STWR - Share The World's Resources

Austerity measures are bad economics, bad arithmetic, and ignore the lessons of history. But there are alternatives – for Britain, Europe and all countries that currently imagine that government cutbacks are the only way out of debt. A book by Oxfam.

The financial crisis is likely to reinforce a shift in the prevailing model of capitalism in developing countries, away from orthodoxy or so-called market fundamentalism. But will the financial crisis be a trigger for a new twenty-first-century approach to collective action on global problems? A report by Nancy Birdsall.

Failure of policymakers, especially those in Europe and the United States, to address the jobs crisis and prevent sovereign debt distress and financial sector fragility from escalating, poses the most acute risk for the global economy in the outlook for 2012-2013, says World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012. 

Cuts in spending on health, education and other social programs in response to high government debt threaten to turn back decades of social progress. Rather than giving in to austerity measures, governments should address the root causes of the financial crisis, says a report by UN DESA.

A Financial Transaction Tax of 0.05% could raise £20 billion a year in the UK and £250 billion globally – enough money to address budget shortfalls and help fight poverty and climate change around the world, says a report by the Robin Hood Tax campaign.

Many of the reforms implemented in the wake of the financial crisis do not offer adequate protection against future turbulence. Governments must take stronger action to facilitate progress towards global sustainable economic development, says a report by the New Economics Foundation.