As small, open economies the Nordic states have always been more dependent on foreign trade than larger powers, and have thus had a historic preference for free trade. But during the inter-war period the Nordic countries were squeezed between powerful and aggressive trading partners: above all Great Britain and Germany. Although the period between the end of the First World War and 1929 was marked by a return to a liberal world economy, the Great Depression ushered in a decade of protectionism. The bilateralisation of international trade was especially evident after Britain s Ottawa treaties in 1932 and the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Their dependence on trade with Britain and Germany meant that the Nordic countries were exposed to the full force of British and German bilateralism.

The paradox is that in spite of international trade wars and regulated exchange the Nordic countries managed better than other European states during the interwar period, and that the Great Depression was not as deep or long lasting as in other countries. The chapters in this book discuss why and how this rather successful Nordic experience was achieved. The topics covered include commercial and monetary policies but also important industries such as forestry, agriculture and fishing. Many of the chapters are comparative and discuss economic developments in two or more Nordic countries."

Financial Systems at the Crossroads: Lessons for China is written by leading financial experts to study the causes of financial disasters internationally. The research team is drawn from the global research networks of three leading universities: the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the School of Economics at Fudan University, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.This review volume identifies the regulatory framework to guide the emergence of efficient financial institutions that are prudent; and to specify the required institutional mechanisms to prevent and resolve systemic collapse. It examines the specific circumstances of China to come up with a comprehensive agenda to reform China's financial sector. It provides in-depth analysis of China's financial industry to show its future evolution and offers lessons for developing a financial system that is efficient, innovative and resilient.

Financial Systems at the Crossroads: Lessons for China is written by leading financial experts to study the causes of financial disasters internationally. The research team is drawn from the global research networks of three leading universities: the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the School of Economics at Fudan University, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.This review volume identifies the regulatory framework to guide the emergence of efficient financial institutions that are prudent; and to specify the required institutional mechanisms to prevent and resolve systemic collapse. It examines the specific circumstances of China to come up with a comprehensive agenda to reform China's financial sector. It provides in-depth analysis of China's financial industry to show its future evolution and offers lessons for developing a financial system that is efficient, innovative and resilient.

Despite prognostications of the "end of history," the 21st century has posed new challenges and a host of global crises. This book takes up the current global economic crisis in relation to new and changing dynamics of territory, authority, and rights in today's global system. The authors explore long simmering conflicts in comparative perspective, including settler colonialism in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine. They discuss indigenous struggles against environmental land grabs and related destruction of indigenous lands by the US nuclear weapons complex. The book uniquely considers the sacred in the context of the global system, including struggles of Latina/o farm workers in the U.S. for social justice and for change in the Catholic Church. Other chapters examine questions of civilizations and identity in the contemporary global system, as well as the role of world-regions.

The banking crisis in 2007-10 was one amongst many such crises in the past. This book provides a fresh approach to liquidity. It starts from basics and gradually builds up analysis of credit lines with few technicalities. Though the analysis is theoretical, the book provides a historical background, a macroeconomic perspective, and policy implications. An integrated view of the pre-1983 and the post-1983 literature is provided. A solution to the related problem of sudden outflow of funds from emerging economies is also suggested.

The great financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing global economic and financial turmoil have launched a search for "models" for recovery. The advocates of austerity present the Baltic States as countries that through discipline and sacrifice showed the way out of crisis. They have proposed the "Baltic model" of radical public sector cuts, wage reductions, labor market reforms and reductions in living standards for other troubled Eurozone countries to emulate. Yet, the reality of the Baltic "austerity fix" has been neither fully accepted by its peoples, nor is it fully a success. This book explains why and what are the real social and economic costs of the Baltic austerity model. We examine each of the Baltic States by connecting national level studies within a European and global political economy, thereby delivering comparative breadth that supersedes localized understandings of the crisis. Thus for each of the three Baltic states, individual chapters explore the different economic and social dimensions of neo-liberal post-communism and the subsequent wider global economic and financial crisis in which these newly financialized economies have found themselves especially vulnerable. The "austerity model" adopted by Baltic national governments in response to the crisis reveals the profound vulnerabilities created by their unwavering commitment to liberalized economies, not least in terms of the significant "exit" of their labor forces and consequent population loss. This book looks beyond basic financial metrics claiming a success story for the Baltic austerity model to reveal the damaging economic and social consequences, first of neo-liberal policies adopted during transition, and latterly of austerity measures based on "internal devaluation." Combined these policies undermine the possibility of longer-term recovery and even social and economic sustainability, not to mention prospects for successful integration in the now-faltering European project that has departed from its "Social Model" roots.

