Tag Archives: Business ethics

Corruption: The hidden tax on global growth – Agenda – The World Economic Forum

November 6, 2015 By in Accountability, Business Administration, Democracy, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, Growth, Monetary Policy, Neoliberal, ordoliberalism, People, Politicians, Politics, Public Services Reform, Reform, UN Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment
English: Official logo of the World Economic F...

English: Official logo of the World Economic Forum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to the WEF, discussing the “C word” has long been a sensitive topic at inter-governmental organisations but the IMF hosted a refreshingly frank discussion on the subject.

Source: Corruption: The hidden tax on global growth – Agenda – The World Economic Forum

The article cites one 2005 study estimating that the global cost of bribery alone could be as high as 1.5 trillion dollars (in the order of 2 percent of the world’s current GDP). Reference is made to other studies highlighting that a strong correlation between lower levels of corruption and long-term improvements in GDP per capita and in human development indices. The bottom line is that corruption is effectively a tax on growth and investment. With working and middle classes families everywhere struggling to provide for their families, this is significant.

As a final thought corruption is not just a problem in the developing world. In recent years, the European Parliament has had difficulty in getting an unconditional audit sign-off.

I have no magic solutions to this challenge but involving global institutions, like the IMF seems a good start. However, I worry that perhaps the United Nations has allowed itself to be marginalized by powerful lobbying?

Also what’s relevent is perhaps not so much the absolute level of corruption in a country but the improvement or deterioration. In this regard surely China is a beacon of hope?

Thoughts?

UK’s ‘High-Growth Small Businesses’ are rated No. 1 Story of Week per World Economic Forum

October 30, 2015 By in Accountability, Business Administration, David Cameron, Economics, Education, Executive interim management career, Fiscal Policy, George Osborne, Growth, Immigration, Interim Management, Interim Manager, Neoliberal, People, Personal Marketing, Politics, Public Services Reform, Science, Unemployment Tags: , , , , 1 Comment
English: Official logo of the World Economic F...

English: Official logo of the World Economic Forum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to the WEF, the UK’s ‘high-growth small businesses’ are world news this week. WEF provides a curated list of some of this week’s most interesting stories on economic growth and social inclusion.

Source: 8 must-read economics stories of the week – Agenda – The World Economic Forum

Personally, I think that the UK’s small businesses could do with some serious help from Chancellor, George Osborne and his government colleagues.

Dr Alf’s Seven Point Plan

  1. The UK’s big-businesses have powerful industry lobbies and can employ tax experts to reduce their tax bills. Small businesses often don’t get the tax breaks  – So there’s an urgent need to level the playing fields. For example, I would like to see small businesses get triple tax credits for investment in research and development. Also small businesses should get triple tax credits for professional development (there’s room for a whole new industry here).

2. The UK’s banking system favors those who work in big banks and their chums in big-business. Since 2008, small businesses have often struggled with mainstream finance from banks. More government guarantees are required to help ratchet up small business finance.

3. Local authorities should be encouraged to give small businesses, a three-year holiday from local taxation. This can be recouped from big-businesses operating in the local authority area, including shops.

Remember small business are better than big businesses for creating new jobs. Graduates are tired of stacking super-market shelves!

4. All UK public services in both central and local should give priority to small businesses.

5. The Brexit  debate must major on cutting red-tape and bureaucracy for small businesses.

6. The media should be given incentives for sponsoring public appetite for small businesses. We need more people like Lord Sugar to step forward.

7. Finally, central and local government departments should get special fiscal incentives to replace big consulting firms with independent executives and consultants. This would create more competition, increase public value-for-money, enhance small business development and possibly create a new export opportunity. I know that my good friend John Gelmini has leveraged his UK public sector experience and is looking to major export opportunities.

These are a just strawman proposals. My personal brainstorm.

Why don’t you brainstorm this with your friends? Then tell George Osborne. Here’s his Twitter handle @George_Osborne

Please feel free to chip in with your own ideas below. If we get a bit of debate, perhaps we’ll share it with George!