Exposing the lost billions
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- Written by Oygunn Sundsbo Brynildse/Third World Network
- Category: Analysis
IN early December the coffee-shop chain Starbucks was all over the international media headlines. Citizens' movements in the UK found it unfair that their local coffee shop had to pay taxes while multinational Starbucks got away without any tax contributions. Following public campaigning, Starbucks agreed to pay 'a significant amount of tax' over the next two years.1
This case is a telling example of how rich corporations, with the help of good lawyers, accountants and complex company structures, can shift their profits to countries in which taxes are low or absent. Google and Amazon are other giant companies whose tax-dodging practices have made it to the headlines.
What is less covered by international media and public debate are the billions of dollars illicitly flowing from developing countries to the Global North every year. These lost billions are the result of the same tax-dodging mechanisms. It is paradoxical that while many European countries are struggling with tight budgets and cuts in essential services, the European Union is not showing enough political will to put in place regulations that would help uncover tax dodging and make companies pay their fair share of taxes in the countries where they operate - be it in Europe or in developing countries.
The impact of health insurance for the informal sector
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- Written by Arnab Acharya et al.
- Category: Analysis
vailable online at: http://bit.ly/14p2f22
“……This paper summarizes the literature on the impact of state subsidized or social health insurance schemes that have been offered, mostly on a voluntary basis, to the informal sector in low- and middle-income countries. A substantial number of papers provide estimations of average treatment on the treated effect for insured persons.
Water-controlled Wealth of Nations
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- Written by S. Suweis et al.
- Category: Analysis
“……….Population growth is in general constrained by food production, which in turn depends on the access to water resources. At a country level, some populations use more water than they control because of their ability to import food and the virtual water required for its production. Here, we investigate the dependence of demographic growth on available water resources for exporting and importing nations.
By quantifying the carrying capacity of nations on the basis of calculations of the virtual water available through the food trade network, we point to the existence of a global water unbalance.
We suggest that current export rates will not be maintained and consequently we question the long-term sustainability of the food trade system as a whole. Water-rich regions are likely to soon reduce the amount of virtual water they export, thus leaving import-dependent regions without enough water to sustain their populations."
Does the Richness of the Few Benefit us all?
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- Written by Zygmunt Bauman
- Category: Analysis
The global Gender Gap Index 2012
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- Written by Ricardo Hausmann et al.
- Category: Documents
“…….The Global Gender Gap Index is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress.
The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time.
Global Employment Trends 2013
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- Written by ILO
- Category: Documents
The year 2011 saw a tapering off of the recovery, followed by a dip in both economic growth and employment
growth in 2012. Unemployment increased by a further 4 million over the course of 2012.
The report examines the crisis in labour markets of both advanced economies and developing economies. The epicentre
of the crisis has been the advanced economies, accounting for half of the total increase in unemployment of 28 million
since the onset of the crisis. But the pronounced double dip in the advanced economies has had significant spillovers into
the labour markets of developing economies as well. A quarter of the increase of 4 million in global unemployment in
2012 has been in the advanced economies, while three quarters has been in other regions, with marked effects in East
Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
A hidden property empire grown with Mussolini's millions
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- Written by David Leigh et al.
- Category: Analysis
With money from the dictator for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929, the Vatican used tax havens to create a £500m international portfolio
Few passing London tourists would ever guess that the premises of Bulgari, the upmarket jewellers in New Bond Street, had anything to do with the pope. Nor the nearby headquarters of the wealthy investment bank Altium Capital, on the corner of St James’s Square and Pall Mall.
But these office blocks in one of London’s most expensive districts are part of a surprising secret commercial property empire owned by the Vatican.
Read more: A hidden property empire grown with Mussolini's millions
Financial Transaction Tax in the EU
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- Category: News
Implementation of Financial Transaction Tax approved by EU Finance Ministers
The cost of inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all
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- Written by Oxfam
- Category: Analysis
A new Oxfam report: the world must urgently set goals to tackle extreme inequality and extreme wealth...
Well-being, Happiness and Public Policy
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- Written by Sabine Alkire
- Category: Analysis
This Background Paper for the International Expert Working Group (IEWG) for a New Development Paradigm outlines the concept of well-being, flourishing, and happiness for all, which forms the objective of a new development paradigm.
It seeks to synthesise for busy readers how the Expert Working Group IEWG might explain and defend well-being and happiness, and also what value-added this work has in policy terms. The paper draws upon philosophical traditions to propose how the Gross National Happiness index GNH concept of having nine domains of well-being can be shared in an international context.
Cash and Corruption in God's City
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- Written by Ann Hollingshead
- Category: Analysis
(From Global Financial Integrity)
The day before I left for my trip to Germany last month, I was warned to bring plenty of money in cash. You see, the country has transitioned to chip-and-PIN cards, which use embedded microprocessor chips for financial transactions instead of traditional magnetic stripes. The problem is that this means it’s becoming increasingly difficult for oblivious American travelers (myself included) to use their credit cards. Hence the cash. Although I could have circumvented this problem with a little foreknowledge and a call to my bank, I found this problem to be particularly irritating. After all, in this century, who carries around cash?
It is precisely this pesky problem—carrying around cash—that travelers to the Vatican are now stomaching. And in this case there aren’t any easy answers for the savvy; museums and businesses in the Holy See are declining credit and debit cards following concerns of inadequate money laundering controls. If using cash instead of electronic payments to avoid money laundering seems a bit backward to you, that’s because it is.
