Overview

Why are Multinational Corporations so powerful and elites so wealthy while still operating within nation-state rules? Profit and Power examines how firms engage in legal transgression, operating at the edges of legality to maximize profits. Offering a practical analysis of jurisdictional arbitrage, Ronen Palan exposes the hidden mechanisms behind corporate power in globalization and reveals how the rule-based transgressor elite emerged through strategic use of MNC structures. Tracing the origins to the late nineteenth century, Palan focuses on centrally-coordinated multi-corporate enterprises (CCMCEs) – networks of legally independent yet interconnected firms. He explores the gap between the legal entity and the corporate group, a loophole long exploited to arbitrage national regulations, including taxation. This is the first systematic study of jurisdictional arbitrage and its impact on states and society. By analysing corporate decision-making within fragmented regulatory environments, it unveils the systemic role of legal ambiguity in shaping modern capitalism and corporate dominance.

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9781009605281

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Ronen Palan's new book argues that today's most successful firms are centrally coordinated multi-corporate enterprises that earn their profits from intangible assets and jurisdictional arbitrage, exploiting cross-border differences in government policies and regulations. The book explores corporate strategies that exploit these legal gray areas and their broader implications for wealth, power and capitalism.' Lorraine Eden, Adjunct Professor of Law and Professor Emerita of Management, Texas A & M University 'This is a pathbreaking book in International Relations. Everyone in the field will want to understand Palan's breakthrough concept of jurisdictional arbitrage and its role in the global economy. Everyone in International Political Economy will want to read the book closely and take its argument into account.' Craig N. Murphy, Past-President of the International Studies Association and recipient of its Distinguished Scholar Awards in International Organization and International Political Economy 'Palan's deeply revisionist analysis of the multinational firm shows how they use jurisdictional arbitrage to legally evade taxation and regulation in pursuit of power in the distributional struggle among firms and between firms and states. It's essential for understanding how the global economy actually works.' Herman Mark Schwartz, University of Virginia 'Palan's insights about contemporary capitalism are more profound than those of any other author I know. 'Profit and Power' strips away what we think we know about value, the corporation and globalization before revealing how the alchemy of corporate arbitrage situates us in a very different economy than we imagine.' J. C. Sharman, University of Cambridge

Author Information

Ronen Palan is Professor of International Political Economy at City St George's University of London. He was the founding editor of the Review of International Political Economy and his previous books include Sabotage: The Business of Finance (with Anastasia Nesvetailova, 2020), Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works (with Richard Murphy and Christian Chavagneux, 2010) and The Offshore World (2003).

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