This edited volume analyses how EU membership influenced the convergence process of member countries in the Baltics, Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. It also explores countries that are candidates for future EU membership. The speed of convergence of significant groups of low- and medium-income countries has never been as fast globally as it is today. Contributions by lead researchers of the area explore whether these countries are converging faster than their fundamentals and global trends would suggest because of EU membership, with its much tighter institutional and political anchorage

Reformation of Econometrics is a sequel to The Formation of Econometrics: A Historical Perspective (1993, OUP) which traces the formation of econometric theory during the period 1930-1960. This book provides an account of the advances in the field of econometrics since the 1970s. Based on original research, it focuses on the reformists' movement and schools of thought and practices that attempted a paradigm shift in econometrics in the 1970s and 1980s. It describes the formation and consolidation of the Cowles Commission (CC) paradigm and traces and analyses the three major methodological attempts to resolve problems involved in model choice and specification of the CC paradigm. These attempts have reoriented the focus of econometric research from internal questions (how to optimally estimate a priori given structural parameters) to external questions (how to choose, design, and specify models). It also examines various modelling issues and problems through two case studies - modelling the Phillips curve and business cycles. The third part of the book delves into the development of three key aspects of model specification in detail - structural parameters, error terms, and model selection and design procedures. The final chapter uses citation analyses to study the impact of the CC paradigm over the span of three and half decades (1970-2005). The citation statistics show that the impact has remained extensive and relatively strong in spite of certain weakening signs. It implies that the reformative attempts have fallen short of causing a paradigm shift.

This book provides a unique study of the differences in economic behaviour according to the phases of the economic cycle in the countries of the European Union. It presents a comprehensive analysis of asymmetry in the EU over the last forty years, and shows that the problems in the global financial crisis were readily predictable.
The authors use empirical research and panel data to show how much economic behaviour changes between the up and down phases of the business cycle, and the difficulties this creates for monetary, fiscal and labour market policies. The volume demonstrates how prescient the asymmetric design of the Stability and Growth Pact was in trying to offset countries understandable optimism in fiscal policy, and the consequent tendency not to manage debt successfully. It also reveals the inherent problems for managing unemployment in an asymmetric labour market.

This study evaluates the state-initiated policies in post-1965 Zaire and their impact on the Zairean people. The author ascertains the overt and underlying relevancy of the priority that the state has accorded the agricultural and rural sector for socioeconomic development, and he examines the indicators provided by conventional agricultural and rural development theories. These indicators show that the sector has not received sufficient financial support and has lacked the political will to obtain the assigned goals. Thus, the author claims, the basic objective of the agricultural and rural policy has been political, not socioeconomic. The failure of the agricultural policy, the study suggests, is rooted in the nature and role of the state. In post-1965 Zaire, the state is a socialist political superstructure standing on a capitalist socioeconomic infrastructure. Both coexist with the traditional forms of production in the Zairean social structure. This incompatible juxtaposition of different systemic components engenders structural conflicts which work in favor of the few who hold key state offices. The study calls for the mastery of the state as the sine qua non without which Zaire will most likely remain in its present state of national and rural socioeconomic underdevelopment.

Banks are frequently considered usurers. Is it possible to talk about ethics when you analyse banking activity? This book focuses on this question and starts with the history and the philosophy. Philosophers like Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill proposed different theories about the need for ethics in finance. If we accept Mill's thought, the production of wealth in society is driven by the personal pursuit of profit. But - unfortunately - this does not, on its own, ensure collective well-being. It must be guided by a superior mechanism which transforms it into wealth for all. This introduces the role of financial institutions, which often have to comply with legal obligations. The book focuses on the role that these institutions have in supporting the 'ethical' use of money. The author analyses a number of cases in banks and the financial industry and discusses topics like anti-money laundering, anti-usury, islamic finance, microcredit and bank rescue systems, including not only best practices but also examples of unethical financial management.

