Re: Davidson's posted paper; Tobin tax and variance issue

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Greg Nowell wrote:

>However, the fact that there IS price volatility in the
>real estate market might be an argument to the effect
>that even a high Tobin tax does not control
>volatility.

It's not just price volatility that Tobin taxers want to reduce, it's both
the level and volatility of trading volume. I think it's very hard to argue
that a small tax on transactions wouldn't reduce the volume of short-term
speculation. Whether that would have beneficial economic effects or not is
another question, of course.

But those folks who trade $1.4 trillion a day on the New York bank wire
aren't battling the dark forces of time & ignorance, are they?

Doug