AbstractsEconomics

Abstract This project focuses on the proposal of the EU Commission for a tax on financial transactions (FTT). After the proposal was generated, different views and arguments were expressed by various actors, some of which were opposing the FTT and others being in favour of the FTT. In the beginning of the project, we start by looking at the context of the creation of the FTT proposal, especially looking into the global financial crisis, since 2008, and into the current government debt crisis. In this process we define the focus of our project and generate a Problem Formulation. Thereafter, this project describes the methodological and theoretical considerations on the topic of FTT. Thus, two main schools of thought of economics are derived, namely, the realist school and the neoclassical school. We look into two main authors corresponding to each of these schools, which are renowned for their thoughts and theories; John Maynard Keynes is taken into account for the realist way of thinking, and Milton Friedman is taken into account for the neoclassical way of thinking. Moreover, other sources and authors are used to supplement our arguments derived by Keynes and Friedman. After conducting the methodological considerations, including our ontology and epistemology, we conducted an investigation of the actors that were pro or against the introduction of an FTT in the EU, thus collecting our empirical data. Our analysis is divided in three parts, respectively, Word 1, World 2, and World 3. To clarify, World 1 consists of the presentation of the empirical data and the description of the real world. World 2 consists of an analysis and comparison of the empirical findings from World 1 with the theoretical views of both the realist and the neoclassical school of thought. Furthermore, the findings and conclusions from World 2 are used in World 3, which is a discussion of the topic of FTT that leads us to the conclusion where we attempt to answer the Problem Formulation. Moreover, afterthoughts are expressed, where we put the conclusion of our project into perspective.