#panama papers

Panama: A Financial History — From the Canal Zone to the Logistics Hub and the Tax Haven Reckoning

This article explores Panama's macroeconomic history from the Spanish colonial treasure routes to the modern canal expansion. It details the geopolitical engineering of the canal, the historic 1904 currency agreement that established dollarization, and the rapid post-war growth of the Colon Free Zone and the International Banking Center. Finally, it analyzes the 1989 crisis and the modern tax haven reforms sparked by the Panama Papers.