The Balanced Economy Project is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom that advocates against what it claims are “Corporate Monopolies” in countries outside of the United States. The group claims that such monopolies are more corrupt than competitive markets as the former leads to illicit activities that can impact economic markets including bribing  politicians, buying out competitors, and sponsoring media outlets that impact political coverage. The Project maintains a newsletter and blog that research and publishes stories on corporate monopolies and how they impact national and international markets. ^{1 2}

History and Leadership

The Balanced Economy Project was founded in 2021 by Michelle Meagher, Nicholas Shaxson, and John Christensen. ^{2 3} Meagher was a competition lawyer and the author of the book Competition is Killing Us.  ⁴ Shaxson is a British finance writer and investigator who has written for the Financial Times, the New York Times, The Guardian, and the Washington Post. Christensen is a political activist and chair of Stamp Out Poverty, founder of the governance board of Tax Inspectors Without Borders, and a co-founder of the Tax Justice Network.  ¹

Initiatives

The Balanced Economy Project maintains a newsletter, The Counterbalance, that advocates left-of-center issues relating to consumer welfare. The Project also maintains a podcast,  Monopoly Focus, where it discusses topics on monopolies as well as other topics covered by both the Balanced Economy Project and The Counterbalance. ^{2 5}

Fundraising

The Balanced Economy Project receives funding from left-of-center philanthropic organizations and grantmaking foundations. The Project claims it does not accept any funding from businesses or political parties, but only from public interest grantmaking organizations and individuals. ¹ Several of its main funders include Tax Justice Network, the Friends Provident Foundation, the Laudes Foundation, the Open Society Foundations (OSF), and the Adessium Foundation. ^{6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13}

1. “About Us.” Balanced Economy Project. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.balancedeconomy.org/about-us.
2. “About.” The Counterbalance. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://thecounterbalance.substack.com/about.
3. “Balanced Economy Project.” GOV.UK. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13392770.
4. Competition is Killing Us: How Big Business is Harming Our Society and Planet – and What to Do About It. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.amazon.com/Competition-Killing-Us-Business-Environment/dp/0241423015.
5. Shaxson, Nicholas. “An Anti-Monopoly Newsletter.” The Counterbalance, March 15, 2021. https://thecounterbalance.substack.com/p/the-counterbalance-an-anti-monopoly.
6. “Our history.” Tax Justice Network. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://taxjustice.net/our-history/.
7. “Tax Competition and the Race to the Bottom.” Tax Justice Network, November 14, 2020. https://taxjustice.net/topics/tax-competition-and-the-race-to-the-bottom/#:~:text=The%20idea%20that%20countries%20can,awash%20with%20mobile%20financial%20capital.
8. “The Climate Issue: Who Stands in the Way of Climate Justice? (Part 2).” Tax Justice Network, 2020. https://taxjustice.net/focus/who-stands-in-the-way-of-climate-justice/.
9. Friends Provident Foundation. “Climate Emergency Declaration.” Friends Provident Foundation, December 31, 2022. https://friendsprovidentfoundation.org/climate-emergency-declaration/.
10. “Theory of Change: Laudes Foundation.” Laudes Foundation. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.laudesfoundation.org/what-we-do/theory-of-change/.
11. Soros, George. “The Capitalist Threat.” The Atlantic. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/02/the-capitalist-threat/376773/.
12. Miniter, Richard. “Are George Soros’ Billions Compromising U.S. Foreign Policy?” Forbes, February 16, 2012. https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2011/09/09/should-george-soros-be-allowed-to-buy-u-s-foreign-policy/#1fa6d992454e.
13. Adessium Foundation. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://adessium.org/.