Provides a systematic assessment of FSB operations, from standard setting to implementation review in order to identify the power wielded by government networks in global financial governance. Develops a novel theory of legislative reluctance as a limit to the power of government networks, showing its strong inferential leverage in comparison with a variety of competing explanations drawn from economics, political science, and law. Engages in the debate on the role of government networks in global governance with a well-founded but controversial argument that questions the role of national parliaments in managing global economic affairs in the public interest. Suggests a novel institutional solution to the effectiveness-legitimacy dilemma that global governance forums face, combining the advantages of functional specialization and electoral accountability.

The theme of this volume is challenging both in its scale and in its scope. Its purpose is to take account of the state of research and writing on the symbiotic relationship between banking, trade and industry and the state during the rise and expansion of capitalism, and to compare and assess the results in order to widen current perspectives. Topics covered range from the origins of banking in the Middle Ages, through the influence of banks in leading industrial economies and the influence of banks on "latecomer" economies, to the expansion of banking in the American and Asian economies.

In 1775 John and Francis Baring & Company was just one of many merchant houses in London riding the wave of expanding world trade. By 1803, Baring Brothers Bank and its Dutch associate had financed the Louisiana Purchase, a remarkable achievement due in no small part to the bank's connections with a number of influential characters, namely would-be Senator William Bingham. This book describes the events and relationships that effectively established Barings Bank as the world's first merchant bank and how it played an undeniable role in transforming the United States into an international superpower. Appendixes examine the genealogy of the Baring, Bingham, and Willing families; the impact of the banking pioneers on English aristocracy; the life of Anne Willing Bingham; and information on locations featured in the book, among other topics.

Based on detailed analysis of thousands of confidential World Bank documents, this book demonstrates that the World Bank lies at the centre of the major changes in global education of our time. It outlines the evolution of World Bank lending policies in education, and assesses the policy impact of the Bank's educational projects, looking at how it has:

• shaped the economic and social policies of many governments, including policies that affect education
• been an influential proponent of the rapid expansion of formal education systems around the world, financing much of that expansion
• been instrumental in forging those policies that see education as a precursor to modernisation
• served as a major purveyor of Western ideas about how education and the economy are, or should be, related.

Following on from the success of the first edition, this revised edition covers topical issues of globalisation and looks into the political debate concerning aid to developing countries. It will be of enormous value to those studying, or working in, educational policy in developing countries, international organisations and financial institutions, and aid agencies.

This book focuses on the core issues in money and banking. By using simple applications for anyone that understands basic economics, the lessons in the book provide any student or reader with a background in how financial markets work, how banks as businesses function, how central banks make decisions, and how monetary policy affects the global economy.

Money and Banking is split into sections based on subject matter, specifically definitions and introductions, financial markets, microeconomic issues, macroeconomy policy, and international finance. It also covers:

- derivative and currency markets

- the microeconomics of banking

- trade and currency movements

- asymmetric information and derivative markets

- the future of financial markets and their participants

By providing a mix of microeconomic and macroeconomic applications, focusing on both international examples and open economy macroeconomics, this book reduces the minutiae seen in competing books. Each chapter provides summaries of what should be learned along the way and why the chapter's topic is important, regardless of current events. For undergraduate business, economics or social science students otherwise, this book is a concise source of information on money, banking and financial markets.

The activities of central banks are relevant to everyone in society. This book starts by considering how and why in general central banks evolved and specifically the special aspects of the contribution of the Northern European Central Banking Tradition. With that foundation, the book will then turn to a series of contemporary themes. Firstly, this book looks at independence, how central banks can actually influence their respective economies, goals, responsibilities and governance.

This collection of papers, formulated from the joint conference of the Bank of Finland and the Deutsche Bundesbank in November 2007, will help motivate continuing research into the institutional design of central banks and promote a better understanding of the many challenges central banks are facing today. This volume gives a detailed perspective on the benefits of price stability and central bank independence and, due to the advances in macroeconomic theory, has prompted a substantial rethink on central banks? institutional design.

