Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15291
Authors: Guillaume Vuillemey
Abstract: I show that the maritime shipping industry - handling above 80% of global trade flows - has evolved over the past decades to systematically evade "corporate responsibilities," i.e., compliance with regulatory standards and potential tort liabilities. Shipping firms increasingly dissociated legal and ultimate ownership, fragmented assets in one-ship subsidiaries, used flags of convenience, and evaded end-of-life responsibilities with "last-voyage flags." Microeconomic tests confirm that responsibility evasion, amidst global competition, is a dominant motive behind these patterns. These findings have implications for our understanding of corporate social responsibility, of extended forms of liability, and of the "dark side" of globalization.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Shipping; Flags of Convenience; Limited Liability; Subsidiary; Globalization
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| dissociation of legal and ultimate ownership (G39) | liability evasion (K13) |
| greater ownership (G32) | dissociation of legal and ultimate ownership (G39) |
| potential cost of damages (K13) | dissociation of legal and ultimate ownership (G39) |
| low freight rates (L91) | adoption of flags of convenience (F23) |
| last-voyage flags (Y91) | evasion of responsibilities associated with dismantling of ships (F18) |