[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-112862-en":3,"doc-seo-112862-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},112862,962075114101,"Seraphina","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e000253a75eb197efd?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780044092746381165",8,"Research & Report","Illicit Financial Flows - Concepts, Measurement, and Evidence","Illicit financial flows hinder economic and human development by reflecting illegal or harmful cross-border activity such as money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal capital flight. Because these flows are hidden, reliable measurement is difficult and current global estimates carry substantial error. Recent empirical research advances three strands—measurement methods, constructed risk indicators, and forensic case-finding—while each faces important limitations. The work clarifies these approaches and outlines how the research agenda can progress despite inherent data constraints.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \n\n| Illicit Financial Flows: Concepts, Measurement, and Evidence |\n| --- |\n| Matthew Collin |\n\nThere is a growing consensus that the presence of illegal and harmful cross-border financial flows is one of the factors impeding economic and human development. In recent years, anew conceptual framework for describing these “illicit”financial flows (IFFs) has emerged that combines issues ranging from cross-border money laundering to tax evasion. This article summarizes and clarifies recent empirical work in this area. Three types of studies are considered and critiqued: (i) methods of measuring IFFs, (ii) constructed risk indicators, and (iii) forensic studies that aim to uncover instances where illicit flows have occurred. The article discusses the limitations of all three approaches and proposes ways in which the re search agenda on IFFs could be reasonably advanced, given the hidden nature of the subject.  \nJEL Codes: K42, H26  \nKeywords: illicit financial flows, tax evasion, money laundering.  \n1 Introduction  \nSeveral trillion dollars cross international borders every day (Mallaby 2016) . Much of this movement is perfectly legitimate, part of the ordinary workings of the global financial system. Yet some of the money is considered to be either illegal or harmful because of the way it was generated, transferred, or used. These international transfers have come to be known as “illicit financial flows”(IFFs), a concept which combines several—occasionally disparate—activities ranging from illegal capital flight to international money laundering to tax evasion.  \nBy their very nature, IFFs are usually hidden from sight and therefore difficult to measure. Global estimates—fraught with error—are of the order of magnitude of $1–1 . 5 trillion a year.1 While these estimates appear to have been largely stable or even decreasing over time relative to overall economic activity, international  \nThe World Bank Research Observer  \n© The Author(s) 2019 . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction and  \nDevelopment / THE WORLD BANK. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [journals.permissions@oup.com](journals.permissions@oup.com)  \n[doi: 10.1093/wbro/lkz007 35:44](doi: 10.1093/wbro/lkz007 35:44)–[86](86)  \nDownloaded from [https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article/35/1/44/5685424 by International Monetary Fund user on 23 June 2021](https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article/35/1/44/5685424 by International Monetary Fund user on 23 June 2021)  \nattention and concern around IFFs has been increasing. Multilateral initiatives, such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda around Financing for Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, have resulted in renewed fervor for raising government revenue in developing countries, a process that is seen as being threatened by the prevalence of IFFs. Connected to this is a slowly mounting effort to curb international tax evasion and excessive tax avoidance, made particularly salient by recent events such as the Mossack Fonseca leaks. Independently, the past decade and a half has seen growing concern with international money laundering and terrorist financing, leading to global initiatives to curb these practices led by institutions such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) .  \nWith the exception of work on tax evasion and crime, mainstream development economic research has largely failed to coherently engage with attempts to estimate IFFs, despite the growing attention from policymakers. This is in part due tothe amorphous nature of IFFs, both in their definition and in their measurement. Despite this, there are several reasons to believe that IFFs are particularly relevant for developing and emerging economies.  \nThe first of these is the fact that, because of poor-quality institutions and low capacity, many of these countries lack the apparatus to either detect IFFs or curb the practices","cbCaismFxDKe1HPM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaismFxDKe1HPM","pdf",1422031,1,43,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Measuring illicit financial flows\n## Constructing risk indicators\n## Forensic studies and evidence\n## Why IFFs matter for developing economies","[{\"question\":\"What are illicit financial flows and why are they harmful?\",\"answer\":\"Illicit financial flows are cross-border transfers generated, transferred, or used through illegal or harmful means. They can reduce development by undermining revenue, enabling corruption-related harm, and facilitating crimes linked to underlying illicit activities.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is it difficult to measure illicit financial flows?\",\"answer\":\"IFFs are usually hidden from view, so estimates have large errors. The concept is also amorphous in both definition and measurement, limiting the reliability of available data.\"},{\"question\":\"What three types of studies does the article review?\",\"answer\":\"The article considers and critiques (i) methods of measuring IFFs, (ii) constructed risk indicators, and (iii) forensic studies aimed at uncovering instances where illicit flows occurred.\"}]",1784497770,108,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"illicit-financial-flows-concepts-measurement-and-evidence","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/illicit-financial-flows-concepts-measurement-and-evidence/112862/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What are illicit financial flows and why are they harmful?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Illicit financial flows are cross-border transfers generated, transferred, or used through illegal or harmful means. They can reduce development by undermining revenue, enabling corruption-related harm, and facilitating crimes linked to underlying illicit activities.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why is it difficult to measure illicit financial flows?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"IFFs are usually hidden from view, so estimates have large errors. The concept is also amorphous in both definition and measurement, limiting the reliability of available data.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What three types of studies does the article review?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The article considers and critiques (i) methods of measuring IFFs, (ii) constructed risk indicators, and (iii) forensic studies aimed at uncovering instances where illicit flows occurred.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,104,109,114,119,122,127,130,134],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]