The law of secured transactions has seen dramatic changes in the last decade. International organisations, particularly the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), have been working towards the creation of international legal standards aimed at the modernisation and harmonisation of secured financing laws (eg, the United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade, the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions and its Intellectual Property Supplement, the UNCITRAL Guide on the Implementation of a Security Rights Registry and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions). The overall theme of this book is international (or cross-border) secured transactions law. It assembles contributions from some of the most authoritative academic voices on secured financing law. This publication will be of interest to those involved in secured transactions around the world, including policy-makers, practitioners, judges, arbitrators and academics.

The maintenance of financial stability is a key objective of monetary policy, but the record of regulators in achieving this has been lamentable in recent years. This failure has been matched by an equivalent inability to establish an appropriate theoretical basis for financial regulation. In this book, the authors demonstrate how to enhance the theory, modeling and practice of such regulation. The main determinant of financial instability is the default of financial institutions. The authors highlight the importance of the appropriate incorporation of default into macro-financial models and its interaction with liquidity. Besides covering the historical development and current stance of financial regulation, the book includes a number of policy-oriented chapters revealing how the authors' modeling approach can improve the process. This authoritative book will serve as a basis for future work on financial stability management for both academics and policy makers and provide guidance on how to undertake crisis prevention and resolution.

Gordon Brown was a past-master at sneaking in new taxes by stealth, but his efforts as Chancellor and then Prime Minister were merely the latest in a long line of party leaders desperate to extract more money from reluctant taxpayers. This book challenges the need for government to resort to such underhand practices which undermine the economy, killing the goose which lays the golden eggs, and the integrity of the political process. The author argues that not only does taxation flout the principle of private property, but it 'is a primal cause of both inflation and unemployment. Regardless of this, the freely elected governments of contemporary trading economies - with the acquiescence of their electorates - persist in raising the major part, if not all, of their revenues by means of taxation. The immediate cause of such action by governments...is ignorance of any acceptable alternative method of raising sufficient public revenue.' Burgess shows how the development of Keynes' general theory of employment 'leads to the conclusion that an open trading economy is likely to be most competitive, and therefore most prosperous, only when taxation is abolished' - but government must be funded. How can this be done without taxation? To provide an answer he refines Alfred Marshall's distinction between the public and private value of property to reveal an alternative, peculiarly public source of revenue. Unlike a tax, defined by a former Labour Chancellor, Hugh Dalton, as 'a compulsory contribution imposed by a public authority, irrespective of the exact amount of service rendered to the taxpayer in return', the 'public value' identified by Marshall would deliver an exact equivalence between the benefits enjoyed and the amount paid. On the basis of this widely accepted definition, therefore, it is not a tax but the price for services rendered like any other transaction - the price fixed by the market. The author shows how reform may be introduced with a minimum of disruption, so that politicians with an eye to re-election can achieve measurable results during the lifetime of a parliament.

The Research Handbook on Central Banking focuses on global central banks as institutions and not abstractions, providing historical and practical detail about how central banks work and the challenges they face. This Research Handbook offers the most interdisciplinary treatment of global central banks published to date by addressing key questions regarding where they come from, how they have changed, and the challenges they face during uncertain times. Divided into two parts, the Research Handbook firstly takes readers on a global tour, covering central banks in the US, Latin America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, China, Africa, and more. In the second part, authors delve into themes of broad application, including transparency, independence, unconventional monetary policy, payment systems, and crisis response. The interdisciplinary mix of contributors include some of the most prominent names in central banking as well as a new generation of scholars who are shaping the conversation about central banks and their role in global politics, economics, and society at large. Interdisciplinary and innovative, this Research Handbook will prove essential reading for scholars focusing on central banks, financial regulation, global governance, and related areas, as well as for central bankers and employees at central banks. Contributors include: C. Adam, K. Alexander, A. Berg, R. Bhala, D. Bholat, C. Borio, F. Capie, P. Conti-Brown, R. Darbyshire, F. Decker, B. Geva, C. Goodhart, A.G. Haldane, L.I. Jacome, H. James, J. Johnson, R.B. Kahn, H. Kanda, C. Kaufmann, R.M. Lastra, X. Liu, S. McCracken, E.E. Meade, S.T. Omarova, R. Portillo, M. Raskin, A.L. Riso, R. Smits, P. Tucker, F. Unsal, R.H. Weber, G. Wood, T. Yamanaka, D. Yermack, A. Zabai, Z. Zhou, C. Zilioli

The achievement of financial stability is one of the most pressing issues today. This timely and innovative book provides an analytical framework to assess financial (in)stability as an equilibrium phenomenon compatible with the orderly functioning of a modern market economy. The authors expertly show how good regulatory policy can be implemented and that its effects on the real as well as the nominal side of the economy can be properly analyzed. The core of their approach is to take realistic account of the interaction between endogenous default, agent heterogeneity and money and liquidity, and suggest how a quantifiable metric of financial fragility could be developed. This insightful book will serve as a basis for future work on financial stability management for both academics and policy makers and provide guidance on how to undertake crisis prevention and resolution.

This up-to-date book takes a fresh look at regulation and risk and argues that the allure of regulation lies in its capacity to reduce risk while preserving the benefits of trade, travel and commerce. Regulation appears as a politically attractive, targeted and effective way to ensure that disasters of the past are not repeated. Diverse challenges are tackled through regulatory means - including the industrial, financial and terrorist-related hazards analyzed in this book. Fiona Haines' empirical work shows, however, that regulation attempts to reduce risks beyond their stated remit of preventing future disaster. Her analysis reveals a complex nexus between risk and regulation where fulfilment of regulatory potential depends on managing three fundamentally different types of risk: actuarial, socio-cultural and political. This complex risk management task affects both reform and compliance efforts, generating tension and paradoxical outcomes. Nonetheless, Haines argues, enhancing political legitimacy and public reassurance are central, not peripheral, to successful regulation. This insightful book will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate researchers working in regulation across law, politics, sociology, criminology and public management. Masters of public management, MBA students, public administrators and regulators, as well as political commentators, will also find this book invaluable.