The Handbook of Microfinance showcases an expansive collection of works from leading academics and field practitioners. In an attempt to understand the enormous gap between the limited number of clients that are currently benefiting from microfinance services, and the huge number of potential clients that are not, the selected contributions in this comprehensive handbook have one common thread: the prevailing mismatch between demand by clients of microfinance institutions and potential clients selecting themselves out for their demand for a wider array of financial products which is not being met.The scope of the book is wide, and explores successes and failures, main challenges and debates, methodologies for impact evaluation via random trials, leading trends in Asia versus Latin America, main efforts in Africa, the importance of value chains in Central America, ethical and gender issues, savings, microinsurance, governance, commercialization trends and the potential advantages and disadvantages of it. This exhaustive Handbook also features main lessons from informal finance and 19th-century credit cooperatives addressing the above-mentioned mismatch.

Featured as Book of the Week by The Wire China in August 2020! If your business has anything to do with China or you simply seek to understand the rise of China, you need to read this book. In The China Paradox, business strategist and historian Dr. Paul G. Clifford uses vivid examples from his deep experience in China to lay bare the delicate and fragile balance of forces which lie at the heart of China's success. He explains how, against all the odds, the ruling Communist Party boldly led the economic reforms as the surest way to preserve their grip on power. This flourishing of China's hybrid developmental model is placed firmly in the historical context, shedding light on the legacies that thwarted earlier attempts at change and which today still threaten to render the progress unsustainable. China is taking its place on the world economic stage, displaying business acumen and innovation. But China's un-reformed political governance, coupled with the challenges resulting from breakneck growth, may hamper the nation's ability to realize its potential and impact its longer-term prospects. This book is for anyone who needs to understand how China competes, anyone with business or other affairs in China, and anyone involved in foreign trade will benefit from this book. Click to read the author's article on Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/the-us-should-not-demonize-huawei-it-should-invest-to-compete/ Click here to see a related article in the South China Morning Post: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134180/reform-or-no-reform-authors-clash-over-chinas-way

This book analyzes the whole path to justice: from the decision to enter the path to justice until justice is achieved and applies a mixed-methods approach using quantitative and qualitative data. It deliberately takes the consumer's perspective and, beyond the scope of existing studies, does not only take into account the existence of mechanisms and forums to claim justice, but their appropriateness for vulnerable target groups. The book sheds more light on microfinance and other vulnerable clients who, due to existing barriers, cannot access grievance, redress or complaint mechanisms. Eliminating these access barriers would cater to the achievement of the 16th Sustainable Development Goal by increasing vulnerable consumers' Access to Justice. This book will be of interest to academics researching access to justice, researchers focusing on consumer protection issues in developing countries, and practitioners working in financial inclusion.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the business model of international banks is under pressure. Regulators across the world are retrenching to national lines by applying restrictions on cross-border banking. Applying game theory, this book develops a model of the financial trilemma to understand the co-ordination failure among regulators. It also provides governance solutions to overcome this co-ordination failure. The goal is to offer a long-term perspective on international banking for regulators and academics. The book combines academic insights and policy issues.

The Future of the European Union Integration: A Failure or a Success? Future expectations are making an effort in investigating the present and future developments in the European Union integration regarding the challenges the EU had encountered since the 2000s to 2018. During the last two decades, the EU integration had faced several crises endangering its reason of existence, including the Constitutional Crisis, 2008 Financial and Economic Crisis, Migration Crises, and Brexit. In this respect, two different arguments predict the future of the EU integration, while some groups think that the EU will lose its existence reason, others claim that the EU will be integrated more than before eliminating crises and rebuilding new capacities.

In 2002 Congress enacted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the first major revision of federal campaign finance law in a generation. In March 2001, after a fiercely contested and highly divisive seven-year partisan legislative battle, the Senate passed S. 27, known as the McCain-Feingold legislation. The House responded by passing H.R. 2356, companion legislation known as Shays-Meehan, in February 2002. The Senate then approved the House-passed version, and President George W. Bush signed BCRA into law on March 27, 2002, stating that the bill had "flaws" but overall "improves the current system of financing for federal campaigns." The Reform Act was taken to court within hours of the President's signature. Dozens of interest groups and lawmakers who had opposed passage of the Act in Congress lodged complaints that challenged the constitutionality of virtually every aspect of the new law. Following review by a special three-judge panel, the case is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. This litigation constitutes the most important campaign finance case since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Buckley v. Valeo more than twenty-five years ago. The testimony, submitted by some of the country's most knowledgeable political scientists and most experienced politicians, constitutes an invaluable body of knowledge about the complexities of campaign finance and the role of money in our political system. Unfortunately, only the lawyers, political scientists, and practitioners actually involved in the litigation have seen most of this writing -until now. Inside the Campaign Finance Battle makes key testimony in this historic case available to a general readership, in the process shedding new light on campaign finance practices central to the congressional debate on the reform act and to the landmark litigation challenging its constitutionality.

