Shedding Light on Money Laundering and on the Financial Flows of Transnational Crime : Some Empirical Facts

This paper has three goals. First, some theoretical remarks about money laundering (both the demand and supply sides) are made. Second, we provide a quantitative analysis of money laundering and a preliminary review of our empirical findings on the proceeds of transnational crime worldwide, as well as a breakdown of the different types of crime proceeds. Third, we review literature on anti-money laundering and make policy conclusions. One conclusion of our contribution is that we provide knowledge about money laundering and the size of financial flows of transnational crime, which could be the basis for a more effective fight against transnational crime organizations