Replication material: 'Exit through the gift shop: The Estimated Size of Offshore Banking' (Binder, Miethe & Olk, 2025)

Offshore banking enables money creation outside of national regulation. How significant is this phenomenon? This article provides the first comprehensive estimate of Eurodollar banking, the unregulated creation of the United States’ currency under another jurisdiction’s law. Drawing on economic history and interviews with market participants, we conceptualize the Eurodollar system as comprising loans, bonds, and foreign exchange derivatives. Applying a novel measurement method to Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data, we estimate that in 2023, $11.4 trillion in loans and bonds and $75.8 trillion across all instruments constituted unregulated offshore dollars, exceeding the volume of regulated cross-border U.S. dollar instruments. Geographically, Europe – particularly the City of London – remain central to the system. Offshore banking allows privileged private actors to circumvent public rules. It underpins other offshore financial services such as tax planning or sanctions evasion. Yet the recent regulation of Eurodollar futures suggests a latent capacity for public control.

离岸银行体系可在国家监管框架之外实现货币创造。这一现象的重要性几何？本文首次对欧洲美元（Eurodollar）银行业务开展全面估算——欧洲美元银行业务指在他国司法管辖区法律框架下，不受监管地创造美元货币的活动。本文依托经济史研究与市场参与者访谈资料，将欧洲美元体系的构成界定为贷款、债券与外汇衍生品三大类别。通过将全新测算方法应用于国际清算银行（Bank for International Settlements, BIS）数据集，本文经测算得出：2023年全球不受监管的离岸美元规模中，贷款与债券类合计11.4万亿美元，全品类工具总计75.8万亿美元，远超受监管的跨境美元工具规模。从地域分布来看，欧洲——尤其是伦敦金融城——仍是该体系的核心枢纽。离岸银行体系为拥有特权的私人主体规避公共监管规则提供了路径，并支撑了税务筹划、规避制裁等其他离岸金融服务。不过，针对欧洲美元期货的近期监管举措表明，公共监管仍具备潜在的干预能力。