Taxation has been a key tool in improving Ecuador’s Gini coefficient. Ecuador has improved how it manages tax collection and implemented domestic anti-fraud regulations and international mechanisms concerning aspects such as transfer pricing and tax havens. These measures have helped to increase the tax base, which has had a positive impact on the redistribution of wealth and equality. The increase in the tax base has also led to more social investments in health care, education, the road infrastructure, etc.
Playing with Financial Fire: A South Perspective on the International Financial System
By Andrew Cornford
Playing with Fire (PWF) is a continuation of the analysis of the integration of Emerging and Developing Economies (EDEs) into the international financial system which Yılmaz Akyüz has carried out in his roles as senior economist for many years responsible for UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report and Chief Economist at the South Centre. The treatment covers cross-border financial flows, increased commercial presence of foreign financial institutions in EDEs and their increased participation in their local financial markets as well as policy and regulatory issues. PWF deploys data on major cross-border financial flows on a gross as well as a net basis. This innovative approach facilitates identification of financial stability issues posed by the increased participation of EDEs in international financial markets.
China’s Debt Problem and Rising Systemic Risks: Impact of the global financial crisis and structural problems
The fast expansion of China’s debt, in particular corporate and local government debt, has attracted international attention and has also become a major concern of China’s policy makers. Even though China can tolerate a higher debt level than many other emerging and developing economies owing to the sheer size and other special features of the Chinese economy, systemic risks for financial stability have been rising since the global financial crisis and the cushions built in the past decades to withstand a higher debt level have also been weakened. (more…)
South Centre Statement for the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development
Below is the statement by the South Centre during the first session of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development (IGE Ffd) held in Geneva on 8-10 November 2017.
The Commodity-Finance Nexus: Twin Boom and Double Whammy
International commodity prices and capital inflows to developing countries are increasingly synchronized, subjecting commodity-dependent economies to double boom-bust cycles. (more…)
Input of the South Centre to the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development
This is a contribution by the South Centre to the first session of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development (IGE-FFD) that will take place on 8-10 November 2017. (more…)
South Centre Statement to the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 24
Below is the statement by the South Centre’s Executive Director Mr. Martin Khor which was distributed during the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Twenty-four held in Washington DC on 12 October 2017.
The Financial Crisis and the Global South: Impact and Prospects
The world economy has not still recovered from the effects of the financial crisis that began almost a decade ago first in the US and then in Europe. Policy response to the crisis, the combination of fiscal restraint and ultra-easy monetary policy, has not only failed to bring about a robust recovery but has also aggravated systemic problems in the global economy, notably inequality and chronic demand gap, on the one hand, and financial fragility, on the other. It has generated strong destabilizing spillovers to the Global South. (more…)