This book offers a critical engagement with languages that describe, perpetuate, respond to, and resist economic crises. Unlike many volumes on economic crises that offer economistic explanations of their causes or policy suggestions for their resolution, this collection explores the different types of language used to deal with complex economic phenomena. The chapters in this volume examine a range of connections between language and crises: from the metaphors used historically to describe economic crises, to the languages deployed within periods of crises and economic struggle, to the popular responses thereto (including political manifestations and worker-organized enterprises). Also considered are the implications for democratic participation and gender relations, and the lack of language to express economic experience amongst certain groups. With essays from seven contributors representing five different countries, this collection has global relevance in a time marked by economic volatility and upheaval, and will serve as a valuable resource for those interested in the politics of language, economic discourse and the epistemological complexities of economic crises. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Cultural Economy.

The 2008 global financial crisis took the world by surprise, not least because politicians, businessmen and economists believed that they had learned crucial lessons from the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a direct result of deregulated financial markets, financial crises occurred in both developed and developing economies. However, this volume argues that in the most recent crisis developing countries suffered less, and that financial policy and regulation played a crucial part in this. The contributors to this volume explore the alternative development paradigm that has been gaining credence since the Asian crisis, known as new developmentalism. New developmentalism is embodied in the following principles: exchange rate responsibility or growth with domestic savings, fiscal responsibility, and the assignment of a strategic role for the state. New developmentalism is a set of values, ideas, institutions and economic policies through which, in the early 21st century, developing countries have sought to catch up with developed countries. This book examines the global financial crisis, the financial regulatory problem, with particular emphasis on Brazil, and the alternative policies that derive from new developmentalism. This volume will be of interest to scholars and policymakers working in the areas of globalization, financial regulation and development studies.

Debt crises have placed strains not only on the European Union's nascent federal system but also on the federal system in the United States. Old confrontations over fiscal responsibility are being renewed, often in a more virulent form, in places as far flung as Detroit, Michigan, and Valencia, Spain, to say nothing of Greece and Cyprus. Increasing the complexity of the issue has been public sector collective bargaining, now a component of most federal systems. The attendant political controversies have become the debate of a generation. Paul Peterson and Daniel Nadler have assembled experts from both sides of the Atlantic to break down the structural flaws in federal systems of government that have led to economic and political turmoil. Proposed solutions offer ways to preserve and restore vibrant federal systems that meet the needs of communities struggling for survival in an increasingly unified global economy. Contributors: Andrew G. Biggs (American Enterprise Institute); Cesar Colino (National Distance Education University, Madrid, Spain); Eloisa del Pino (Instituto de Politicas y Bienes Publicos, Madrid, Spain); Henrik Enderlein (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany); Cory Koedel (University of Missouri, USA); Carlos Xabel Lastra-Anadon (Harvard University, USA); Daniel Nadler (Harvard University, USA); Shawn Ni (University of Missouri, USA); Amy Nugent (Government of Ontario, Canada); James Pearce (Mowat Centre, University of Toronto, Canada); Paul E. Peterson (Harvard University, USA); Michael Podgursky (University of Missouri, USA); Jason Richwine (Washington, D.C. USA); Jonathan Rodden (Stanford University, USA); Daniel Shoag (Harvard University, USA); Richard Simeon (University of Toronto, Canada); Camillo von Muller (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Leuphana University, Germany); Daniel Ziblatt (Harvard University, USA)

This book addresses the viability of the EU economic and social model within and after the global economic crisis. It identifies four key issues which warrant further discussion and its contributions offer two perspectives on each of the four main issues: the asymmetry of the legal and policy framework of the euro and how this should be recalibrated; substantive tensions in the EU integration project between the Treaties' 'economic constitution' and the normative aims of social policy and inclusion and their impact on national policy, the role of civil society, including the two sides of industry in overcoming these tensions and the EU's global aspirations towards the creation of a viable socio-economic model.In drawing these debates together, the book provides a broad understanding as well as starting points for future research.Bringing together different disciplinary approaches, ranging from legal studies to political economy, sociology and macroeconomics, it is a valuable contribution to the debate on the European social model and introduces new insights by focusing on legal and political tensions, the impact of the financial crisis and other economic contexts as well as global dimensions.

