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4 J. L. & Pol. Econ. 883 (2023-2024)
National Identity and Economic Development in Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions

handle is hein.journals/jlolwadpl4 and id is 302 raw text is: Christopher M. Bruner, University of Georgia* National Identity and Economic Development in Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions Abstract: Small jurisdictions that are globally competitive in providing cross-border financial services market-dominant small jurisdictions (MDSJs)-occupy fascinating and unique positions in global markets, reflecting the complexity of their linkages with major economies. This article explores how the distinctive features of MDSJs highlight important dimensions of the relationship between national identity and economic development. I review literatures that aim to explain how jurisdictions behave in the economic context, focusing on concepts of nationalism, national identity, and nation branding, and how such phenomena might impact one another. I then assess their application to the relationship between national identity and economic development in MDSJs, where realities of size and geography prompt substantial outward orientation and incentivize innovations in law and finance to service economic activity largely occurring elsewhere. The article culminates with a vivid case study-the role of national identity in developing, marketing, and maintaining Bermuda's outsized role in global insurance markets. Keywords: culture, economic development, globalization, national identity, nation branding, international competition, law and finance I. Introduction Small jurisdictions active in cross-border financial services have been conceptualized and labeled in various ways, most of them negative. Typically they are lumped together as parasitic tax havens offering capacity to shield economic activity in major economies from taxation, or as offshore financial centers offering secrecy that facilitates all manner of nefarious activities.' However, while financial abuses and other forms of wrongdoing surely occur in smaller jurisdictions (as they do in larger ones) (Bruner 2016, chaps. 10-11), there is ample evidence that at least some smaller jurisdictions have competed effectively in global financial markets by providing real, value-added * Christopher M. Bruner is the Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law, University of Georgia School of Law, USA. Please direct correspondence to christopher.bruner@uga.edu. For helpful comments and suggestions, thanks to Jay Butler, Tammy Richardson-Augustus, Martin Sybblis, two anonymous reviewers, and participants at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs symposium on Law, Identity, and Economic Development in the Post-Colonial Era. 1 For prominent examples, see Palan, Murphy, and Chavagneux (2010); Zucman (2015). See also Tanzi (2001) (characterizing such jurisdictions as fiscal termites undermining major economies' tax bases). For discussion of this literature, see Bruner (2016, 19-25). On the distinction between these characterizations, see Palan, Murphy, and Chavagneux (2010, 23-30) (observing that offshore financial center is the less pejorative designation, but pejorative nonetheless). 4 Journal of Law and Political Economy 883 (2024)

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