In this urgent time, World on the Edge calls out the pivotal environmental issues and how to solve them now. We are in a race between political and natural tipping points. Can we close coal-fired power plants fast enough to save the Greenland ice sheet and avoid catastrophic sea level rise? Can we raise water productivity fast enough to halt the depletion of aquifers and avoid water-driven food shortages? Can we cope with peak water and peak oil at the same time? These are some of the issues Lester R. Brown skilfully distils in World on the Edge. Bringing decades of research and analysis into play, he provides the responses needed to reclaim our future.

Written in honor of Emeritus Professor Georges Prat (University of Paris Nanterre, France), this book includes contributions from eminent authors on a range of topics that are of interest to researchers and graduates, as well as investors and portfolio managers. The topics discussed include the effects of information and transaction costs on informational and allocative market efficiency, bubbles and stock price dynamics, paradox of rational expectations and the principle of limited information, uncertainty and expectation hypotheses, oil price dynamics, and nonlinearity in asset price dynamics.

The global financial crisis that struck Europe has profoundly affected its political, economic and regulatory landscape. This Research Handbook provides an inter-disciplinary view of State interventions in the banking sector, their control under State aid rules since the financial crisis of 2008 and the progressive emergence of a pan-European regulation of banks in distress. Assessing the policy of bank rescues over the past nine years provides a striking summary of European successes and failures and of the continuing tension between integration and fragmentation forces at play within the EU and its single market. This Research Handbook offers insights from law and economics - on the extent to which the EU/EEA State aid regime is able to address adequately the concerns of financial regulation without losing sight of its primary purpose. The contributors include academics, specialists in financial regulation, lawyers, economists and regulators, who have all followed or been directly involved in cases relating to the financial crisis. The Research Handbook on State Aid in the Banking Sector will appeal to advanced students and academics in law and economics, particularly those with an interest in financial institutions, governance and banking. Contributors include: C. Botelho Moniz, G. Bruzzone, M. Cassella, A. Champsaur, F. Coupe, F. de Cecco, J.-S. Duprey, S. Frisch, C. Froitzheim, P. Gouveia e Melo, J. Gray, V. Iftinchi, B. Joosen, I. Kokkoris, F.-C. Laprevote, S. Micossi, L. Nascimento Ferreira, P. Nicolaides, V. Power, C. Quigley, N. Robins, S. Shamsi, P. Solomon, D.S. Tynes

Written during an ongoing period of global economic crisis, The Welfare State as a Crisis Manager examines the practice and potential of using social policy to cope with crises. Through an in-depth analysis of social policy reactions in the wake of international economic shocks in four different welfare states, over a 40-year period, the book reveals the ways in which expansion and retrenchment are shaped by domestic politics and existing welfare state institutions. Moreover, the study addresses the kind of policy change triggered by economic crisis. In contrast to conventional wisdom and previous scholarship, reactions tend to be characterised by incrementalism and 'crisis routines' rather than fundamental deviations from earlier policy patterns. For the first time, the study of domestic political dynamics following crisis is systematically embedded in the transnational policy debate, linking the Comparative Welfare State literature with scholarship on Global Social Policy.

Why does trust collapse in times of crisis? And when, instead, does it become a driver of growth, generating value? Through a sociological interpretation of the thought of John Maynard Keynes, Padua introduces the innovative concepts of Economy of Trust and Nominal Economy within the context of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Great Depression had a devastating effect on much of the world's developed economies. (For example, at its nadir, around one-quarter of the US workforce was unemployed. And, in Britain, exports virtually halved by 1933 as international trade collapsed.) The political and cultural consequences of the Great Depression were equally far-reaching. The ongoing search fully to comprehend the worldwide economic collapse in the 1930s remains a dizzying intellectual challenge (the Holy Grail of macroeconomics' according to Ben Bernanke). Moreover, the current global economic and financial tumult has prompted many economists -- as well as scholars from related disciplines -- to explore the Great Depression anew in the hope of gaining knowledge on how best to survive the latest desperately serious and sustained global economic slump. As research in and around the Great Depression flourishes as never before this new addition to Routledge's Critical Concepts in Economics series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject's vast literature and the continuing explosion in scholarly output. Edited by two leading scholars in the field, this new Routledge Major Work is a five-volume collection of classic and cutting-edge contributions. With a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, The Great Depression is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued as a vital research tool.

