Using data on Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), we find a positive relationship between higher tax burden and OECD residents' tax evasion, especially via tax havens. Contrary to established investor preference for certain country characteristics, we find they are less important to tax evaders who value privacy and want to remain undetected by their home tax authorities. We find very limited evidence that OECD Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAS) reduce tax evasion, controlling for other determinants of overall OECD FPI. Without the US in the OECD sample, tax havens play a lesser role and OECD policies appear to make a marginal impact.Keywords: tax haven, tax evasion, foreign portfolio investment, tax information exchange agreements, OECD JEL classification: F38, G38, H26We thank John Doukas and an anonymous referee for very helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft.

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Aluminium is one of the trace inorganic metals present in drinking water. High aluminium concentrations (3.6 to 6 mg/ℓ) may precipitate as aluminium hydroxide affecting aquatic life. Aluminium is also a suspected agent of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia. The present investigation aims at the sorption of aluminium from drinking water using a low-cost adsorbent. Rice husk char and activated rice husk char were prepared and characterised for various physicochemical properties. The performance of rice husk char (RHC) was compared with other low-cost adsorbents for their aluminium removal capacity. The effect of pH, initial concentration, contact time and temperature was studied for adsorption of aluminium from water under batch conditions. The maximum adsorption capacity was observed with rice husk char at an optimal pH of 4.2. The adsorption of aluminium follows the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The rate of aluminium adsorption was successfully described by a first-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic study revealed that aluminium adsorption is an exothermic process and the adsorption decreases with an increase in temperature. Nomenclature bLangmuir constant (ℓ/mg) C e Equilibrium aluminium concentration in solution (mg/ℓ) Ct Aluminium concentration in solution at time t (mg/ℓ) ΔG o Gibb's free energy (kJ/mol) ΔH o Enthalpy change (kJ/mol) K Freundlich constant (mg 1-1/n /g ℓ 1/n ) k 1 First-order rate constant (per hour) k 2 Pseudo second-order rate constant (g/mg·h) n Freundlich constant (dimensionless) Q Langmuir constant (mg/g) q e Amount of solute uptake per unit mass of adsorbent at equilibrium (mg/g) R Gas constant (J/mol·K) ΔS o Entropy change (J/mol·K) T Temperature (K) t Time (h)

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