This edited volume examines the development path of eight Central and Eastern European countries with an overlapping historical background that joined the European Union between 2004 and 2013, and identifies the main similarities and differences between the countries concerned. Based on wide comparative data analysis of Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, each chapter in the volume provides detailed information about the state of the economy in a specific area preceding the pandemic shock. The book offers a detailed snapshot of the state of the different areas of the economy, starting from the time when the countries concerned came out of the 2008 financial crisis, up to the date when COVID-19 hit. Further, each chapter analyzes the effects of this unprecedented shock on a particular field, which is followed by highlighting the main problems the countries are facing at present and in the near future, together with identifying the available policy options. Finally, before concluding and making general and country-specific policy recommendations, some thoughts will be given to longer-term prospects. More specifically, the question of how the subject area could contribute to avoiding the "middle-income-trap" that this region may be facing will be addressed. The comprehensive approach makes this volume a must-read for scholars and students of economics, as well as policy decision-makers in Europe, interested in a better understanding of the region's economic development.

"Really up-to-date...gives a fantastic overview of the financial crisis" Fabian Kreutzer, University of Applied Science Niederrhein, Germany "Extensive references to and content regarding crises. It's really amazing" Yioryos Georgios Makedonis, Queen Mary University of London Using real-world case studies and examples, this comprehensive text offers intermediate and applied macroeconomics students a truly European and global perspective. Continuing to successfully combine theory with application, Macroeconomics has been fully updated in this fifth edition to keep students up-to-date with the ever changing macroeconomic environment we are experiencing today. This book presents macroeconomics as an applied science designed to improve our understanding of current and past policy issues. The unique mix of theory, analysis and policy issues takes students from macroeconomic basics to cutting-edge research topics Includes case studies addressing major policy issues in detail, supported by a wealth of economic data Moves beyond standard intermediate macroeconomics content by discussing liquidity traps, quantitative easing, price bubbles, multiple equilibria, self-fulfilling prophecy, ratings agencies, debt brakes and austerity Self quizzes, road map, glossary and other content also available for mobile devices Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/gartner for a comprehensive companion website featuring interactive macroeconomic models equipped with guided exercises, state of the art data display and analysis, quizzes and more.

This book gathers several important texts to offer an overview of the institutionalist approach to money developed in France since the 1980s. This material highlights the specificities of the French monetary approaches and their main contributions to the understanding of monetary phenomena - not just in developed market economies but in other societies as well. By bringing these works to an English-speaking audience for the first time, this book will provide a much needed and valuable direct insight into this subject area and contribute to related post-Keynesian, neo-chartalist and sociological approaches to money. This book highlights the need for a global vision of money and for a clearer grasp of the link between money and the political sphere. It will appeal to students and researchers across various disciplines including but not limited to economics, anthropology, sociology, history and philosophy.

The book contributes to the growing literature pertaining to empirical and policy issues in international trade, foreign capital flows and issues in finance, implications for India and emerging economies related to trade and development interface, and analysis of sector level growth and development in India. Further, the focus is on the policy aspects of these themes and their role in fostering economic development in the context of India and other emerging market economies. The discourse focuses mainly on empirical work and econometric details. The relevant issues are investigated using state of the art techniques such as gravity models, panel co-integration, generalized hyperbolic distributions, SEM, FMOLS and Probit models. In addition, detailed literature survey, discussions on data availability, issues related to statistical estimation techniques and a theoretical background, ensure that each chapter significantly contributes to the ever-growing literature on international trade and capital flows. The readers shall find an engaging dialogue on the crucial role played by policy and the trade-capital flows-growth experience of emerging economies. The book is relevant for those who are interested in contemporary issues in trade, growth and finance as well as for students of advanced econometrics who may benefit from the analytical and econometric exposition. The empirical evidences provided here could serve as ready reference for academicians, researchers and policy makers, particularly in emerging economies facing similar challenges.

