Virgin Capital Race, Gender, and Financialization in the Us Virgin Islands

Tami Navarro, "Virgin Capital: Race, Gender, and Financialization in the Us Virgin Islands"
English | ISBN: 1438486022 | 2022 | 254 pages | EPUB | 640 KB
Virgin Capital examines the cultural impact and historical significance of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) in the United States Virgin Islands. A tax holiday program, the EDC encourages financial services companies to relocate to these American-owned islands in exchange for an exemption from 90% of income taxes, and to stimulate the economy by hiring local workers and donating to local charitable causes. As a result of this program, the largest and poorest of these islands-St. Croix-has played host to primarily US financial firms and their white managers, leading to reinvigorated anxieties around the costs of racial capitalism and a feared return to the racial and gender order that ruled the islands during slavery. Drawing on fieldwork conducted during the boom years leading up to the 2008-2009 financial crisis,