Until recently the world has been relying on the US dollar and the Euro to lubricate the flow of global trade and finance. A newcomer, the Renminbi (RMB) or Chinese Yuan, joined the global monetary system in 2000. The rise of the RMB is both an indicator and a result of the evolution in the global macro landscape that shifts economic weight from the developed markets, led by Europe, Japan and the US, to the emerging markets, led by China.Research on RMB internationalisation is difficult because events have been unfolding fast, with frequent shifting regulations. Most financial market research is sales-driven, shallow and without serious investigation into the structural underpinning of events. Most crucially, there has been insufficient systematic research on the structural realities behind the RMB internationalisation exercise. No-one has openly questioned the credibility of the RMB as an international currency. This is the first book to address these issues by focusing on the structural factors behind the rise of the RMB. It uses a critical approach, questioning conventional wisdom and the status quo to anslyse China's currency ambition in the post-subprime world. Discussions combine rigorous research thoughts, data, facts and economic logic with real world issues to elaborate on the arguments and make them reader-friendly.

Originally published in 1988, this book compiles a collection of works investigating the impact of recession on women's employment. The authors argue that the most important explanation of differences in women's experience between the countries is the form of labour market regulation and organisation. They point out that current changes in these forms of regulation, and not displacement of female labour, pose the main threat to any gains that women have made in the labour market in the post- World War II period.

Few events have posed as many challenges for retirement and retirement policy as the crisis of the late 2000s. At the end of the last decade, the United States experienced the Great Recession-a combination of unprecedented wealth losses and historically high unemployment increases that marked the longest economic recession since the Great Depression. These adverse economic shocks coincided with the burgeoning entry into retirement by the baby boomer generation, those born in the United States between 1946 and 1964. The confluence of these trends meant that retirees may have faced greater economic insecurity than at any point since World War II. This book brings together a number of influential researchers whose work is focused on economic policies and their impacts on retirement income security. They come from both academic and policy backgrounds. Specifically, half of the eight contributors are academics, while the other four come from think tanks in Washington, DC. This book is thus intended to combine research and policy. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

This collection explores the current economic and political crisis in Greece and more widely in Europe. Greece is used to illustrate and exemplify the contradictions of the dominant paradigm of European modernity, the ruptures that are inherent to it, and the alternative modernity discourses that develop within Europe. By critically reviewing the 'alternative' path to modernization that Greece has taken, the authors question whether the current Greek economic and political-moral crisis is the resulting failure of this 'alternative' or 'deviant' modernization model or whether it is the result of a wider crisis in the dominant European economic and political modernity paradigm.

The book argues that a successful monetary and banking reform requires: a rollback of monetary nationalism and return to monetary internationalism; trust in the banking system with its basic functions restored; a balance between competition and solidarity in order to assure political and social acceptance of globalization.

Offering a fresh take on a crucial phase of European history, this book explores the years between the 1980s and 1990s when the European Union took shape. Whilst contributing to existing literature on the Maastricht Treaty and European integration at the end of the twentieth century, the book also brings those debates into the twenty-first century and makes connections with longer-term issues. The transformation of the European political climate in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008, and the watershed Brexit vote in 2016, has made it all the more urgent to reconsider the way scholars and opinion-makers have looked at European integration in the past. Drawing from recently released archival documents, the authors analyse European cooperation as part of the broader international history in which it unfolded, taking into account the changes in the Cold War order and the advance of a new phase of globalisation. Comparing and contrasting the debates, objectives and achievements of the 1980s and 1990s with the current political landscape of the European Union, this book proposes a novel interpretation of the choices that were made during the Maastricht years, and of their longer-term consequences.

