It's raining passports! The economics of citizenship investment programmes

Abstract

Small economies and particularly islands are often accused of finding creative means of sourcing income, at times bordering on legal yet dubious and debatable schemes. The most recent that has come under attack is the selling of citizenship or residency, with accusations of money laundering and tax evasion routes. Since such schemes attract the richer crust of society, the expectations are that such individuals have ulterior motives for requiring another country to reside in or be a citizen of. Can such schemes be viewed solely from such a negative perspective? Do they only entice persons with bad intentions or do such programmes also help in the economic development of these small countries? This paper looks at the schemes which are presently in place worldwide and then focuses on the recent scheme adopted by Malta. This programme has been met with significant resistance by the European Union, however, it needs to be acknowledged that other EU member states have similar citizenship/residency programmes. What role is the programme maintaining in the economic development of Malta? How successful has it been and what are the expectations for its future continuing process? ; peer-reviewed