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Finance Watch

Details: Category: News; Created: 23 May 2011

For those who want to know more on 'Finance Watch': a new body which wants to ensure that the interests of civil society are better taken into account when reforming the financial sector. Good financial services are essential and have a strong public interest dimension.

Why a greeen economy matters for the Least Developed Countries

Details: Written by Un ited Nations; Category: Documents; Created: 16 May 2011

A joint report written for the LDC-conference in Istanbul

Jeffrey Sachs really seems to be getting it now

Details: Written by Tax Justice Network; Category: Analysis; Created: 15 May 2011

Recently we wrote a blog, entitled ” Jeffrey Sachs joins the tax justice movement, sort of ,” after he wrote some superb (but incomplete) things in the Financial Times about the race to the bottom on corporate tax.

Well, now he has a new piece on Project Syndicate, to which we have already briefly linked, but which is worth expanding on. It’s entitled The Global Economy’s Corporate Crime Wave , and it’s excellent, all the way through. We are particularly excited by this section:

Civil Society disappointed about LDC Conference

Details: Category: Analysis; Created: 15 May 2011

Civil Society left the LDC (Least Developed Countries) Conference in Istanbul with a lot of disappointment.

See Social Watch comments ...

Are African lions really roaring?

Details: Written by Patrick Bond; Category: Analysis; Created: 15 May 2011

Apparently, "one in three Africans is middle class" and as a result, Africa is ready for "take off", according to African Development Bank chief economist Mthuli Ncube last week at the World Economic Forum-Africa summit in Cape Town. "Hey you know what, the world please wake up, this is a phenomenon in Africa that we've not spent a lot of time thinking about."

Tax Havens that threaten the world

Details: Written by Nicholas Shaxson; Category: Analysis; Created: 15 May 2011

This headline is translated from that of an article in the French newspaper L’Expansion which is in French, with a rough web translation here . It is commenting on a report from the French government’s Centre d’analyse stratégique (Centre for Strategic Analysis.)

The report identifies 50″Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs)” or “prudential havens” as it calls some of them, and the newspaper summarises the report by saying

“These OFCs have played a major role in the production of financial engineering for the rest of the world. Their degree of financial integration with traditional financial centres makes them decisive actors in propagating systemic risk during the crisis.”

Read more: Tax Havens that threaten the world

ITUC prepares Rio+20 Agenda

Details: Written by ITUC; Category: News; Created: 14 April 2011

The Madrid meeting of trade union leaders states that green en decent jobs, social protection and a Financial Transaction Tax must be on the Rio+20 Agenda.

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