As theglobal economy continues to teeter on the edge of another downturn, the misconceptionssurrounding the nature of unrestrained market forces have become painfullyapparent. The invisible hand of capitalism, without any meaningful regulatory constraints,cannot be expected to secure continuous economic growth and increased wealthfor all.
In thiscontext, the establishment of a Financial Transactions Tax would mark animportant step in the direction of social justice. By levying a minute chargeof trading in bonds, shares, and derivative products, the FTT could raisebillions of dollars which could then be deployed to offset the austeritymeasures currently being implemented in many countries. Moreover, it would alsohelp discourage the kind of opportunistic speculation which helped cause thecrisis in the first place.
With thesefacts in mind, CESR is delighted to present the third briefing in the ???RightingFinancial Regulation??? series. This succinct document gives an overview of howthe FTT would work and the benefits it would provide. More importantly, it alsoexplains why the FTT represents a critical tool for governments if they are tocomply with their obligations under international human rights law.