With contributions from such scholars as Anne Sibert and Forrest Capie and a foreword by Erkki Liikanen and Professor Axel A. Weber, this volume will be useful reading for monetary economists around the world as well as all those with an interest in central banks and banking more generally.

This book showcases recent academic work on contemporary issues in financial institutions and markets. It covers a broad range of topics, highlighting the diverse nature of academic research in banking and finance. As a consequence the contributions cover a wide range of issues across a broad spectrum, including: capital structure arbitrage, credit rating agencies, credit default swap spreads, market power in the banking industry and stock returns. This timely collection offers fresh insights and understandings into the ongoing debates within and between the academic and professional finance communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Finance.

The German banking system is characterized by high fragmentation, low profitability and low foreign ownership. Main reason for this is its particular structure that can best be described as forced segmentation. This structure produces local banking markets. The book argues that local bank competition is not as pronounced as national concentration ratios predict and presents a bank pricing study which indicates that local banks, banks located in less densely populated areas and less productive banks tend to charge higher prices for retail bank services than banks that operate nationally. These results as well as lessons drawn from international reforms suggest that the German banking system could benefit from cross-pillar consolidation which promises to export competition from the national to local banking markets. Last but not least, the book analyzes political economy implications of banking reforms and provides suggestions on status quo resolution by identifying ways to facilitate reform implementation in the German banking system.

This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

Praise for "International Economic Indicators and Central Banks"

"Anne Picker's "International Economic Indicators and Central Banks" is a tour de force. It brings together a wealth of information, explanation, and guidance, which has hitherto only been available from disparate and frequently obscure sources, and does so with great clarity and authority. It will be an invaluable resource not only for investors but for all others involved in the fields of finance and economics."
--Donald R. Anderson, OBE FRSE (UK), International Economics Advisor, formerly chief economist, Courtaulds Group

"Picker's book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the workings of key central banks, and to the economic data that informs their thinking and policy formation. The book should be required reading for those with more than a passing interest in financial markets and monetary policy formation."
--George Worthington, Chief Economist, Asia Pacific, Thomson-IFR (Australia)

""International Economic Indicators and Central Banks" is an invaluable guide for anyone doing business overseas or investing in international markets. It is thorough and precise enough for professional economists yet readily accessible to business people and investors. Anne Picker is not only an excellent communicator who demystifies central bank operations and technical economic indicators; she is also a top-notch economist with extensive experience in analyzing them. Don't read any international economic analysis without this volume close at hand."
--David A. Levy, Chairman, The Jerome Levy Forecasting Center

When European powers annexed parts of Asia, banking systems were an important part of that process. The essays in this edited collection are based on original research using primary sources in English, French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. The book as a whole provides new insights into banking in imperial Asia and a platform for further research.

Based on both theoretical and empirical approaches, the essays in this volume emphasise the role of ethics in a globalized economy. Part I looks at the evolution of global finance and how efficiently, or otherwise, it works, while Part II focuses on the role of banking institutions. Using up-to-date research, the contributors focus on recent developments in the financial world. The current economic crisis is also taken into account, making this volume an essential and timely study of particular value to economists and financial historians as well as those with a professional interest in the monetary sector.

The capacity of national central banks to 'step in' and bail out an economy is one which has proved to be vitally important over the years. This collection from Wood and Capie brings together important literature for the first time in book form.

This book empirically examines banking reform in the economies of Southeast Asia as they sought to adapt to major developments in the global economic system over the past three decades, including the globalisation of finance, the debt crisis of the 1980s and the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Focusing in particular on the turbulent decade of financial boom and bust from 1994 to 2004, it explores the ways in which states respond to powerful external shocks and the implications for policy choices, demonstrating how different political systems shape economic performance and policy choices. It sets out a detailed comparative analysis of the experiences of the five major regional economies, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, considering how banking reform responded to the challenges posed by global economic integration. The countries least affected by the crisis, Singapore and the Philippines, used the crisis effectively to further liberalise long-protected domestic banking sectors. The countries the most affected by the crisis, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, all resisted external pressure to liberalise their protected banking sectors even when they experienced changes in leadership. In all five cases, the nature of the political system and their previous commitment to nationalist banking policies, more than the depth of the crisis or extent of foreign pressure, was the key determining factor in their crisis response and in the post-crisis changes to banking policy that are still playing out today.

The current literature on central banking contains two distinct branches. On the one side, research focuses on the impact of monetary policy on economic growth, unemployment, and output-price inflation, while ignoring financial aspects. On the other side, some scholars leave aside macroeconomics in order to study the narrow, but crucial, subjects of financial behaviours, and financial supervision and regulation. This book aims at merging both approaches by using macroeconomic analysis to show that financial considerations should be the main preoccupation of central banks. Eric Tymoigne shows how different views regarding the conception of asset pricing lead to different positions regarding the appropriate role of a central bank in the economy. In addition, Hyman P. Minsky's framework of analysis is used extensively and is combined with other elements of the Post Keynesian framework to study the role of a central bank.

Tymoigne argues that central banks should be included in a broad policy strategy that aims at achieving stable full employment. Their sole goal should be to promote financial stability, which is the best way they can contribute to price stability and full employment. Central banks should stop moving their policy rate frequently and widely because that creates inflation, speculation, and economic instability. Instead, Tymoigne considers a pro-active financial policy that does not allow financial innovations to enter the economy until they are certified to be safe and that focuses on analyzing systemic risk. He argues that central banks should be a guide and a reformer that allow a smooth financing and funding of asset positions, while making sure that financial fragility does not increase drastically over a period of expansion.

This book will be of interest to students and researchers engaged with central banking, macroeconomics, asset pricing and monetary economics.

Banks of all sorts are troubled institutions. The cost of public bail-outs associated with the subprime crisis in the United States alone may be as high as US$5 trillion. What is the problem with banks? Why do they seem to be at the centre of economic and financial turmoil down through the ages? In this provocative and timely book, Rethel and Sinclair seek answers to these questions, arguing that banks suffer from perennial problems, and that developments in the financial markets and government in recent decades have simply exacerbated these issues. The book examines banking activity in America, Asia and Europe, and how specific historical circumstances have transformed banks' behaviour and attitude to risk. While many see government as a constraint on banks, Sinclair and Rethel argue that what governments do in terms of regulation shapes banks and their motivations, as can be seen in the shortcomings of current reform proposals. Instead, more far-reaching, alternative ways of regulating and shaping banks are needed. A concise, essential overview of a pressing global issue.

As an income contingent loans bill is considered by the US Congress, income contingent loans (ICL) have risen to the forefront of economic discourse. ICLs are collected through the income taxation system and are repaid only when future incomes exceed a specified level. ICLs were first introduced in Australia in 1989 to help college students finance their tuition costs, and since then many countries have followed this policy approach. Bruce Chapman, Timothy Higgins and Joseph E. Stiglitz along with a host of internationally recognised experts who have been instrumental in impacting national policy in this field, explore the theory of ICLs, and the prospect of applying the basic principles to many other potential areas of social and economic policy such as paid parental leave; recompensing poor countries for skilled migrant emigration; legal aid for civil disputes; business innovation for small and medium enterprises; out-of-pocket health care expenditure needs; and for periods of unemployment.
The text describes an alternative approach to ICLs, which takes the form of human capital contracts or graduate taxes, as well as examining hybrid schemes that combine the attractive aspects of both arrangements. Case studies are used to examine the prospects for ICLs for higher education in Malaysia, Germany, Thailand, Chile and Colombia, and there is discussion of the barriers for adoption of ICLs in countries that lack efficient institutions for debt collection.
A key message from the contributions is that in countries with appropriate institutions for taxation administration, there are considerable transactional efficiencies associated with ICLs. These efficiencies, combined with the improvements in risk and incentives that well-designed ICL programs can provide, suggest that such programs can play an important role in a modern welfare state.

How America's global financial power was created and shaped through its special relationship with Britain The rise of global finance in the latter half of the twentieth century has long been understood as one chapter in a larger story about the postwar growth of the United States. The Political Economy of the Special Relationship challenges this popular narrative. Revealing the Anglo-American origins of financial globalization, Jeremy Green sheds new light on Britain's hugely significant, but often overlooked, role in remaking international capitalism alongside America. Drawing from new archival research, Green questions the conventional view of international economic history as a series of cyclical transitions among hegemonic powers. Instead, he explores the longstanding interactive role of private and public financial institutions in Britain and the United States-most notably the close links between their financial markets, central banks, and monetary and fiscal policies. He shows that America's unparalleled post-WWII financial power was facilitated, and in important ways constrained, by British capitalism, as the United States often had to work with and through British politicians, officials, and bankers to achieve its vision of a liberal economic order. Transatlantic integration and competition spurred the rise of the financial sector, an increased reliance on debt, a global easing of regulation, the ascendance of monetarism, and the transition to neoliberalism. From the gold standard to the recent global financial crisis and beyond, The Political Economy of the Special Relationship recasts the history of global finance through the prism of Anglo-American development.

The collapse of Barings' Bank was a commercial catastrophe that resonated worldwide, showing what kind of secrets can lie behind an apparently successful organization. Following Nick Leeson's arrest and subsequent conviction for fraud, investment banks anxiously reviewed their risk management controls to make sure that it could never happen again. Helga Drummond's exploration is conducted against a backdrop of social and psychological theories of decision error that seeks to go beyond media style accusations of greed and incompetence. She challenges the myth that Barings 'must have known' that mischief was afoot. The book offers lessons for all organizations as it shows how easily managers can end up living in a world of fantasy believing that everything is under control when the precise opposite may be true. It is not risk and uncertainty that should worry organizations, concludes Drummond, but what they are most sure of. The collapse of Barings Bank had international ramifications, and this scholarly analysis will have an international audience as a result. The book will be of great interest to all those interested in social psychology, the application of psychology in management theory, sociology, and organizational behaviour. It is also suitable as recommended reading for a management or organization behaviour course.

Many books have addressed the economic and financial history of Hong Kong, and the imperialist conflicts in the key Chinese port-cities but very few books have explored French initiatives and performance in this area, beyond diplomacy, geopolitics or cultural issues. In this book, Hubert Bonin confronts arguments about "the great divergence", "the first globalisation", and forms of "economic patriotism". He gauges the competitive edge of French companies and banks, their struggle with British domination (HBSC, Chartered, shipping, trade houses/hongs) and their resistance against competitors from other countries (Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, USA, or Russia). The book delves into studies of management abroad, therefore mixing broad geo-economic issues with precise business history and deep banking history. The connections between French interests in China and Hong Kong and the colony of Indochina are established too. A second part of the book is dedicated to the case study of Hong Kong, as the British colony acted as a hub for Asian and European interests at the heart of connections with mainland China and some neighbouring territories (Indochina, etc.). This is essential reading for academics interested in banking and business history, the history of entrepreneurship, as well as, those involved in the contemporary history of China and Hong Kong, in the assessment of world-wide geo-economic competition between European powers in Asia (Great-Britain, and France), and in the first stages of economic "modernity", along European models, in emerging modern China.

There are many studies confirming the relationship between financial systems and economic development, but there are few which examine the degree to which financial systems a) impact the quality of information, b) influence sound corporate governance, c) ensure effective mechanisms of risk management, d) mobilize savings and f) facilitate trade. In the context of sustainability, there should also be a line of inquiry into how a particular financial system influences the assurance and implementation of sustainable development principles and goals. This book delivers a methodological approach to designing and assessing sustainable financial systems. It provides an original contribution by prioritizing ESG factors in the decision-making process of financial institutions and identifying their impact on sustainable financial systems. The author argues that to achieve financial stability, it is necessary to have in place mechanisms designed to prevent financial problems from becoming systemic and/or threatening the stability of the financial and economic system, while maintaining (or not undermining) the economy's ability to sustain growth and perform its other functions. The book primarily takes a simulation and experimental approach. It is the first book to take such a comprehensive look at sustainable financial systems as opposed to sustainable finance in general. It will appeal to academics, students and researchers in the fields of economics, finance and banking, business, management and political and social sciences.

