Because of the "Tobin Tax", Professor James Tobin has involuntary become the spearhead of numerous anti-mondialist organizations. A tax synonymous of "compulsory charity" from "rich" (countries) (executing several billions of financial transactions) to "poor" (countries) (victims of the "law of the strongest"). The principle is a systematical taxation of all financial transactions. A simple and ethical principle? It is not that obvious...

Numerous scientifical voices clearly explain why this kind of project is not applicable. First of all, such a principle implies an unanimous understanding between countries all over the world; if not, some new "Fiscal Eden" can appears. Next, who can prevent a government to increase the tax rate as high as it wants, even if this destabilizes all exchanges? James Tobin himself explains that some organizations have highjacked his name and his scientifical production to try to defend their ideals.

Definition / Biography

Tobin Tax on wikipedia.org

The Tobin Tax - Coping with Financial Volatility - Prologue by James Tobin, 1996 (pdf)

James Tobin - Autobiography on nobelprize.org

James Tobin Biography by OECD Observer, June 2002

Major Works of James Tobin by cepa.newschool.edu

"Missing James Tobin" by Paul Krugman, New York Times, 2002-12-03

"Economics Professor and Nobel Laureate James Tobin Dies at 84" by Yale Herald, 2002-03-11

Fiscal Analyse

"The antiglobalisation movement has highjacked my name" by James Tobin, 2001-09-03

"Time for a Tobin Tax?" by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, April 1999

"Why a Two-Tier Tobin Tax Won't Work" by Janet G. Stotsky, IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, June 1996 (pdf)

"The Tobin Tax or: On the impossibility to measure foreign exchange turnover" by Beate Reszat, 2002, HWWA Hamburg

"The Tobin Tax is no substitute for a world currency" by Guido Montani, Federal Union, March 2001

"The "Tobin Tax" - A Business Viewpoint", Corporate Economists Advisory Group, December 2001

"Tobin tax would snarl international trade and investment" by the  International Chamber of Commerce, 2001-12-20

"Hopes in tobin Tax is "misplaced"" by Martin Wolf, Financial Times, 20th March 2002

"Have you heard of the Tobin tax?" by Bruce Bartlett, townhall.com, 5th September 2001

"Embarrased proponent of an international tax" by Godfrey Hodgson, Guardian, 13th March 2002

"Nobody Believes In The Tobin Tax, Not Even Prof. Tobin" by Jeremy Hetherington-Gore, tax-news.com, 30th August 2001

Debates

"Workable Tobin Tax" by Matti Kohonen, OECD Observer, n°233, August 2002 versus "Tobin tax: could it work?" by Helmut Reisen, OECD Observer, n°231/232, May 2002

"Countering Volability in International Financial Markets: The Tobin Tax is not the Answer" (pdf) by the European Banking Federation, April 2001 versus An answer (pdf) by Heikki Patomaki, Network Institute for Global Democratisation, April 2001

"The Tobin Tax: Regulatory Tool for the World's Capital Markets?": two opposing views from Kunibert Raffer and Fritz Zurbrugg

Proposals

"The Tobin Tax and Exchange Rate Stability" by Paul Bernd Spahn (Professor & Consultant to the IMF's Fiscal Affairs)

"The Feasibility of an International "Tobin Tax"", by Ben Patterson & Mickal Galliano, European Parliament, March 1999

"Policy Proposals for Tobin Tax Implementation" by Ruthanne Cecil, Tobin Tax Initiative

References

Debating The Tobin Tax, New Rules for Global Finance, by James Weaver, Randall Dodd, & Jamie Baker (eds.), New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, November 2003 (pdf - whole book here, but Copyright of Papers Belong to the Authors)

"Some Evidence that a Tobin Tax on Foreign Exchange Transactions May Increase Volatility" by Robert Z. Aliber, Bhagwan Chowdhry, & Shu Yan, European Finance Review, 7: 481-510, 2003 (format pdf).

Websites

Tobin Tax Initiative: questions, bibliography and campaigns about Tobin Tax

Canadian Social Research Links: The Tobin Tax Links Page