A Financial Transaction Tax

Policy Brief #9

Dr. Stephany Griffith-Jones contributed a policy paper on financial transaction taxes to Fabian Society’s recently published book, The Great Rebalancing. The paper advocates for the implementation of a financial transaction tax in the United Kingdom and discusses the benefits of such a tax in Europe. The book as a whole argues that Europe’s policies towards the global financial crisis must be reconsidered and revised in order to promote economic recovery. Dr. Griffith-Jones provides a description of an example of such a change in policy that has the potential to rebuild the economy.

About the Author

Stephany Griffith-Jones
Financial Markets Program Director
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)

Stephany Griffith-Jones is an economist specialising in international finance and development, with emphasis on reform of the international and national financial system, especially in relation to financial regulation and global governance. She is Financial Markets Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University. Previously she was Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. She was Director of International Finance at the Commonwealth Secretariat and worked at UN DESA and ECLAC. She was senior consultant to governments in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa and many international agencies, including the World Bank, the IADB, the European Commission, UNDP and UNCTAD. She was a member of the Warwick Commission on financial regulation. She currently is theme leader on finance in the ESRC /DFID growth programme for LICs, especially African ones. She has published over 20 books and many scholarly and journalistic articles. Her books include Time for the Visible Hand, Lessons from the 2008 crisis, edited jointly with José Antonio Ocampo and Joseph Stiglitz.