other wealth havens particularly illuminating. Highly recommend

If you want a quick and easy introduction to offshore financial flows, this book is for you. It's not about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It's about a system (Harrington is a sociologist, after all). A system that is deleterious to democracy, social stability, and the environment. The book covers the origins of the offshore system (how come almost all the offshore centers outside of Europe used to be British colonies?), and depicts it as a colonial imperialism without borders. It also explains what kinds of strategies might work against it. This book should be read in tandem with Anne Applebaum's Autocracy Inc as the the offshore system is widely used by the world's autocrats. Very relevant for our times.