Today's financial system is considerably more complex than in years past, as new financial instruments have been introduced that are not well understood even by the people and institutions that invest in them. Numerous high-risk opportunities are available, and the number of people who unwittingly wander into such ventures seems to grow daily. There is also the realization that people's lives are affected by the financial system without their overt participation in it. Despite no active participation, pensions can be emasculated by a sudden decline in interest rates, or a rise in rates can increase the monthly payments on a mortgage, credit cards or other debt. This book looks at the history of the American banking system, including the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the implementation of deposit insurance, along with certain other provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Bretton-Woods agreements, the forces of technological innovation and the Dodd-Frank Act, passed by Congress in 2010 for regulatory reform. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate level students that want to gain a broad understanding of how the financial system works, why it is important to the economy as a whole, and what its strengths and weaknesses are. Also, readers should gain an understanding of what the Federal Reserve, other regulators and other central banks are doing, and will be in a position to critique their actions and say with some depth of understanding why they agree or disagree with them.

This edited volume takes a closer look at various European pension-plan models and the recent challenges, trends and predictions related to the design of such schemes. The contributors analyse new ideas, both from national governments and European institutions, and consider current debates on topics such as the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and the so-called 'European Pillar of Social Rights' - calling for a new approach to social policy at the European level in response to common challenges, such as ageing and the digital revolution.This interdisciplinary work embraces economic, financial and legal perspectives, while focusing on previously selected coherence aspects in order to ensure that the analyses are comprehensive and globally consistent.

The cooperation and contamination between mathematicians, statisticians and econometricians working in actuarial sciences and finance is improving the research on these topics and producing numerous meaningful scientific results. This volume presents new ideas, in the form of four- to six-page papers, presented at the International Conference eMAF2020 - Mathematical and Statistical Methods for Actuarial Sciences and Finance. Due to the now sadly famous COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held remotely through the Zoom platform offered by the Department of Economics of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice on September 18, 22 and 25, 2020. eMAF2020 is the ninth edition of an international biennial series of scientific meetings, started in 2004 at the initiative of the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Salerno. The effectiveness of this idea has been proven by wide participation in all editions, which have been held in Salerno (2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014), Venice (2008, 2012 and 2020), Paris (2016) and Madrid (2018). This book covers a wide variety of subjects: artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance and insurance, behavioral finance, credit risk methods and models, dynamic optimization in finance, financial data analytics, forecasting dynamics of actuarial and financial phenomena, foreign exchange markets, insurance models, interest rate models, longevity risk, models and methods for financial time series analysis, multivariate techniques for financial markets analysis, pension systems, portfolio selection and management, real-world finance, risk analysis and management, trading systems, and others. This volume is a valuable resource for academics, PhD students, practitioners, professionals and researchers. Moreover, it is also of interest to other readers with quantitative background knowledge.

This book is a collection of fifteen contributions that undertake a detailed analysis of seven broad dimensions of India's economy and society. All the contributions approach the problems in their respective areas empirically, while being theoretically informed. The book begins with a section containing detailed and empirically supported chapters on the recent crisis in India's agricultural sector and the reforms in the agricultural markets. Another section is dedicated to the issue of infrastructure financing, and new ways of financing large infrastructural projects are critically examined. Other sections are related to innovations and technology impacts on industry; international trade; health and education; labor and employment; and the very important issue of gender. The selected discussion topics are both of contemporary importance and expected to remain so for some time. Most of the chapters introduce readers to data in addition to methods of analyzing this data, to arrive at policy-oriented conclusions. The rich collection carries learnings for researchers working on a wide range of topics related to development studies, as well as for policymakers and corporate watchers.

This book offers a series of statistical tests to determine if the "crowd out" problem, known to hinder the effectiveness of Keynesian economic stimulus programs, can be overcome by monetary programs. It concludes there are programs that can do this, specifically "accommodative monetary policy." They were not used to any great extent prior to the Quantitative Easing program in 2008, causing the failure of many fiscal stimulus programs through no fault of their own. The book includes exhaustive statistical tests to prove this point. There is also a policy analysis section of the book. It examines how effectively the Federal Reserve's anti-crowd out programs have actually worked, to the extent they were undertaken at all. It finds statistical evidence that using commercial and savings banks instead of investment banks when implementing accommodating monetary policy would have markedly improved their effectiveness. This volume, with its companion volume Why Fiscal Stimulus Programs Fail, Volume 2: Statistical Tests Comparing Monetary Policy to Growth, provides 1000 separate statistical tests on the US economy to prove these assertions.

