War on Want have mailed me back and pointed out that one of the ATTAC links is to the following site hosted by the CEPR.
Listers may wish to browse through the names of those who have signed up to the following statement.
While it may be fair comment to note the general tendency or political direction of the signatories, and while appropriate criticism may be in order, I am not forwarding this to imply that any one of them is free from errors in their political perspective. I hope criticisms will focus on general characterisation rather than on personal discrediting, which might rebound on this list in turn.
And obviously I would expect most of the signatories to be progressive.
I hope at least some other members of this list would give serious consideration to supporting the following statement.
Chris Burford
London
________________
Center for Economic and Policy Research (Washington) was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people’s lives. We work to ensure that the citizenry has the information and analysis that allows it to act effectively in the public interest. CEPR is one of the founders of the Tobin Network USA.
http://www.cepr.net
Economists' Appeal
The last two years have seen the rapid growth of an international movement in support of tax on excessive speculation in currency and other financial markets.
This movement has prompted resolutions in support of such taxes in dozens of cities across the world, including more than fifty in France and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Many labor unions throughout the world have also called for such taxes, including the AFL-CIO in the United States. Legislation in support of such taxes has been introduced in the French Parliament, the European Parliament, the U.S. Congress, and was approved in 1999 by the Canadian Parliament. In this context, we are issuing the following statement:
Properly functioning financial markets can play an important positive role in modern economies. They provide credit for socially beneficial projects, and also make it possible for investors to convert expensive investments in new productive assets into cash, when the need should arise.
At the same time, highly speculative financial markets can be extremely damaging to a society. They can destabilize the financial markets themselves, and also transmit these destabilizing forces throughout the broader economy. As speculative financial markets expand, they also reduce the ability of governments to implement effective counter measures and to pursue independent policy initiatives to achieve and sustain full employment. The high costs of excessively speculative financial markets have been felt throughout the world in recent years.
Taxes on speculative financial activity, such as the so-called "Tobin tax" on currency transactions, make speculation more costly, and therefore reduce the volume of speculation. This can contribute toward making financial markets more stable. The historical record of financial transactions taxes, as well as long-standing evidence on the success of other forms of financial regulation, indicates that taxes on financial speculation can be successfully implemented. In addition, such taxes provide an opportunity to raise a significant amount of revenue, which can be used to meet important social needs.
For these reasons, we support the growing international movement attempting to put carefully designed anti-speculation taxes into law.
Sign this appeal
Please send an electronic mail to :
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=PLEASE
First Name and LAST NAME : .............
Title: ..............
Position: .............
Country: ............
The following 332 persons have already signed it:
http://www.attac.org/fra/asso/doc/doc18en.htm
Sign this appeal too?
http://www.attac.org/fra/asso/doc/doc18en.htm#Sign