The two most topical issues in current financial markets deal with the causes of the recent financial crisis and the means to prevent future crises. This book addresses the latter and stresses a major shift in most countries toward a better understanding of financial stability and how it can be achieved. In particular, the papers in this volume examine the recent change in emphasis at central banks with regard to financial stability. For example: What were the cross-country differences in emphasis on financial stability in the past? Did these differences appear to affect the extent of the adverse impact of the financial crisis on individual countries? What are perceived to be the major future threats to financial stability? These and related issues are discussed in the book by well-known experts in the field - some of the best minds in the world pursuing financial stability. Following the global financial crisis, significant reforms have been initiated in many countries to address financial stability more directly, frequently focusing on macroprudential policy frameworks in which central banks play a more active role.

As interest in financial markets intensifies, stimulated by the financial crisis of the early twenty-first century, this book aims to enrich our understanding of the workings and history of financial centres in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the determinants of their success and failure.
The book brings together leading authorities in the field to examine the direction of international capital flows historically in light of the nature of the banking system, market organization, the regulatory framework, and contextual political and diplomatic factors. Contributions discuss competition, collaboration, withdrawal, and re-emergence of financial centres in Europe, America, and Asia over the past two centuries.
Written from a historical perspective but taking full account of recent studies in financial economics, the book, with contributions from leading international scholars, provides new research and approaches to a highly topical issue and sheds light on the recent financial crisis and its aftermath.

This book is a major contribution exploring the policy options available for developing and emerging economies in response to the global economic crises. Written by a highly respected development economist, the book gives a clear-eyed account of the issues particular to these countries and critically evaluates different policy approaches, including reforms in financial, monetary and trade policies. Informed by deep scholarship as well as practical experience, Yilmaz Akyuz draws on empirical data, historical context and theoretical expertise, with special attention paid to issues such as the role of the International Monetary Fund and China. The Financial Crisis and the Global South is a landmark book that will be of interest to practitioners, scholars, theorists and students of economics and development studies.

This book explores the way in which the financial crisis that began in the US spread to the economy of the European Union. It takes a critical look at the measures adopted by EU institutions in response to that crisis, seeking to explain the rationale behind them, their context, their development and why different exit strategies were not adopted. In doing this, the book makes comparisons with the measures adopted by institutions in the US and the UK. As the crisis has shown that the financial supervision frameworks prevailing in 2007 were not fully able to deal with the largest financial crisis in history, this volume also reviews the proposals that have been designed to reform the supervisory architecture in financial services in the EU. The book concludes that the EU member states under most pressure from financial markets do suffer from intrinsic problems, but that the economic effects of the crisis have been exacerbated by shortcomings in economic governance within the EU. This work will be highly relevant to policy makers and scholars looking at EU integration, finance and market regulation.

In Debtor Protection in American and European Union Bankruptcy Law, international law scholar Dimitris Liakopulos raises a delicate issue at the foundations of the modern banking system by analyzing US bankruptcy law with a focus on the concept of automatic stay. His work identifies legal sources and authorities having repercussions in terms of operational protection. It then examines their functional profiles, with specific regard to procedure. The book then examines criminal exposure in US bankruptcy law, paying particular attention to crime figures closer to those contained in American bankruptcy law. The book's third part assesses the lack of a discipline in these areas, a cumbersome gap observable at both the international and regional levels. The financial crisis of 2008 recalled the necessity and importance of a coordinated and usable crisis resolution mechanism for large financial conglomerates. The lack of discipline in the field of cross-border insolvency, and especially in the banking sector, stands out among studies and legislative instruments that have attempted to address questions of private international law, and of procedural law or of substantive law.

