¹This text is based on my longer paper The Precarious State of Public Finance. Bonn/Düsseldorf/Osnabrück: terre des hommes/DGB-Bildungswerk/Global Policy Forum, 2007 (http://globalpolicy.igc.org/eu/en/publ/martens_precarious_finance_%202007.pdf)

Abstract

Jens Martens argues for global tax justice and eco-social fiscal reforms in order to reverse the lives of poverty of many millions of people whose living standards would improve noticeably through increased government expenditure on public education and health care, active social policies, and additional state investments in public infrastructure. He calls for more pressure exerted by civil society groups to combat the powerful lobbyists acting on behalf of the wealthy and the transnational corporations.