Financial transaction taxes in theory and practice (Leonard E. Burman, William G. Gale, Sarah Gault, Bryan Kim, Jim Nunns, Steve Rosenthal, Brookings)

The Great Recession, which was triggered by financial market failures, has prompted renewed calls for a financial transaction tax (FTT) to discourage excessive risk taking and recoup the costs of the crisis. The chorus of FTT advocates includes Bill Gates, Jr., George Soros, and Pope Benedict XVI (Greenhouse and Bowley, 2011). The idea is not new, however. Keynes proposed a FTT in 1936 as a way to discourage the kind of speculation that fueled the stock market bubble that led to the Great Depression. More recently, leading economists Tobin (1978), Stiglitz (1989), and Summers and Summers (1989) have advocated similar taxes.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/02/29-financial-transaction-taxes-theory-practice-gale