http://blog.oup.com/2007/06/africa/ Introducing brilliant authors to the blogosphere. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:43:07 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blog.oup.com/2007/06/africa/comment-page-1/#comment-14660 Nicholas Shaxson Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:47:51 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/06/africa/#comment-14660 The Bottom Billion is an interesting and important book, and Collier makes some very useful points. I would now urge him to consider in more depth this sentence of his: "The international banks remain home to corrupt African money under a veil of secrecy: if the money is linked to terrorism the banks are legally required to report it, but if it is merely looted the banks don’t ask questions." Collier, and others, ought now to research this subject in much greater detail. Norway is at the forefront of this new field of research, with advice from the former Paris-based investigating magistrate Eva Joly, as well as Raymond Baker's Global Financial Integrity in Washington and the Tax Justice Network. Specifically, related to EITI, Collier might look at this comment piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/edd9b506-0c74-11dc-a4dc-000b5df10621.html and, more generally, on the subject of illicit financial flows, he might refer to this FT editorial: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d92314d2-22b7-11dc-ac53-000b5df10621.html which, among other things, gives pointers as to why there should no longer be an artificial dividing line between western domestic concerns about democracy/poverty and the concerns of those in bottom-billion countries. It is time for an entirely new chapter to open up in the "development" debate. Taxation (and international tax avoidance and evasion in both rich and poor countries are central to the issue) must be at the heart of this. The Bottom Billion is an interesting and important book, and Collier makes some very useful points. I would now urge him to consider in more depth this sentence of his: “The international banks remain home to corrupt African money under a veil of secrecy: if the money is linked to terrorism the banks are legally required to report it, but if it is merely looted the banks don’t ask questions.” Collier, and others, ought now to research this subject in much greater detail. Norway is at the forefront of this new field of research, with advice from the former Paris-based investigating magistrate Eva Joly, as well as Raymond Baker’s Global Financial Integrity in Washington and the Tax Justice Network. Specifically, related to EITI, Collier might look at this comment piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/edd9b506-0c74-11dc-a4dc-000b5df10621.html and, more generally, on the subject of illicit financial flows, he might refer to this FT editorial: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d92314d2-22b7-11dc-ac53-000b5df10621.html which, among other things, gives pointers as to why there should no longer be an artificial dividing line between western domestic concerns about democracy/poverty and the concerns of those in bottom-billion countries. It is time for an entirely new chapter to open up in the “development” debate. Taxation (and international tax avoidance and evasion in both rich and poor countries are central to the issue) must be at the heart of this.

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