Tobin tax-like proposals are back on the agenda. Latest example: France and Germany managed to get the financial transaction tax (FTT) proposal de facto into the Pittsburgh Declaration of the G20. The IMF is tasked to prepare a report on instruments to make the financial industry "a fair and substantial contribution toward paying for any burdens associated with government interventions to repair the banking system". Dani Rodrik comments the new momentum.
G20 in Pittsburgh
Something happened in late August that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. A leading policymaker in the Anglo-American empire of finance actually came out in support of a Tobin tax – a global tax on financial transactions. The official in question was Adair Turner, the head of the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA), the country’s chief financial regulator. Turner, voicing his concerns about the size of the financial sector and its frequently obscene levels of compensation, said he thought a global tax on financial transactions might help curb both ... ... this article comes up in WDEV 5/Sep-Oct 2009 and is for subscribers only. For direct log in >>> click here.If you have no subscription >>> pick your option or >>>
The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax + Global Unemployment on Record Levels + New Beginning in European Development Policy? + Clean Development for the South
Global Economic Prospects for 2010 + Does Copenhagen Really Matter? + Quo Vadis, German Development Cooperation? + Mapping Social Protection in South Asia
EU Presidency outlook for development + Luxembourg: Tax haven or financial centre? + Moyos book as an opportunity + Crisis in South Asia + New LDC report
The G20's unfinished business: The potential of SDRs + Compensating poor food importers + EU strategy on aquaculture + World Bank suspends labour indicator
In December 2010 the Lisbon Treaty came into force. What difference will this make for European Union development co-operation and humanitarian assistance? Mirjam van Reisen identifies the changes in the legal framework and interprets what difference this will make for the policy in practice.
"Ideas matter, people matter" - and powerful ideas "become embedded in institutions" said two authors of the United Nations Intellectual History Project series, Sir Richard Jolly and Thomas G. Weiss, at a meeting at UNCTAD's headquarter this month arguing that the UN, despite its shortcomings, has had a massive positive influence on the world.
The 2009 State of Food and Agriculture report was delayed for several months. After the disaster of Copenhagen, one could have expected it to provide the necessary guidance to policy changes for saving the Planet from further increases of greenhouse gases emitted from livestock. But FAO's suggestions are comparable to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
There is an extraordinary strong support of civil society in Europe for the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). This reflects a general trend in public opinion. Not only many politicians - Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown, Barroso - have supported the FTT, there is - like all opinion polls show - an overwhelming majority of people in favour of stricter regulation and taxation.
The number of jobless worldwide reached nearly 212 million in 2009 following an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, on the eve of the global crisis, the International Labour Office (ILO) says in its recent annual "Global Employment Trends" report.