This open access book presents an alternative to capitalism and state socialism through the modelling of a post-market and post-state utopia based on an upscaling of the commons, feminist political economy and democratic and council-based planning approaches. It discusses the left's need to explore non-capitalist modes of production, the inability of green or socialist market economies to produce real social and ecological change, and the need to look beyond traditional ideas of reform and revolution. The book discusses how a socio-economic organisation beyond money, wage labour, patriarchal division of work and centralised state planning may look like. It develops an approach to societal transformation based on seed forms of commons practices and social movements. This book will be relevant to activists, students and researchers interested in fundamental social change, political economy and feminist and Marxist economics. This is an open access book.

The University of Oxford has been and continues to be one of the most important global centres for economics. With six chapters on themes in Oxford economics and 24 chapters on the lives and work of Oxford economists, this volume shows how economics became established at the University, how it produced some of the world's best-known economists, including Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, Roy Harrod and David Hendry, and how it remains a global force for the very best in teaching and research in economics. With original contributions from a stellar cast, this volume provides economists - especially those interested in macroeconomics and the history of economic thought - with the first in-depth analysis of Oxford economics.

This book examines the experiences and good practices of ACLEDA Bank, Cambodia. Applicable to banks and microfinance institutions around the globe, it includes materials for classroom instruction on organizational development, financial sector development, the role of government and investors in supporting the financial market, and the benefits to customers. Following on the previous publication When There Was No Money, which tells the ACLEDA story by tracing its history and various stages of organizational development in the financial sector as it evolved in Cambodia from 1991 to 2004, this book examines the 2nd decade in the bank's history, including its expansion to Lao PDR and Myanmar, and the launch of subsidiaries, such as ACLEDA Securities and the ACLEDA Institute of Business. Adopting a documentary approach, the book presents case studies supported by current economic and financial literature, as well as stories from a wide range of interviews with the board, management, staff, customers, competitors and regulators. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for financial institutions, investors, researchers and students interested in financial inclusion, financial sector development, good governance of financial institutions, microfinance, aid effectiveness, post-conflict organizational development, and Cambodia.

In this book, a framework of the investment function is developed that allows for the heterogeneity of capital goods, i.e., the Multiple q model, and investment behavior in Japan by employing this Multiple q framework is developed. The standard approach to investment behavior is Tobin's q theory in which the investment rate is a linear function of only the q ratio, or a firm's market value measured by its capital goods. As is well known, however, its empirical performance has been almost universally unsatisfactory. Thus the development of a new framework. The authors inquire into and statistically test null hypotheses set on such issues as (a) heterogeneity of multiple capital goods, (b) non-convex adjustment costs to inspire lumpy investment, (c) differences in the adjustment costs in accumulating capital stock through new purchases, second-hand market acquisitions, and large-scale repairs, and (d) capital market imperfections. The test results show that, irrespective of the time period, firms' size, and the industry to which firms belong, (a) multiple capital goods are not homogeneous, (b) some firms face adjustment cost structures that eventually lead to occasional lumpy investment, (c) the method of acquiring investment matters in accumulating capital stock, and (d) capital market imperfections would constrain some lumpy investment. This book is published in cooperation with the Research Institute of Capital Formation, Development Bank of Japan.

This book explores current digitalization issues in finance and accounting with particular focus on emerging and transitioning markets. It features models, empirical studies and cases studies on topics such as Fintech, blockchain technology, financing renewable energy, and XBRL usage from sectors such health care, pharmacology, transportation, and education. Such a complex view of current economic phenomena makes the volume attractive not only for academia, but also for regulators and policy-makers, when deliberating the potential outcome of competing regulatory mechanisms.

