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1201 China and the world economy -- rank: 1000

I suggest it is reasonable to suppose that a major factor propelling the US into its massive intervention to support the yen, was behind the scenes warnings from the Chinese that they are considering devaluing the renminbi. This may be the first time that the Chinese economy has become a factor in the management of global financial systems. Chris Burford London

Document Size:	4775
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Jun 18 23:55:58 PDT 1998

1202 Grit or global taxation? - Tobin -- rank: 1000

>From cburford at gn.apc.org Tue Jun 2 1998 One is for the purpose of stabilising the volatility of foreign exchanges by putting grit in the wheels. I was asked off list, why is this good? The article I have quoted from before, in the final UNCTAD Review, 1996, by Andrew Cornford, attempts a historical perspective of Tobin's original proposal. And although Cornford has to be careful not to promote global taxation too loudly because of censorship by the US Congress, it is not obvious to me t ...

Document Size:	8817
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Jun 12 12:28:09 PDT 1998

1203 Global overproduction! - Soros -- rank: 1000

George Soros who made billions speculating on the fall of the pound in 1993, is on record today lamenting the crisis of "global overproduction" - clear - and of "global inflation". I do not get the latter. What is he on about, and why? Chris Burford London.

Document Size:	4735
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Jun 12 12:21:07 PDT 1998

1204 Tobin tax CJE references -- rank: 1000

Thanks for address, Andrew. Two abstracts from the Cambridge Journal of Economics on the Tobin tax. Chris Burford _________________________________________________________________________ Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 21, Issue 6: November 1997. Commentary. Exchange rate instability and the Tobin tax JG Smith Robinson College, Cambridge, UK Professor Tobin's proposal for a tax on foreign exchange transactions is attracting renewed attention in view of its growing revenue potential and c ...

Document Size:	6000
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 8 11:09:10 PDT 1998

1205 Cambridge Journal of Economics -- rank: 1000

Does anyone know the website for this? Someone at the CSE conference on Saturday thought he had seen an article in this journal on the Tobin tax. But there is no connection from the Economics Faculty of the University of Cambridge, and OUP which publishes it, just links back to the home page. Chris Burford

Document Size:	4786
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Jun 7 16:10:51 PDT 1998

1206 CSE Conference on Europe Saturday -- rank: 1000

Are subscribers in London (and the UK?) aware that the Conference of Socialist Economists is hosting a conference tomorrow, Saturday 6th June at University of London Union. >From 10 am to 6pm. Speakers announced include Mino Carchedi. Themes include: flexploitation, unemployment, social exclusion, environment, welfare state, EMU, Fortress Europe. email details from cseoffice at gn.apc.org or M.DeAngelis at uel.ac.uk Office phone 0171-607-9615 I am copying this to the CSE office, in case it is ...

Document Size:	5283
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Jun 4 23:48:43 PDT 1998

1207 a week's postings -- rank: 1000

Doug's list came for me the moment where there had to be a qualitative change in how I read a list. Previously I have had the idea that I want at least to skim most posts to understand the position of most participants. The number of posts on this list makes that totally impossible. It was necessary to regard it a different way, as a collective lively electronic newspaper, and just go for a few titles that catch your interest. It is therefore different from a list where the subscribers slog it o ...

Document Size:	6060
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Jun 3 23:51:23 PDT 1998

1208 Tobin tax etc. -- rank: 1000

At 01:51 AM 6/2/98 -0700, Jordan wrote: >> Why with all this accelerated movement of financical assets around the >> world's computer terminals is the net result usually zero in terms of >> transfer of real assets? > >The simple answer is: it's not being done for the purpose of >transfering real assets, it's (largely) being done for the purpose >of transfering *risk* ... Yes OK. I am not going to attempt the little calculation but what this point brings to mind is t ...

Document Size:	6896
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jun 2 11:56:40 PDT 1998

1209 Tobin tax etc. -- rank: 1000

At 03:18 PM 6/1/98 -0700, Michael Perelman wrote: >The point of Feldstein-Horioka is not that capital flows are unimportant, >but that NET capital flows are small. For example, the IMF will give >Indonesia $40 billion. Suharto's net worth is about $40. So if he >manages to transfer his wealth out of the country, the net flow will be >zero. Yes I think I understood this point but I appreciate the confirmation. But to ask a fundamental question: why? Why with all this accelerated ...

Document Size:	5132
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 1 16:42:24 PDT 1998

1210 Tobin tax etc. -- rank: 1000

The Tobin Tax can get lost in technicalities, which are real, but divert from the main message, which Jessie Helms wants to censor, that it would be an easy way to raise a global tax. As a way of putting grit into the wheels of the too efficient foreign exchange markets there appear to be technical arguments that the transactions would find another route, and clever round trips may be one of them. That does not answer the objection to my mind, that the quickest way of finding out what the diffi ...

Document Size:	12181
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 1 14:07:30 PDT 1998

1211 Hong Kong's secret strength -- rank: 1000

At 02:56 PM 7/30/98 -0500, Barkley wrote: > Actually this is not on the land arrangements in HK >but on its non-devaluation. It is clear that a, if not >the, major reason HK did not devalue is that the PRC did >not want them to. The two economies are deeply linked >financially in many ways and an HK devaluation would have >put tremendous pressure on the PRC to do so. But, >listening closely to Uncle Larry Summers, the PRC had >decided not to and ordered HK to hold ...

Document Size:	6293
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Jul 30 23:18:55 PDT 1998

1212 Hong Kong's secret strength -- rank: 1000

At 01:34 PM 7/29/98 -0500, Barkley wrote: >Chris, > I would avoid making too much of the peculiar land >arrangements in Hong Kong. I certainly wouldn't attribute >any great countercyclical power to them. > One thing they do show is that the system of private >property is really a complex spectrum with a lot of >intermediate cases out there. Given the length of the land >leases involved and the very free market in them, Hong Kong >is very far in the direction ...

Document Size:	7582
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Jul 29 14:19:23 PDT 1998

1213 Blair and Jospin play footie -- rank: 1000

At 09:17 AM 7/27/98 -0400, you wrote: >Re Chris Burford's post, "Blair and Jospin play footie": This post is >too subtle for me. I do not, for instance, understand what is meant by >this statement: "A year on, it appears that Blair has both wanted to >exercise, and had some success in exercising, his Francophile >tendencies." Is this supposed to mean that Blair simply wants to be >more influential in French affairs, or that he is a closet, "more > ...

Document Size:	7056
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jul 28 23:55:19 PDT 1998

1214 Hong Kong's secret strength -- rank: 1000

Very many thanks to Michael Hoover for the fascinating information. For several years I have been wondering whether my amiable friend in the cooperative movement was eccentric or whether he had a point underneath the way he kept banging on about Hong Kong. I think these exchanges do demonstrate that Hong Kong is an anomaly in more than one way. Certainly it has had the great advantage for capitalist accumulation of large inward migration of a vast surplus army of labour. But I think the informat ...

Document Size:	7561
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jul 28 23:26:06 PDT 1998

1215 disinterested science -- rank: 1000

The British weekly magazine, New Scientist, has a sharp eyed editorial department and not too directly, but fairly often has items that are independent of corporate interest, or as in the case of their expose of western monopolization of third world gene patents, are openly critical. I suspect this is good for its circulation. Of course universities have to serve the established class, but there are contradictory undercurrents which repeatedly throw up scientists who sympathise with higher ideal ...

Document Size:	6127
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jul 28 00:07:07 PDT 1998