New Rules for Global Finance Coalition | November 4, 2003
The New Rules for Global Finance Coalition is proud to announce the publication of a new volume of policy research. This book, the second in a series, explores the argument for and against one of the most provocative policy proposals in the international economic policy arena - the Tobin Tax. The tax proposal, named for the late Yale University professor James Tobin, imposes a small tax on transactions in foreign currency and possibly a broader array of financial instruments.
The New Rules for Global Finance Coalition organized a conference in January of this year in order to discuss the desirability and feasibility of imposing a transaction tax on foreign currency and various other financial instruments. The purpose of the conference was two-fold. One was to clarify the issues raised by the policy proposal. Another was to invite NGOs, scholars and interested individuals together in order to explore the possibility of reaching some degree of consensus on the topic. Towards this goal, New Rules organized the conference to begin with a general debate on the topic followed by several sessions that addressed key issues such as the feasibility of implementing the tax and the effectiveness of the tax in achieving the policy aims of stabilizing financial markets.
This book is a collection of the conference papers and presentations plus two Primers that are designed to help introduce people to the policy proposal and the issues that it raises. The Table of Contents of the book is included below.
We hope that you will find this a useful addition to the policy debate.
The publication will be available online on November 17 , 2003 at www.new-rules.org. If you would like a free copy of the book, please send your name, affiliation & address to jbaker@oxfamamerica.org. In order to help defer some of the costs of publication and mailing, we are requesting - but not requiring - a contribution of US$5 (the cost of mailing our policy books to developing countries is expensive and often exceeds the cost of publication). Write and we will send more details.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
James Weaver
New Rules for Global Finance
American University
2. The Economic Case for the Tobin Tax
Thomas I. Palley
Open Society Institute
3. Lessons for Tobin Tax Advocates: The Politics of
Policy and the Economics of Market Micro-structure
Randall Dodd
New Rules for Global Finance
Financial Policy Forum
4. How Can A Currency Transaction Tax Stabilize
Foreign Exchange Markets?
Bruno Jetin
Centre d'Economie de Paris Nord, France
Conseil Scientifique D'ATTAC
5. Securities Transaction Taxes and Financial Markets
Karl Habermeier and Andrei Kirilenko
International Monetary Fund
6. Currency Transactions Taxes: A Brief Assessment
of Opportunities and Limitations
Ilene Grabel
University of Denver
7. Tobin Taxes: Are They Enforceable?
Dean Baker
Center for Economic and Policy Research
8. Overcoming the Tobin Tax's Implementation
Problems: Tax Cross-Border Capital Flows, Not Currency Exchanges
Howell H. Zee
International Monetary Fund
9. Applying a Securities Transactions Tax to the US:
Design Issues, Market Impact, Revenue Estimates
Robert Pollin
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
10. Understanding the Silence Amid Turmoil:
The Tobin Tax and East Asia
Young-Chul Kim
Keimyung University, Korea
11. Where Do We Go From Here?
Jo Marie Griesgraber
New Rules for Global Finance
Oxfam America
Appendix
A. Primer on Tobin Taxes
Maureen Hinman
University of Denver
B. Primer: Transactions Taxes, or the Tobin Tax
Randall Dodd
New Rules for Global Finance
Financial Policy ForumNew Rules for Global Finance Coalition:
