The economies of the European countries are still in recession, the development process is at a standstill, companies are facing financial difficulties, and the EU's monetary policy is tight and focused on lowering inflation. The fiscal problems and high debt levels of the northern European countries are of great importance, and they are the consequences of both the European economy's structural characteristics and the EU's policies. The economic area of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Black Sea countries is also vital, due to its special economic characteristics. The effects of the economic crisis on this particular area are catalytic, while the prospects for recovery are doubtful. The present book deals with the key aspects of the economic crisis in Europe, especially focusing on southeast Europe and the Balkans. The consequences of the crisis in these countries are analyzed and suggestions for how to address the crisis are outlined.

An understanding of personal debt requires an understanding of the complex social systems that produce poverty. By drawing upon international perspectives, this book investigates why more and more people are in debt, why it is causing so much mental distress and exactly who is benefiting from what has become the world's number one growth industry.

At the start of the eighteenth century Louis XIV needed to remit huge sums of money abroad to support his armies during the War of the Spanish Succession. This book explains how international bankers moved French money across Europe, and how the foreign exchange system was so overloaded by the demands of war that a massive banking crash resulted.

Following the Rio Agreement in 1967, the birth of the Special Drawing Right (SDR) was widely heralded as the first step towards a world international money. The SDR's intended purpose, though, was more modest: to help salvage the prevailing international monetary system which had evolved since Bretton Woods. This volume examines the relatively recent and important history of SDRs - what they are, where they came from, and why they are significant. It considers the changing roles and influences of the US and the IMF as post-Bretton Woods monetary arrangements established themselves. Despite their retreat from early acclaim, work continued, particularly at the Fund, on enhancing the potential of SDRs to contribute to international monetary stability and SDRs have recently re-emerged as a potential source of support and stability for the international monetary system underpinning the world economy. The SDR, and the debate surrounding it, is an excellent prism through which to examine other important themes in contemporary international political economy, including international liquidity provision and international monetary reform. Ultimately, the policies of the US, the Fund, and the changing nature of the relationship between them emerge as fundamental themes for an understanding of prospects for SDRs under post-Bretton Woods international monetary arrangements. Today, the promise and disappointment that has characterized the short history of SDRs is more important than ever as the world again examines these arrangements in the wake of the international financial crisis.

This book charts the regulatory changes at the heart of capitalist economies; the financial reporting on financial markets. It is a unique contribution interconnecting issues both of contemporary political science and accounting research. The book contains in-depth descriptions of regulatory settings (and changes) in six countries: Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and aims to takes a close look at drivers of change such as crises and globalization. The book also links these drivers of change with moderating institutional structures such as the legal and financial systems, but also the welfare states in place. Taken together, it shows how a trend to more transnationalization in accounting emerges but also its likely limits.

British monetary policy was reactivated in 1951 when short-term interest rates were increased for the first time in two decades. The book explores the politics of formulating monetary policy in the 1950s and the techniques of implementing it, and discusses the parallels between the present monetary situation and that of 1951.

Banking with Integrity provides rich and in-depth case studies of banks which were doing well during the financial crisis of 2007-2010. While other banks went bankrupt, were nationalized, or struggled for survival some of the featured cases increased market share, attracted more customers and avoided home evictions of their clients.

This book analyzes the post-subprime crisis world from the global, Asian and Chinese perspectives. It dispels some of the myths about the crisis's effects on Asia and China; and exposes the ugly truth of bailout policies and their distortion and hindering of the world's economic rebalancing effort in the post-subprime era.

This book explores how successful the various tenets of economic thought have been in prognosticating or remedying economic crises. Examining key episodes in economic history, from famines in antiquity to present-day financial collapse, the author finds that several theories failed to cope with a crisis and lost their academic impact. The author also presents cases in which major theoretical innovations were achieved after the experience of a crisis as well as cases where a completely new theory was needed to explain and face the events. This book will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in understanding how theoretical developments in economics are affected by real-world economic crises.

Updated insight into key facts impacting on financial institutions after the financial crisis, highlighting areas of major policy and academic interest. The book includes ten chapters analysing contrasting issues such as intellectual capital, cost efficiency, bank stability, credit risk and business models for the wealth management industry.

An exploration of the recent financial crisis which argues that the hitherto dominant intellectual and policy paradigm of neo-liberalism has been fatally weakened and will in due course be replaced. The implications of the crisis for politico-cultural identities and our sense of ourselves as members of an ordered society are explored.

This volume sheds new light on economic developments in several countries of Southeast Europe. The European Union and especially the eurozone continue to experience rhythms of fiscal crisis, as can most clearly be seen in the debt crisis in the South Periphery. Despite the fact that several measures and decisions have been taken to deal with the crisis (banking union, liquidity support from the European Central Bank), proposals to reform Europe's strategic policy in order to find a way out of the crisis have been put forward. This book explores the respective roles that specific sectors, e.g. the agricultural sector, social capital, tax policies and labour immigration, can play in this regard. The importance of international economic relations (exports, imports, FDI, exchange rates) is analysed, in order to illustrate the nature of the economic developments and the major economic difficulties these countries face.

As the real economy is increasingly digitalized, banking lags behind. It is thus not well placed to support the new economy. The book provides some perspective on the changes taking place, identifying the systemic weaknesses in the traditional financial infrastructure, and proposing some radical rethinking to address systemic financial instability.

The current economic crisis is causing large impact on the behaviour of financial markets and institutions. Crisis, Risk and Stability in Modern Banking presents an in-depth insight into key topics related to the behaviour of financial institutions in the crisis, stressing areas of major research interest. It covers a selection of papers from the past European Association of University Teachers of Banking and Finance Conference (otherwise known as the Wolpertinger Conference) held at the University of Valencia, Spain in September 2011. This book analyses different subjects ranging from the analysis of the behaviour of rating agencies, bank performance in the crisis, banking regulation and its impact on bank management, the implications of bank stability on economic growth, the impact of globalization on financial stability, and the importance of stock exchange mergers, as well as other diverse areas such as microinsurance and social lending.

Iceland became one of the symbols of the global financial crisis. It provides an ideal test case for the perceptions of economists, in particular their ability to anticipate crises. The book contains papers and reports, written prior to the collapse of Iceland's financial system, about the economy. What did and didn't they see coming, and why?

The story of the recent global economic crisis is told in the words of the main players in the drama. Including quotes from bankers, rating agencies, housing agencies, regulators, politicians and media figures. Erik Banks' latest book shows why we are doomed to experience further financial crises in the future.

Beliefs held by US and European elites about unregulated markets and a currency union without fiscal union led to a transatlantic crisis unmatched in severity since the Great Depression. Leading scholars of elites analyze how elites have responded to the crisis, are altered by it and what this 'hour of elites' means for democracy.

Both quantitative and qualitative analysis is used to review China's stock market in a book containing the latest research on China's IPO market, the 2006-07 market bubble, the development of institutional investors, the stock index futures market, stock sector performance, corporate governance of listed firms and China's growth enterprise market.

The financial sector is the talk of the global village. This book highlights that, before asserting that the institutions of the financial sector deserve to be regulated, one should consider that these very institutions are themselves the discreet regulators of the markets where their activity takes place.

Since the 2007 financial crisis, discussion on issues related to the size, spread and frequency of financial crises has captivated a wide variety of audiences. Why has the world economy experienced such a marked increase in financial transactions and private and public indebtedness since the 1980s? How have middle-income developing countries suddenly become a part of this dynamic? And, most importantly, how has the topic of financial crises been featured in households' daily discussions in both developed and developing parts of the world? Domna Michailidou addresses the questions above through exploring the inexorable evolution of financialisation into financial crisis through the examination of three middle-income countries: Mexico, Brazil and South Korea. Concentrating on emerging economies, and especially choosing three very different economies that all experienced financial crises in the 1990s, this book explores what lessons can be learnt regarding financial fragility, volatility and failure in the wake of capital market liberalisation.

The 2008 financial crisis all but brought down the financial system and real economies of industrial countries. The Banking Union took a broad approach to resolve the structural fragmentation and distortions in the European banking system which were major obstacles to a working single market for financial services. This book examines the numerous changes happening to European legislations for the prevention and management of banking crises. What emerges is a changing picture of regulations and institutions, of goals, tools and opinions, public and private, European and national all involved in the task. The book focuses on the new framework for banking crisis management, starting from the foundations of banking regulation and supervision. It explores the institutional architecture of banking supervision and crisis management, the powers of the authorities, the tools for administrative actions, the complexities of business and bankruptcy laws, individual rights and their legal guarantees.

This book provides an original and timely insight into the role that the domestic and international political economy played in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, combining an innovative theoretical framework with in-depth bond market analysis.

Global crises not only deeply impact the economy and people's livelihoods, they also unsettle basic ideas and assumptions about the meaning and drivers of development. This collection of theoretical and empirical studies explores the substance and politics of policy change following the 2007/8 crisis from the perspective of developing countries.

This book introduces the fundamentals of retail credit risk management, provides a broad and applied investigation of the related modeling theory and methods, and explores the interconnections of risk management with other firm operations and industry regulation. The focus on retail (private individuals and small-medium enterprises) and the constant reference to the implications of the financial crisis for credit risk management, make the book distinctive.

"In this groundbreaking book, Tuckett argues that most economists' explanations of the financial crisis miss its essence; they ignore critical components of human psychology. He offers a deeper understanding of financial market behavior and investment processes by recognising the role played by unconscious needs and fears in all investment activity"--