International Mobility of the Wealthy in an Age of Growing Inequality

Résumé 0

: The global economy and society are affected by the rising inequality in income and wealth along with increasingly frequent and severe financial crises, protectionist trends, and fragmented globalization. A largely unexplored topic in migration analysis is the international mobility of the wealthy and their assets, as they look for countries offering financial security, lower taxation, good educational facilities, safe cities, and other amenities. This mobility is largely motivated by increasing concentration of wealth and incomes toward the top 1 or 0.1 percent in several economies and the search for diversification of newly created wealth. Some economies that are home to the wealthy are affected by political instability, insecurity, and weak property rights, prompting them to leave. The movements of the wealthy and their assets have various consequences on both home and receiving nations, such as a reduction of tax revenues in the home country and increased property prices in the receiving nations, and are also creating the creation of a whole (legal) industry granting passports, residence, and citizenship oriented to the wealthy. This article provides an overview of these trends backed by available empirical information. Main substantive topics include a) identifying the central motivations for the international mobility of the wealthy including “pull” and “push” factors; b) similarities and differences between the migration of wealthy individuals and the mobility of their assets (offshore wealth) to low-tax jurisdictions and fiscal paradises; and c) the emergence of a “market” for passports, residence permits, and citizenship rights catering to the very wealthy.