In 1971, after the demise of the international monetary system, the so-called Bretton Woods system that ensured semi-fixed exchange rates thanks to capital controls, James Tobin conceived his now famous “Tobin tax”. Since then, some supporters of his original proposal have introduced some...

We argue that a transaction tax is likely to amplify, not dampen, volatility in the foreign exchange markets. Our argument stems from the decentralised trading practice and the presumable discrepancy between 'informed' and 'uninformed' traders' valuations. Since informed traders' valuations are...

We present a stock market model that quantitatively replicates the joint behavior of stock prices, trading volume and investor expectations. Stock prices in the model occasionally display belief-driven boom and bust cycles that delink asset prices from fundamentals and redistribute considerable...

We investigate the effects of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in an order-driven artificial financial market. FTTs are meant to limit short-term speculative behavior by reducing the amount of excess liquidity in the system. To quantify these effects, adjustments in trading strategies and their...

The case for taxing financial transactions merely to raise more revenues from the financial sector is not particularly strong. Better alternatives to tax the financial sector are likely to be available. However, a tax on financial transactions could be justified in order to limit socially...