The financial crisis of 2007-9 prompted many to ask how financial systems from America and Iceland to Russia and Hungary could have been so misgoverned that their near collapse plunged the entire world into recession. Randall Germain assess what needs to be done, and by whom, to avoid a repetition of what he calls the 'great freeze'.

This book focuses on the construction of the economic policies of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and its institutions. It reviews the faltering economic performance of the EMU countries before and after the onset of the financial crisis. It exposes the shortcomings and design faults of the EMU project on fiscal and monetary policies under the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and now the 'fiscal compact'. It critically examines the labour market agenda of the EMU and argues for avoidance of the neo-liberal employment policies being advocated. It proposes an alternative policy agenda for a sustainable currency union, and asks whether a currency union can be sustained without de facto political union.

This book is a collection of research papers that contribute to the understanding of ongoing developments in financial institutions and markets both in the United States and globally.

Euro Crash diagnoses the three fatal design flaws in EMU as constructed by the Maastricht Treaty and analyses future likely monetary scenarios for Europe, demonstrating how the best of these would be the creation of a new narrow monetary union between France and Germany founded on strict monetarist principle and without a European Central Bank.

This interdisciplinary volume probes the economic and political impact of both, the 2008-09 financial-economic crisis and the subsequent sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Basing their analysis on a well-researched depiction of the origins and scope of the crisis, leading experts from Europe and North America critically examine its potentially destabilizing political effects. These include questions on the capacity of the European Union to respond swiftly and effectively, challenges to key EU policy commitments (such as climate change and anti-protectionist trade policies), and the manner in which potentially discontent electorates hold their leaders to account. This volume is unique in devoting special attention to the post-communist states, both those that have joined the European Union as well as Russia, and suggests that a global crisis of this type does not respect traditional political or economic boundaries, but rather that it has effects at the regional, national and supranational level. By extending the geographic scope, the authors address important questions about why some countries have suffered more that others and what the crisis will mean for the future shape of Europe.

International Business and Institutions after the Financial Crisis provides an in-depth discussion and offers new insights concerning the ways in which firms from developed and developing countries are performing in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This book examines various issues from different viewpoints, particularly that of institutions, and draws on research conducted in different country settings. This book examines various issues from different viewpoints, particularly that of institutions, and draws on research conducted in different country settings.

Housing markets were at the centre of the recent global financial turmoil. In this study, a multidisciplinary group of leading housing analysts from the USA, Europe, Asia and Australasia explore the impact of the crisis within and between countries.

The book by Christian Schweiger helps understand the processes currently taking place within the European Union, which result from the economic crisis. They concern the transformations within economic and social models taking place in the Member States. The uniqueness of this publication consists in the fact that the author confronted many of his opinions in the debates with researchers and experts from the states and regions he describes. Having read the book, one can only hope, but also be certain, that the European Union still has a future ahead.' - Maciej Duszczyk - Institute of Social Policy, University of Warsaw, Poland'This stimulating and well-argued book examines the areas relevant within the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) debate such as employment-related institutions and policies including the welfare state, and fiscal and monetary policies. Schweiger's focus on the different VoC in Europe could not be timelier. Engaging in fundamental current European economic policy-related issues, this excellent book is a must read for scholars, policy advocates and students in the field.' - Lothar Funk, University of Applied Sciences, Dusseldorf, Germany The EU And The Global Financial Crisis analyses the emerging new political economy of the EU Single Market in the wake of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. The crisis has initiated a new wave of functionalist spillover towards deeper integration in the eurozone, which in effect divides the EU into multiple integrative cores. Providing the first comprehensive examination of the emerging policy framework in the EU and the eurozone after the global financial crisis, this rigorous study applies a neofunctionalist approach to the analysis of the crisis implications by considering the emergence of the system of multiple cores in the EU as a result of the return of political spillover. It outlines the EU's post-crisis varieties of capitalism and examines the effects of the financial crisis on selected key economies in the Single Market. This authoritative book offers a complete breakdown of the EU's political economy in the wake of the global financial crisis and will therefore appeal to students of European politics, international political economy and European studies, as well as policy-makers and other stakeholders. Contents: Part I: The EU Policy Frameworks under Stress 1. Varieties of Capitalism and the Crisis 2. From Deregulation Towards 'Smart' Regulation 3. Europe 2020 and the Eurozone Crisis: A New Functionalist Era? Part II: National Varieties of Economic and Social Models in the EU-27 4. The United Kingdom - Still the Liberal Model? 5. Germany: The Modell Deutschland between Stagnation and Reform 6. The New Crisis Paradigm: The GIIPS Countries 7. Central and Eastern Europe: From Transition Towards New Risk 8. The New Varieties of Capitalism and the Future of the European Social Model Index