From the mid-1980s, investors in the US increasingly directed capital towards the financial sector at the expense of non-financial sectors, lured by the perception of higher profits. This flow of capital inflated asset prices, creating the stock market and housing bubbles which burst when the imbalance between stagnant incomes and rising debts triggered the banking meltdown. Profitability and the Great Recession analyses these trends in profitability and capital accumulation, which the authors identify as the root cause of the financial crisis, in the context of the US and other major OECD countries. Drawing on insights from Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, the authors interpret the relationship between capital accumulation and profitability trends through the conceptual lens of classical political economy. The book provides extensive empirical evidence of declining rates of US non-financial corporate accumulations from the mid-1960s and profitability trends in that sector falling from post-war highs. In contrast to this, it is shown that there was a vigorous rise of profitability in the financial sector from a 1982 trough to the early part of the twenty-first century, which led to the bloating of that sector. The authors conclude that the long-term falling accumulation trend in the non-financial corporate sector, highlighted by the bankruptcy of major automobile corporations, stands out as the underlying force that transformed the financial crisis into a fully-fledged Great Recession. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the areas of economics, political economy, business and finance.

Financial crises are dramatic events. When they emerge, they tend to dominate the attention of the press and become the focus of policymakers. In one form or another, they have affected the lives of millions of people throughout the world. As references to 16th century Dutch tulips, 18th South Seas merchant ventures, or 1920s Florida real estate make clear, they have been around for a long time. At their worst, such as in the cases of the Great Depression or the current Great Recession, their effects have been felt worldwide, with the number of people affected counted into the billions. They have at times changed the course of history.

This book analyses ten of the most important financial crises of the last thirty years. The specific crises covered in the book are the 1982 Chilean crisis, the 1992 ERM crisis, the 1994 Mexican crisis, the 1997 Asian crisis, the 1998 Russian crisis, the 1999 Brazilian crisis, the 1999 Ecuadorian crisis, the 2000 Turkish crisis, the 2002 Argentine crisis, and the 2008 crisis in Iceland. The set includes the most important emerging-market crises of the last three decades as well as two particularly informative advanced-country crises, the ERM crisis of 1992 and the Icelandic crisis of 2008. A separate chapter is devoted to each crisis, and a brief concluding chapter sums up some of the key lessons that I believe that we can draw from these events.

This book analyzes the adverse effects of globalization and liberalization - acutely manifest in the increased financialization of capital and the concomitant global financial crisis of 2008-09 - on the labour force, especially in the developing countries. Drawing upon case studies from several countries including India, Columbia, Malawi, Brazil and Thailand, it highlights the worsening plight of working class as a whole and informal labour in particular. The essays examine issues such as down-sizing, lowering of wages, insecurity and erosion of labour rights, and show how labour is grappling with the situation. The volume critically re-assesses varied aspects of the growing informal sector: its dubious credential as an employment provider during crises; its non-adherence to internationally recognized standards of decent work; the problems and potential of workers' unions; and the need for a regulatory regime. It also discusses changes in the Indian labour market induced by business environment and technology as well as its future dynamics. Presenting a historical review of labour markets, the work explores the deregulation wave under the globalization of 1980s and the interactions between existing unstable asset markets and labour markets. The book will prove especially useful to students and scholars in economics, labour studies and sociology, and those engaged in public policy and governance.

What would Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Truman, and Eisenhower have done about today's federal debt crisis?America's Fiscal Constitution tells the remarkable story of fiscal heroes who imposed clear limits on the use of federal debt, limits that for two centuries were part of an unwritten constitution. Those national leaders borrowed only for extraordinary purposes and relied on well-defined budget practices to balance federal spending and revenues. That traditional fiscal constitution collapsed in 2001. Afterward,for the first time in history,federal elected officials cut taxes during war, funded permanent new programs entirely with debt, grew dependent on foreign creditors, and claimed that the economy could not thrive without routine federal borrowing.For most of the nation's history, conservatives fought to restrain the growth of government by insisting that new programs be paid for with taxation, while progressives sought to preserve opportunities for people on the way up by balancing budgets. Virtually all mainstream politicians recognized that excessive debt could jeopardize private investment and national independence.With original scholarship and the benefit of experience in finance and public service, Bill White dispels common budget myths and distills practical lessons from the nation's five previous spikes in debt. America's Fiscal Constitution offers an objective and hopeful guide for people trying to make sense of the nation's current, most severe, debt crisis and its impact on their lives and our future.

The contributions to this edited collection, first published in 1983, are based on two underlying themes. The first examines the major recession that took hold of the global economy during the 1980s and assesses its effects on key areas of social structure, including political and economic democracy and trade union representation. The second theme considers the limitations of state intervention in such changing circumstances, with particular reference to the welfare state. This is a comprehensive title, which is of great relevance to those with an interest in the current global economic situation and the potential impact of this on the welfare state and class structure.