Social science theorists from various scholarly disciplines have contributed to a recent literature that examines how the finance industry has expanded and now wields increasing influence across a variety of economic fields and industries. In some cases, this tendency towards a more sizeable and influential finance industry has been referred to as "the financialization" of the economy. This book explains how what is referred to as the finance-led economy (arguably a more neutral and less emotionally charged term than financialization) is premised on a number of conditions, institutional relations, and theoretical propositions and assumptions, and indicates what the real economic consequences are for market actors and households. The book provides a theoretically condensed but empirically grounded account of the contemporary finance-led economy, in many cases too complicated in its design and rich in detail to be understood equally by insiders-empirical research indicates-and lay audiences. It summarizes the relevant literature and points at two empirical cases, the construction industry and life science venturing, to better illustrate how the expansion of the finance industry has contributed to the capital formation process, and how the sovereign state has actively assisted this process. It offers a credible, yet accessible overview of the economic conditions that will arguably shape economic affairs for the foreseeable future. The book will find an audience amongst a variety of readers, including graduate students, management scholars, policymakers, and management consultants.

This book is the first of its kind to provide a critical overview and theoretical analysis of the Circular Economy from Shariah and Islamic Finance perspectives. The book is divided into three parts. The contributing authors pay close attention to Islamic Finance in light of sustainability and value creation. It also includes case studies on the Circular Economy application in Islamic Finance industry. The book is of interest to academics, students, and practitioners on Islamic Economics and Finance who have an interest in understanding the Circular Economy under the lens of Islamic Finance principles and applications.

This report is a partial result of the China's Quarterly Macroeconometric Model (CQMM), a project developed and maintained by the Center for Macroeconomic Research (CMR) at Xiamen University. The CMR is one of the Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China, focusing on Chinese economic growth and macroeconomic policies. The CMR started to develop the CQMM for purpose of short-term forecast, policy analysis, and simulation in 2005.Based on the CQMM, the CMR with its partners hold press conferences to release forecasts for China' major macroeconomic variables. Since July 2006, twenty-seven quarterly reports titled Chinese Macroeconomic Outlook have been presented and thirteen annual reports have been published.

This book contains high-quality papers presented at the First International Forum on Financial Mathematics and Financial Technology. With the rapid development of FinTech, the in-depth integration between mathematics, finance and advanced technology is the general trend. This book focuses on selected aspects of the current and upcoming trends in FinTech. In detail, the included scientific papers focus on financial mathematics and FinTech, presenting the innovative mathematical models and state-of-the-art technologies such as deep learning, with the aim to improve our financial analysis and decision-making and enhance the quality of financial services and risk control. The variety of the papers delivers added value for both scholars and practitioners where they will find perfect integration of elegant mathematical models and up-to-date data mining technologies in financial market analysis.

This book examines the impact of financing on Africa's economic development. By exploring various financial instruments including the role of alternative sources of funding like migrant remittances and illicit flows, it analyses the role of financing for Africa's macroeconomic development and other development indicators such as infrastructure, transport, global trade, industrialisation, social services, external indebtedness and governance. By presenting and examining case studies on various African countries and regions, the respective contributions investigate the capacity of institutions to facilitate and structure the economy's funding activities, and to strengthen the ties between finance and development. Furthermore, they discuss various regional aspects, such as the integration of infrastructure, harmonization of fiscal policy, integration of financial markets, and the facilitation of intra-regional trade and movement of capital. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scholars of economics and development studies with an interest in the economic development of Africa.

This book explores Portugal's response to the 2008 economic crisis and how the country regained the trust of the global capital markets through investor support. The experiences and successes of Portugal are compared with the other Eurozone countries, in particular Greece which had to negotiate a series of assistance programs, to highlight the strategies which helped lessen the impact of the debt crisis. This book aims to provide insight into the global investor ecosystem and to how financial globalization works in practice, illustrating how the multinational investor universe, the financial media, rating agencies, and how investment banks interact. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in financial markets and political economy, and also financial market practicioners and policy makers.