The Basel Accord - now commonly referred to as "Basel I" - has exerted a profound influence on international financial politics and domestic prudential financial sector regulatory policy yet great controversy has always surrounded the Accord's impact on the safety and competitiveness of the world's largest financial institutions and the evolution of trans-national regulatory convergence.

The author provides a comprehensive examination of the impact of the 1988 Basel Accord on the capital adequacy regulations of developed economies. The study seeks to understand if the Accord affected broad or isolated convergence of 18 developed states' bank credit risk regulations from 1988 to 2000, and also to understand what political economic variables influenced levels of regulatory isomorphism. Quillin creates a quantitative database of developed states' interpretations of the Basel rules which shows that some persistent distinction remained in the way states implemented the Accord. He also explores why convergence emerged among a subset of states, yet not others, by testing a battery of political economic explanations.

This book provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of research outcomes on the equity home bias puzzle - that people overinvest in domestic stocks relative to the theoretically optimal investment portfolio. It introduces place attachment - the bonding that occurs between individuals and their meaningful environments - as a new explanation for equity home bias, and presents a philosophically multi-paradigmatic view of place attachment. For the first time, a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the extant literature is provided, demonstrating that place attachment is a contributing factor to 22 different topics in which variations of home bias are present. The author also analyses the social-psychological underpinnings of place attachment, and considers the effect of multi-culturalism on the future of equity home bias. The book's unique approach discusses the issues in conceptual terms rather than through data and statistical methods. This multi- and inter-disciplinary book is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers interested in economics, finance, philosophy, and/or methodology, introducing them to a new line of research.

Most banking institutions suffer from numerous inefficiencies, such as poor planning; inadequate coordination and communication; ineffective processes, tools, and workflow; and excessive bureaucracy. Lean for Banks describes in easy language how to use Lean and Six Sigma management practices to significantly improve the efficiency of bank operations. This book shows how to use Lean and Six Sigma management practices to improve the normal daily work in a bank, typically executed in the so-called "back offices." This work involves about 90 percent of bank employees and generates 90 percent of costs. Lean for Banks explains how to organize bank operations better, increase work productivity and quality by working smarter and not harder, make fewer mistakes and decrease rework, and elevate jobs from mundane and repetitive to creative and pleasantly challenging. Most importantly, it shows how to increase the satisfaction of bank customers and in turn enhance bank competitiveness and market share. Lean for Banks is intended for all levels of bank employees: back-office workers, first-level supervisors, middle- and higher-level managers, and corporate executives. It is also intended for all levels of students at schools that teach banking skills‘short courses intended for tellers, college courses in advanced banking operations, and continuing education for bank managers and line employees. This book is an entry-level text on Lean and should give readers enough understanding to prepare them for active participation in Lean deployment activities.

Starting with Medici and Fugger and ending with Barings and Royal Bank of Scotland under neo-liberal de-regulation, the author gives an account of how a number of banks failed over a 500 year-period. The author offers an explanation of the leading ideas about the world and good society at the time, and summarizes this narrative using Streeck & Schmitter's three bases for regulation of society: Community (spontaneous solidarity), State (hierarchical control), and Market (dispersed competition). The bank failures are presented in the context of social philosophies of the day (scholasticism, mercantilism, neo-liberalism, and libertarianism), and the changing business practices (Bills of Exchange, rents and financial instruments of various kinds). The dominating explanation of financial crises has been market-related. Here, the author argues that managerial failures are an important contributor. He demonstrates the failure of management to act on early signals such as existential risk, strategic stress syndrome, and lack of proper oversight by top management. The author encourages a return to ethical principles for banks, suggesting that his ethical aspect should be at the core of the credit process of banks in the future. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book will be an important contribution to the discussion surrounding bank failures. It will interest any scholar looking at the origins of financial crises and will be particularly useful for post-graduate students of economic and financial history, banking, finance and accounting.