The financial difficulties experienced by Greece since 2009 serve as a reminder that countries (i.e., sovereigns) may default on their debt. Many observers considered the financial turmoil was behind us because major advanced countries had adopted stimulus packages to prevent banks from going bankrupt. However, there are rising doubts about the creditworthiness of several advanced countries that participated in the bailouts. In this uncertain context, it is particularly crucial to be knowledgeable about sovereign ratings. This book provides the necessary broad overview, which will be of interest to both economists and investors alike. Chapter 1 presents the main issues that are addressed in this book. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 provide the key notions to understand sovereign ratings. Chapter 2 presents an overview of sovereign rating activity since the first such ratings were assigned in 1918. Chapter 3 analyzes the meaning of sovereign ratings and the significance of rating scales; it also describes the refinement of credit rating policies and tools. Chapter 4 focuses on the sovereign rating process. Chapters 5 and 6 open the black box of sovereign ratings. Chapter 5 compares sovereign rating methodologies in the interwar years with those in the modern era. After examining how rating agencies have amended their methodologies since the 1990s, Chapter 6 scrutinizes rating disagreements between credit rating agencies (CRAs). Chapters 7 and 8 measure the performances of sovereign ratings by computing default rates and accuracy ratios: Chapter 7 looks at the interwar years and Chapter 8 at the modern era. The two chapters assess which CRA assigns the most accurate ratings during the respective periods. Chapters 9 and 10 compare the perception of sovereign risk by the CRAs and market participants. Chapter 9 focuses on the relation between JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Global spreads and emerging countries' sovereign ratings for the period 1993-2007. Chapter 10 compares the eurozone members' sovereign ratings with Credit Default Swap-Implied Ratings (CDS-IRs) during the Greek debt crisis of November 2009-May 2010.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

'Superb' - Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up Money is essential to the economy and how we live our lives, yet is inherently worthless. We can use it to build a home or send us to space, and it can lead to the rise and fall of empires. Few innovations have had such a huge impact on the development of humanity, but money is a shared fiction; a story we believe in so long as others act as if it is true. Money is rarely out of the headlines - from the invention of cryptocurrencies to the problem of high inflation, extraordinary interventions by central banks and the power the West has over the worldwide banking system. In Money in One Lesson, Gavin Jackson answers the most important questions on what money is and how it shapes our world, drawing on vivid examples from throughout history to demystify and show how societies and its citizens, both past and present, are always entwined with matters of money. 'A highly illuminating, well-researched and beautifully written book on one of humanity's most important innovations' - Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times

Shelton investigates the conditionality regime directed at 'transforming societies' inside EU candidate states. He offers a new understanding of conditionality that incorporates the social and subjective dimensions of the 'European project', locating the ambitions and limits of conditionality in the ideas of political economy.

In light of demographic change and the growing problems of traditional old-age security systems, this book discusses two essential instruments in connection with privately providing for old-age security: (1) savings in private pension schemes and (2) building up equity for home-ownership. Further, it assesses the relationship between the two instruments and offers a unique overview of the latest market developments. In order to represent the profound differences between the individual member states of the EU, this book features six country-specific studies - covering Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom - that provide detailed insights into the complexity of local private pension schemes, mortgage markets, and housing markets. Lastly, the book discusses public policies and fiscal incentives intended to better integrate residential property with private pensions. It will appeal to both, private households seeking to build up old-age security, as well as policy makers interested in providing secure pension schemes.