Financial Transaction Tax: a human rights imperative
- Details
- Written by Center of Concern
- Category: Analysis
"The human rights movement faces an unprecedented opportunity for revisiting and revitalizing the struggle for economic and social rights by demanding accountability for failures to protect human rights through economic policy. The establishment of a Financial Transaction Tax would be an important step in that human rights direction," argues in its third publication the initiative “A bottom up approach to righting financial regulation”, a consortium of civil society networks and organizations, including Social Watch and some of its members.
Read more: Financial Transaction Tax: a human rights imperative
Putting the Gini back in the bottle
- Details
- Written by Paul Krugman
- Category: Analysis
Can policy make a difference to inequality? In particular, can governments reduce inequality without killing the economy? As part of class prep, I’ve been looking at a story that has received very little discussion here, as far as I can tell, but is very interesting, to say the least: the remarkable decline in inequality that has taken place in Latin America.
Development aid falling because of recession
- Details
- Written by OECD
- Category: Analysis
Major donors’ aid to developing countries fell by nearly 3% in 2011, breaking a long trend of annual increases. Disregarding years of exceptional debt relief, this was the first drop since 1997. Continuing tight budgets in OECD countries will put pressure on aid levels in coming years.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría encouraged donors to meet their commitments, “The fall of ODA is a source of great concern, coming at a time when developing countries have been hit by the knock-on effect of the crisis and need it most. Aid is only a fraction of total flows to low income countries, but these hard economic times also mean lower investment and lower exports. I commend the countries that are keeping their commitments in spite of tough fiscal consolidation plans. They show that the crisis should not be used as an excuse to reduce development cooperation contributions.”
The EU and tax havens
- Details
- Written by Marriage
- Category: Documents
(From Global Financial Integrity)
With the one trillion Euro the EU governments lose each year to tax dodging much is at stake. The prospect of a debt ridden jobless future has the EU asking questions. DG TAXUD the tax arm of the EU civil service will prepare a communication by December on the broad topic of tax havens and unfair tax competition.
Microinsurance expanding
- Details
- Written by ILO
- Category: Analysis
The number of microinsurance schemes worldwide has increased substantially over the past five years and now reaches an estimated 500 million worldwide, according to the Microinsurance Innovation Facility of the International Labour Organization and the Munich Re Foundation. Microinsurance aims to protect poor people against risks - such as accidents, illnesses, death in the family, natural disasters and property losses - in exchange for insurance premium payments tailored to their preferences and capacity to pay.
New World Bank President?
- Details
- Written by Bretton Woods Project
- Category: Analysis
An unprecedented competition for the Bank presidency, with two experienced developing country candidates nominated in addition to the US candidate, has raised demands for reform of the Bank's approach to middle-income countries, human rights, environmental issues and the private sector, among others.
On 23 March the Bank board closed nominations for the successor to Robert Zoellick, who had announced his intention to stand down at the end of his first term in June. Three candidates were put forward: the US government nominated Dartmouth College president and American national Jim Yong Kim; South Africa, Nigeria and Angola nominated Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and Brazil nominated former Colombian finance minister José Antonio Ocampo. Although American professor Jeffrey Sachs, from Columbia University in the US, had publicly campaigned for the job, he withdrew when Kim was nominated.
The Battle over Development-Led Globalisation
- Details
- Written by Ravi Kanth Deverakonda
- Category: Analysis
(From IPS Terraviva)
Industrialised countries have mounted an unprecedented campaign to stop the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from providing policy advice to the poorest countries in Africa and across the globe.
As UNCTAD attempts to secure a new mandate at its ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, from Apr. 21 to 26, industrialised countries have voiced their unhappiness with the agency’s policy advice to developing nations.
The Link between Tax and Development is Scrutinized by the UK Parliament
- Details
- Written by Maria José Romero
- Category: Analysis
(from Global Financial Integrity)
Latindadd and other civil society organisations recently sent their contributions to the UK parliamentary inquiry into tax in developing countries. In its call, the International Development Committee of the UK parliament highlighted that “developing countries lose an estimated $ 160 billion each year through tax avoidance by multinational companies (including those based in the UK)” and the important role of the extractive industries, “where payments to governments are often not disclosed and may not contribute to development or poverty reduction.”
The Committee used Zambia as a case study due to its aid dependence (18% of the Government’s budget), high poverty levels (64% of the Zambian population live below the poverty line) and the large mining sector.
Read more: The Link between Tax and Development is Scrutinized by the UK Parliament
Social Protection Floor: beyond poverty reduction?
- Details
- Category: Analysis
Since 2000 two parallel global strategies for poverty reduction are being followed. On the one hand, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) changed in 1999 its ‘Enhanced Facility for Structural Adjustment’ into a ‘Facility for Growth and Poverty Reduction’ (FGPR) and asks poor countries to introduce a ‘PRSP’ (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) in order to receive concessional funds and debt relief. On the other hand, the UN (United Nations) Millennium Summit adopted a Declaration from which were taken –afterwards – eight so-called ‘MDGs’ (Millennium Development Goals) which became the guidelines for development cooperation.
Read more: Social Protection Floor: beyond poverty reduction?
World Happiness Report
- Details
- Written by Earth Institute
- Category: Analysis
http://bit.ly/H7LRqG for the full report
“……it is not just wealth that makes people happy: Political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption are together more important than income in explaining well-being differences between the top and bottom countries. At the individual level, good mental and physical health, someone to count on, job security and stable families are crucial.
Lobbying to kill off Robin Hood
- Details
- Written by Corporate Europe
- Category: Analysis
