Publications

Africa Could Become the World’s Next Powerhouse

 | 26 September 2013
Fiscal, Trade, Blog | Tags: Africa, Commodities, Taxes
“A winning Africa!” “Thousands of Portuguese workers emigrate to the former colony of Angola in search of work.” Headlines such as these are a perfect illustration of the Afro-optimism that has gripped the media these last few years. In an Africa courted by foreign investors, ... continue reading

Property Taxes and Sustainability

 and | 26 August 2013
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Housing, Inequality
Many economists advocate that a higher share of government revenue should derive from taxes on immovable property. Proponents of a sustainability agenda may want to follow their advice. Read an OECD economic survey for a particular country and chances are high it recommends increasing the ... continue reading

China-EU solar panel trade dispute: Rhetoric versus reality

 | 7 June 2013
Trade, Blog | Tags: Antidumping, Energy, Renewables, Subsidies
This article was first published on VoxEU.org and is republished with permission. Following a complaint lodged on 25 July 2012 by EU Pro Sun, an association representing around 20 EU-based producers of solar panels and components, the European Commission initiated an investigation into potential Chinese ... continue reading

Green Economy – Beware of Merchants of Doubt

 | 17 April 2013
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Green Growth, Subsidies
Those who oppose change involving powerful economic sectors have long ago found an effective tactic: instilling doubt in the guise of reasonable arguments. A recent manifestation of this tactic is the claim that so-called ‘green jobs’ are too expensive and in fact destroy “real” jobs. ... continue reading

Resource Scarcity, Export Restrictions and the Multilateral Trading System

 | 10 April 2013
Trade, Blog | Tags: Commodities, Protectionism, WTO
The turn of the millennium marked a shift towards higher commodity prices and greater price volatility, as a result of high demand for natural resources from emerging economies combined with export restrictions and financial speculation. A recent Chatham House report highlights that, over the past ... continue reading

The Case for an International Tax Organisation

 and | 19 March 2013
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Tax Competition, Taxes
Capital mobility entails fiscal interdependence. Since the abolition of capital controls in the 1960s and 1970s, and following the widespread abolition of withholding taxes in the wake of the first move in this direction by the Reagan administration in 1984, fiscal interdependence has turned from ... continue reading

Sense & nonsense in end of year reviews

 | 21 January 2013
Fiscal, Trade, Blog | Tags: Forecasting
The turn of every calendar year witnesses a spate of reviews by pundits in the media. For a columnist, these reviews are an attractive vehicle, ideally drawing upon events from the previous 12 months and combining them with insights into developments relating to the next ... continue reading

“What’s it for?” – Moral responsibility in an age of globalization

 | 2 December 2012
Trade, Blog | Tags: Financial Markets, G20, WTO
Several years ago, I was approached by an Indian student following a lecture I had given on globalization and the interdependence of markets through cross-border flows of goods, services, ideas, knowledge, science and people. His question was: “But what’s it for?” In the late 20th/early ... continue reading

Why a financial transaction tax is good for your pension

 | 23 October 2012
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Financial Markets, Financial Transaction Tax
Before the end of 2012, it is likely that 9 EU Member countries will invoke the “Enhanced Co-operation Procedure” and move ahead with a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), that, if it had broad coverage of financial instruments and players would raise over USD$30bn, providing a ... continue reading

Europe’s fiscal blind spot

 | 23 October 2012
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Carbon Taxes, Climate, Taxes
Smarter taxes on energy and emissions to reduce public deficits As European governments desperately try to plug public deficits, restore competitiveness, employment and growth, the tendency would seem to be towards less environmental policies. What if more environmental protection and putting a price on pollution ... continue reading

Solidarity beyond taxation

 | 13 October 2012
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Philanthropy, Wealth Taxes
„Coercion doesn’t create good will” is a wise proverb – occasionally referred to as patriarchal. With a synonym for this adjective being patronizing, it is particularly fitting for the proposal that recently hit German headlines: to bolster public finances shaken by the Euro crisis with ... continue reading

Resisting the perils of protectionism

 | 31 July 2012
Trade, Blog | Tags: G20, Protectionism, WTO
We live in highly perilous times. The resurgence of protectionism and the breakdown of the tenuous global trade peace represent some of the greatest perils. On the basis of current trends, such an outcome seems inevitable. It is simply a question of when. While alarmists ... continue reading

EU think tanks: Thinking us through the crisis?

 | 14 June 2012
Blog | Tags: Think Tanks
Policymakers should pay more attention to research institutes and think tanks should improve their ability to publicise their ideas. When the Greenlining Institute met in 2004 with Alan Greenspan to alert him about the impending subprime-mortgage crisis and urging him to press lenders for a ... continue reading

Making sense of economic policy

 | 6 June 2012
Fiscal, Blog | Tags: Austerity
The past week has seen a marked deterioration in economic sentiment. Job creation numbers in the US were lousy. More evidence of a growth slowdown in China was made public. India’s political paralysis continues. And, in Europe at present, the focus of so many fears, ... continue reading