Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Blog

This is a joint post with Sarah Jane Staats

The U.S. financial reform bill passed by the Senate today and now headed to President Obama for his signature will have far reaching impact on poor people in the developing world if it succeeds in reducing the severity of future financial crises. But even if it fails in this regard, a provision requiring oil, gas and mining companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publicly disclose their tax and revenue payments to governments around the world could be a big boost for increased transparency in countries afflicted with what has come to be called “the resource curse.”