18 The EconomistNovember 2nd 2019
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Taking on the launderers
As a companion piece to your
recent jocular guidance for
kleptocrats on “How to keep
your ill-gotten loot” (October
12th), you could offer govern-
ments advice on how to expose
the schemes used by the dis-
honest to hide their illicit
funds. Here are a few sugges-
tions. First, end anonymous
shell companies by creating
public registers of who actually
controls corporations. Even
the Cayman Islands has com-
mitted itself to implementing
such a register. Second, make
global anti-money-laundering
oversight more transparent.
Multilateral enforcement is
often spoiled by international
horse-trading over sanctions
behind closed doors.
Third, keep a closer eye on
the intermediaries. Your ac-
companying article (“Catch me
if you can”) mentions that
traders in luxury goods such as
yachts are failing to flag suspi-
cious transactions, even when
they are obliged to do so. Such
businesses, as well as bankers,
estate agents, accountants and
lawyers should all be held
responsible for their role in
facilitating money-laundering.
If the nerves of “pilfering
potentates and their progeny”
are really to be rattled, govern-
ments must close the loop-
holes which continue to make
their countries a haven for
illicit wealth.
patricia moreira
Managing director
Transparency International
BerlinWhether intermediaries—
lawyers, accountants, estate
agents—are either passively
complicit in or actively sup-
porting money-laundering
they are rightly denoted as
enablers. Estate agents in
particular have weak systems
of due diligence and rarely file
reports of suspicious transac-
tions. They are almost never
punished. Britain has imposed
only three recorded sentences
on intermediaries under the
Proceeds of Crime Act between
2002 and 2018. It is far more
common that no action is
taken or, in precious few cases,a nominalfineisissuedbya
tribunal.
Byincreasingtheresources
ofthestateusedtocrackdown
onenablers,theabilityof
kleptocratstoaccesstheglobal
spoilsoftheirgrandcorrup-
tionwillbeseverelyreduced.
johnheathershaw
Professorofinternational
relations
UniversityofExeterCuringhepatitisisa priority
TheGlobalFund’sprogresson
hiv, tuberculosisandmalaria
isgreat(“Buildingtomorrow”,
October12th).However,the
WorldHealthOrganisation
estimatesthateachyeardeaths
fromviralhepatitis(typesB
andC)aregreaterthanhivand
morethandoublethatfrom
malaria.Thisisallthemore
strikingwhenoneconsiders
thereisa vaccineforhepatitis
B anda highlyeffectiveshort
coursecureforhepatitisC.Yet
hepatitisislargelyofftheradar
ofglobalhealthprogrammes.
briggreilley
Portland,OregonEconomic discipline
The world economy’s new
rules are not so “strange”
(Special report, October 12th).
You advised monetary policy to
target three things: a long-run,
instead of short-term, inflation
rate; nominal gdp, as opposed
to inflation or unemployment;
and fiscal reforms, emphasis-
ing automatic stabilisers.
Milton Friedman would have
endorsed those first two tar-
gets. I followed them when I
designed country programmes
at the imfin the 1990s. You
could have been braver in
recognising that economists
do not understand well the
nature of economic growth, or
sustainable economic growth.
Strengthening “automatic
stabilisers” (such as unem-
ployment benefits) is not
enough. The structure of tax
and government spending
must be improved to affect
market behaviour and raise
efficiency and investment.
Economic programmes face
difficulties in drawing up fiscal
and other structural reforms,particularlyatthemicroor
retaillevel.Thisyear’sNobel
prizeineconomicshashigh-
lightedtheuseoffieldexperi-
mentstofindouthowwecan
engineerbehaviourtosustain
highereconomicgrowth.Such
researchwouldimprovepolicy
bymovingfromnominalto
realgdpgrowthtargeting.
gopalyadav
Alexandria,VirginiaYoursuggestionthata central
bankshouldtransfer“anequal
amounttothebankaccountof
everyadultcitizen”whenthe
economyslumps,andthatthis
wouldnotinvolveredistribu-
tion,soundsodd(“Theworld
economy’sstrangenewrules”,
October12th).Asidefromits
otherproblems(suchaspeople
withmorethanoneaccount,or
jointaccounts)thefactthat
manypoorerpeopledonot
havea bankaccountmeans
thattherelativelyaffluent
wouldgain.Thisisa redistri-
butionbyanyreasonable
definition.
neilgarston
Emeritusprofessorof
economics
CaliforniaStateUniversity,
LosAngelesWhy Scotland should remain
Regarding the push for another
vote on whether Scotland
should leave the United King-
dom (“The other referendum”,
October 19th), the Scottish
National Party has played its
Brexit cards cannily, but it
must not underestimate the
common sense of most Scots,
or the fatigue following divi-
sive referendums in 2014 and- In recent polling by Sur-
vation, commissioned by
Scotland in Union, only 27% of
Scottish people supported the
snp’s plan for another referen-
dum before May 2021. A major-
ity thought another referen-
dum would make Scottish
society more divided.
When asked whether Scot-
land should “remain” in the uk
or “leave” (rather than a yes/no
formulation, which the Elec-
toral Commission dismissed
for the uk-wide Brexit referen-
dum in 2016), 59% said Scot-
land should remain. This is a
long way from the overwhelm-
ing majority for separation
which Nicola Sturgeon, the
snp’s leader and first minister
of Scotland, would like before
calling for another vote.
If Brexit will harm the
Scottish economy, Scexit
would be worse. The Scottish
government’s statistics show
that 60% of Scottish trade goes
to the rest of the uk; that Scot-
tish public spending is boosted
by £1,968 ($2,530) per person
via Westminster’s Barnett
formula; and that Scotland’s
deficit is over twice as high as
the 3% level which would be
required if an independent
Scotland were to try to join the
European Union.
alastair cameron
Director
Scotland in Union
GlasgowThe chorus line
“Don’t stop me now” (October
5th) reported on how the algo-
rithms behind music stream-
ing spur songwriters to get to
the chorus in the first 15 sec-
onds. That brought back some
wonderful memories of how
songs used to be crafted. You
mentioned the two-minute
opening before Bono starts
singing on U2’s “Where the
streets have no name”. A de-
cade before that the title track
on “Bat Out of Hell”, Meatloaf’s
masterpiece, romps around for
three minutes before we hear
the chorus, which itself lasts
40 seconds. This is typical for a
seven-track album, which has
sold 43m copies and counting.
All the way back in 1972
Jethro Tull hit number one in
America with “Thick As a
Brick,” a song that admirably
arrives at the refrain within the
first minute, but does not
return to it until 42 minutes
later at the song’s close. Today’s
music fans are too impatient.
alex dew
Salt Lake City