All Fall Down traces the ways in which changes in financial structure and regulation eroded monetary control and led to historically high levels of debt relative to GDP in both developed and emerging economies. Rising stocks of debt drove the global financial system into crisis in 2008 when households, businesses, financial institutions and the public sector in some countries strained to generate sufficient income for debt service. The stagnation and fall in asset prices that followed began the process of unwinding that led to a run on the financial sector by the financial sector. This engaging examination describes critical developments that changed the structure of US financial markets as well as developments and innovations in US credit markets that created the context for crisis. It discusses the advent of dollar hegemony, the critical role of international reserves in generating credit, the emergence of the debt bubble in the 1980s and the mounting risks of debt in the new millennium. The author also proposes a systemic approach to monetary control, offering two new reform proposals. The analysis concludes that reforms are needed in order to support sustainable economic activity in the US and global economies. This volume will appeal to students and scholars of economics interested in international finance and banking, financial regulation and monetary policy implementation. It will also be of interest to business economists, lawyers, policymakers and journalists concerned with the effects of financial instability and involved in ongoing debates on financial and monetary reform.

Four years have passed since the onset of the 2008 global crisis, and although some believe that there may be a second down draft soon, attention has shifted from crisis narration to assessing lessons essential for preventing or managing recurrences. The exercise is worthy, but there is always the danger of preparing for the last war when the next attack takes another form. Prevention and Crisis Management addresses this problem by highlighting the future threat to Asia from a broader perspective that takes account of the Japanese and Asian financial crises during the 1990s as well as the global crisis of 2008. The enlarged framework turns out to be illuminating for two distinct reasons. First, it reveals that Asian crises take many diverse forms, and second, the solutions devised to date have only been locally and not universally effective. Policymakers are accordingly advised to always plan for the element of surprise.

This book analyses the major economic crisis that began in 20078 and continues in 2013. Carles Manera explains that it is not just a financial crisis, caused primarily by the banking sector, as many commentators claim, but a systemic crisis caused in part by overproduction, falls in business profits, environmental problems, and a stubborn insistence by political and monetary authorities on economic policies driven by austerity. Providing examples from the economic history of western nations, which provide economists and social scientists with essential reference for understanding the complexities behind this Great Recession, the author proposes economic solutions to end the crisis that are at odds with policies proposed and acted on by major European governments, led by Germany. Manera thus adopts a heterodox approach -- a "subversive view -- making this book stand out not only from governmental economic policy-making but taking a stance far from conventional academic literature on economics. Professor Manera is highly critical of the economic policy coming out of Berlin and Brussels, in which ultra-neoliberal orthodoxy is the predominant form of economic action. He is of the firm opinion that this wrong path will only prolong the crisis for the most vulnerable members of society and for the middle classes, which make up the economic consumer power-house of the European economy. A prime objective of the work is foster a committed viewpoint and engagement by all European nation states whereby Germany should lead Europe out of this Great Recession (rather than leading Germany only out) and that the European Central Bank should broaden substantively its objectives and concentrate on policies that support economic growth. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.

This edited volume presents the most recent achievements in risk measurement and management, as well as regulation of the financial industry, with contributions from prominent scholars and practitioners such as Robert Engle, 2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Viral Acharya, Torben Andersen, Zvi Bodie, Menachem Brenner, Aswath Damodaran, Marti Subrahmanyam, William Ziemba and others. The book provides a comprehensive overview of recent emerging standards in risk management from an interdisciplinary perspective. Individual chapters expound on the theme of standards setting in this era of financial crises where new and unseen global risks have emerged. They are organized in a such a way that allows the reader a broad perspective of the new emerging standards in macro, systemic and sovereign risk before zooming into the micro perspective of how risk is conceived and treated within a corporation. A section is dedicated to credit risk and to the increased importance of liquidity both in financial systems and at the firm's level.

This book examines the need for greater East Asian cooperation and the challenges to this grand endeavor. With differing national outlooks, how can East Asia preserve peace, prosperity and stability amidst geopolitical competition? To answer this question, the volume examines the political and economic relations between Beijing and its neighbors against the backdrop of two trends: the power shift from the West to the East in the aftermath of the American Financial Crisis and the ongoing eurozone crisis, as well as the rise of China.