Whistleblowers are not only helping to disclose immoral or criminal acts but also to deter offenders. Niels Johannesen, an economics professor from the University of Copenhagen and Tim Stolper, a former research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance found clear evidence for this deterrence effect, using the example of data leaks surrounding banking services in tax havens. The economists discovered that following the appearance of the first data leak, which originated from LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, also Swiss banks engaged in cross-border tax evasion suffered significant drops in their share prices. At the same time, bank deposits in tax havens fell by more than ten percent compared to deposits in non-haven countries.
