@article{Carbonnier:293828,
      recid = {293828},
      author = {Carbonnier, Gilles and Zweynert de Cadena, Anne},
      title = {Commodity trading and illicit financial flows},
      publisher = {The Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies},
      address = {Geneva. 2015},
      number = {BOOK},
      series = {International Development Policy = Revue international de  politique de dévelopment policy briefs / working papers},
      pages = {19 p.},
      year = {2015},
      abstract = {Commodity trading has come under increasing scrutiny as a  conduit for illicit financial flows out of resource-rich  developing countries, through trade mispricing and abusive  transfer pricing. Assessing whether, and to what extent,  commodity trading is subject to trade mispricing is of the  essence to measure this phenomenon and evaluate the impact  of corrective policies. This paper focuses on the world’s  largest commodity trading hub, Switzerland. We will examine  existing methodological approaches for estimating trade  mispricing associated with commodity trade and analyse the  data available in the case of Switzerland. Since commodity  trading primarily occurs in transit trade, meaning that the  merchandise does not physically enter Switzerland, it is it  difficult to trace transactions by Swiss-based trading  companies in trade statistics. Additionally, identifying  mispricing practices raises several methodological issues.  Previous studies have hinted at substantial illicit  financial flows from developing countries to Switzerland  related to commodity trade, with conservative estimates  ranging from $8.5 billion to $15 billion a year. We  conclude that the reliability of such estimates is weak and  that deeper insight into the actual operations of the  commodity trading business is required in order to improve  them.},
      url = {http://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/record/293828},
}