In Edition 86 of the February 2019 Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast/radio show, the Taxcast (available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and other podcast platforms): why hasn't the European Commission investigated any of the secret tax deals that were exposed by the LuxLeaks whistleblowers … [Read more...]
Finance Curse
How Brexit may deepen the Finance Curse
The evidence is now incontrovertible that finance-dependent countries like Britain are suffering from a bad case of the finance curse. The simplest proposition here is that countries with little financial sector development need more finance, but only up to a certain optimal point, after which … [Read more...]
Financial crime is a feature of our global financial system, not a bug: pioneering economist Susan Strange
We're sharing, with kind permission, the following article written by journalist Nat Dyer for independent global media platform Open Democracy. The global financial crime wave is no accident Financial crime is a feature of our global financial system not a bug, pioneering economist Susan Strange … [Read more...]
The Finance Curse and the £4.5 trillion hit to the UK economy
The Finance Curse, a concept first developed by John Christensen and Nicholas Shaxson for TJN, is now the subject of a Long Read article in The Guardian. The article mentions a new study by Andrew Baker of the University of Sheffield, Gerald Epstein of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and … [Read more...]
Leaving Jersey – an island cursed by finance
The Tax Justice Network was set up in 2003, after three Jerseyfolk, Pat Lucas, Jean Andersson and Frank Norman, traveled to London to see John Christensen, the island's former economic adviser. Christensen had left the island in 1998, appalled at the corruption and malfeasance he had encountered … [Read more...]
Is Germany’s finance minister the puppet of Big Finance?
Update, Feb 22, 2019: German Finance Minister Scholz blocks tax transparency. The Financial Times is carrying an article this week titled "Berlin falls in love with big banks" in which it quotes Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre-left finance minister, Olaf Scholz, as having started a … [Read more...]
Bermuda: inequality and poverty in UK Overseas Territory
We're very pleased to share this important report on the British Overseas territory of Bermuda, written by Bermudian economist Robert Stubbs, formerly Head of Research for Bank of Bermuda. There are more details on him and his work at the end of this fascinating and timely report. which we reproduce … [Read more...]
HSBC: Gangsters of Finance: new film
We are pleased to recommend the newly released film HSBC: Gangsters of Finance, produced by ARTE TV in German, French, English and Spanish. They describe the film as follows: Since the 2008 crisis, HSBC has been involved in countless scandals: Money laundering for drug cartels, corruption, tax … [Read more...]
The Finance Curse research agenda: what we learned
This blog was first published on 27th November 2017 on the SPERI political economy blog. We have republished it with the kind permission of the author, Andrew Baker, Faculty Professorial Fellow, SPERI who discusses the key points from the recent workshop with the Tax Justice Network: Earlier … [Read more...]
Podcast: A New Vision for the British Economy, a Taxcast Extra
According to the Institute for Public Policy Research’s Commission on Economic Justice report called Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy, we need a "fundamental reform of the British economy on a scale comparable with the Atlee reforms of the 1940s and the Thatcher revolution of … [Read more...]
Tax Justice video: How can we avoid another crisis? Expert panel discussion
In this video we hear fascinating presentations and discussion from an expert panel on how another global financial crisis can be avoided, ten years after the first. They focus on the UK, not only on the financial sector itself and the finance curse, but also on the role of the wider financial … [Read more...]
The Spider’s Web film wins ARFF Global Award
We're delighted that Michael Oswald's documentary film The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire has won the monthly Global Award from the Berlin Around International Film Festival (ARFF). The Spider's Web, which was co-produced by TJN's John Christensen, draws inspiration from Nicholas Shaxson's … [Read more...]
#10yearsafter the crash: anniversary today
We've blogged recently about the series of events marking the tenth anniversary of the financial crash which will focus on what we've learnt (and not learnt) and how we can reform our economies. We share below a press release from Promoting Economic Pluralism which is coordinating a programme of … [Read more...]
10 Years after the Crash: building a reform agenda
In November 2008, the Queen apparently asked economists on a visit to the London School of Economics, ‘Why did no-one see it coming?’ Well, we're approaching the ten year anniversary of the financial crash which wiped out Lehman Brothers, saw the first run on a UK bank (Northern Rock) in 150 years, … [Read more...]
What is the City of London’s Finance Curse?
We recently blogged on how the Finance Curse is expected to tighten its grip on the British economy in the coming five years. In this short video, TJN's John Christensen, who coined the term with author Nicholas Shaxson and worked in offshore finance for many years, explains what the Finance Curse … [Read more...]
