Editing Tobin tax (section)

==Original idea and anti-globalization movement==
Tobin's more specific concept of a "[[currency transaction tax]]" from 1972 lay dormant for more than 20 years but was revived by the advent of the [[1997 Asian Financial Crisis]]. In December, 1997 [[Ignacio Ramonet]], editor of ''[[Le Monde Diplomatique]]'', renewed the debate around the Tobin tax with an editorial titled "Disarming the markets". Ramonet proposed to create an association for the introduction of this tax, which was named [[ATTAC]] (Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens). The tax then became an issue of the [[global justice movement]] or [[alter-globalization]] movement and a matter of discussion not only in academic institutions but even in streets and in parliaments in the UK, France, and around the world.

In an interview<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vita.it/news/view/3853 |title=VITA. James Tobin: «è figlia del suo tempo» (20/07/2001) &#124; Vita.it |website=www.vita.it |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003130519/http://www.vita.it/news/view/3853 |archive-date=3 October 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> given to the Italian independent radio network [[Radio Popolare]] in July 2001 James Tobin distanced himself from the [[global justice movement]]. «''There are agencies and groups in Europe that have used the Tobin Tax as an issue of broader campaigns, for reasons that go far beyond my proposal. My proposal was made into a sort of milestone for an antiglobalization program''». James Tobin's interview with [[Radio Popolare]] was quoted by the Italian foreign minister at the time, former director-general of the [[World Trade Organization]] [[Renato Ruggiero]], during a Parliamentary debate on the eve of the G8 2001 summit in Genoa. Afterwards James Tobin distanced himself from the [[global justice movement]].<ref name="eumed1" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4373095,00.html|title=James Tobin|last=Hodgson|first=Godfrey|date=13 March 2002|work=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref>

Tobin observed that, while his original proposal had only the goal of "putting a brake on the foreign exchange trafficking", the antiglobalization movement had stressed "the income from the taxes with which they want to finance their projects to improve the world". He declared himself not contrary to this use of the tax's income, but stressed that it was not the important aspect of the tax.

ATTAC and other organizations have recognized that while they still consider Tobin's original aim as paramount, they think the tax could produce funds for development needs in the South (such as the [[Millennium Development Goals]]),<ref name="Spratt" /> and allow governments, and therefore citizens, to reclaim part of the democratic space conceded to the financial markets.

In March, 2002, [[London School of Economics]] Professor Willem Buiter, who studied under James Tobin, wrote an obituary for the man,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nber.org/~wbuiter/obit.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612012005/http://www.nber.org/~wbuiter/obit.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-12 |url-status=live }}</ref> but also remarked that, "This [Tobin Tax] ... was in recent years adopted by some of the most determined enemies of trade liberalisation, globalisation and the open society."  Buiter added, "The proposal to use the Tobin tax as a means of raising revenues for development assistance was rejected by Tobin, and he forcefully repudiated the anti-globalisation mantra of the Seattle crowd." In September 2009, Buiter also wrote in the ''[[Financial Times]]'', "Tobin was a genius ... but the Tobin tax was probably his one daft idea".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/76e13a4e-9725-11de-83c5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1|title=Forget Tobin tax: there is a better way to curb finance|last=Buiter|first=Willem|date=1 September 2009|newspaper=Financial Times|access-date=3 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109173006/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/76e13a4e-9725-11de-83c5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1|archive-date=9 January 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

In those same "years" that Buiter spoke of, the Tobin tax was also "adopted" or supported in varying degrees by the people who were not, as he put it, "enemies of trade liberalisation."  Among them were [[#From 1990 to 1999|several supporters from 1990 to 1999, including Larry Summers]] and [[#From 2000 to 2004|several from 2000 to 2004, including lukewarm support from George Soros]].