Nobel prize winner and the Tobin tax

Uh oh. For those of you horrified at proposals for a Tobin tax (a tax on all foreign currency transactions) but thought the argument was lost before it begun – think again.
Today it emerges that none other than Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has given his view that a Tobin tax is ‘feasible’ because of advances in Technology.
James Tobin, also a Nobel prize winner, first proposed the tax for Richard Nixon’s regime in the US in the early 70s.
The idea received fresh interest just recently when Financial Services Authority chief Lord Turner said it might be worth looking at again.
Since Turner’s intervention the idea has been thoroughly rubbished mostly on the grounds that it was impractical.
Stiglitz, however, says not. And with IMF interest growing in some form of levy to raise funds for dealing with financial disaster it doesn’t look like Tobin’s idea is going away. After all, despite their failings, economists have discovered a new found respect and interest at the moment. Their currency is rising. Unlike others I could mention.