UN draft outcome document on economic crisis

The United Nations has published its draft outcome document of the UN Conference on the Financial Crisis from 1-3 June. Its purpose was to take a broader perspective than the G20 meeting, bringing in a panel of global experts to advise on the big picture. The resulting group chaired by Joseph Stiglitz produced a report that adopted a number of recommendations submitted by TJN. The key paragraph is:

"Well regulated economies have to be protected from competition from economies with inadequate or inappropriate regulatory systems. The problems of regulatory arbitrage and tax evasion are closely linked. Tax havens and financial centers in both developed and developing countries that fail to meet basic standards of transparency, information exchange and regulation should be given strong incentives to reform their practices, e.g. by restricting transactions between financial institutions in those jurisdictions and those in more highly regulated countries. Institutional arrangements for improving harmonisation and transparency should be strengthened, including the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters as proposed in Paragraph 16 of the Doha Declaration. Also other international arrangements and conventions such as United Nations Convention against Corruption should also be strengthened. All of these provisions should equally apply to developed and developing country financial centers and no measures should apply to the latter that are not equally applied to major centers. The right of developing countries to participate in the financial services industry must be protected."

which contains much that we welcome. Note, too, that they also made this proposal, with our proposal highlighted in bold:

79. In summary, the new entities proposed are the following:
Global Stimulus Fund
Global Public Goods Authorities (Sea, Space, Cyberspace)
Global Tax Authority
Global Financial Products Safety Commission
Global Financial Regulatory Authority
Global Competition Authority
Global Council of Financial and Economic Advisors
Global Economic Coordination Council

In short, these are welcome advances, though we would have welcomed further progress.