Drawing from many sources in the literature, Stochastic Dominance and Applications to Finance, Risk and Economics illustrates how stochastic dominance (SD) can be used as a method for risk assessment in decision making. It provides basic background on SD for various areas of applications. Useful Concepts and Techniques for Economics Applications The majority of the text presents a systematic exposition of SD, emphasizing rigor and generality. It covers utility theory, multivariate SD, quantile functions, risk modeling, Choquet integrals, other risk measures, statistical inference, nonparametric estimation, hypothesis testing, and econometrics. The remainder of the book explores new applications of SD in finance, risk, and economics. At the beginning of each economic concept, the authors clearly explain only the necessary mathematics so readers are not overburdened with learning nonessential, arduous mathematics. This accessible guide helps readers build a useful repertoire of mathematical tools in decision making under uncertainty, especially in investment science. It provides thorough coverage on the theory of SD, along with many applications to economics and other fields where risk is crucial.

Risk behaviour and risk management in business life influence a wide range of fields in which only a very limited amount of research has been undertaken. These topics have often been treated as if they were theoretically and practically isolated from other fields, the so called risk archipelago problem. What is actually needed is another focus, in which the problem of risk is treated as a central theme. The demand for interdisciplinary research means that there is a need for crossing scientific boundaries. In approaching risk problems from a holistic perspective there is also a parallel need for linking the scientific and the business worlds. Researchers must work closely together in concrete multidisciplinary research projects and in co-operation with the industrial world in seeking out and solving research problems of importance. This book contains selected and re-written papers, and key-note speeches presented in a risk-seminar that Stockholm University organised in June 1997. The seminar, in which 200 researchers and practitioners from 26 countries participated, was divided into four main topic areas: Risk Assessment and Credit Management, Psychology in Business Life, Risk Management in Small Firms and Law and Business Risk. In writing this book, the editor invited eight professors from four continents to assist him in introducing the reader to the different and scientific disciplines and in explaining the need for interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary risk research projects. The book consists of eight chapters and the target groups are researchers, doctoral and master students at universities and business people working in the risk management area.

Unlike much of the existing literature, Stochastic Finance: A Numeraire Approach treats price as a number of units of one asset needed for an acquisition of a unit of another asset instead of expressing prices in dollar terms exclusively. This numeraire approach leads to simpler pricing options for complex products, such as barrier, lookback, quanto, and Asian options. Most of the ideas presented rely on intuition and basic principles, rather than technical computations. The first chapter of the book introduces basic concepts of finance, including price, no arbitrage, portfolio, financial contracts, the First Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing, and the change of numeraire formula. Subsequent chapters apply these general principles to three kinds of models: binomial, diffusion, and jump models. The author uses the binomial model to illustrate the relativity of the reference asset. In continuous time, he covers both diffusion and jump models in the evolution of price processes. The book also describes term structure models and numerous options, including European, barrier, lookback, quanto, American, and Asian. Classroom-tested at Columbia University to graduate students, Wall Street professionals, and aspiring quants, this text provides a deep understanding of derivative contracts. It will help a variety of readers from the dynamic world of finance, from practitioners who want to expand their knowledge of stochastic finance, to students who want to succeed as professionals in the field, to academics who want to explore relatively advanced techniques of the numeraire change.

In their introduction, the editors of New Ways of Doing Business assert that in retrospect, it will be apparent that today's government, that of the early years of the 21st century, "was undergoing its most significant transformation since the decade of the 1930's when direct government-delivered services grew significantly as part of the New Deal." This newest volume in the IBM Endowment for the Business of Government series is an invaluable guide to navigating the sometimes controversial changes taking place in the internal operations of government, the delivery of services to citizens, and the delivery of environmental programs. Possibly the most monumental change taking place in our modern government is the lessening allegiance to the old model of in-house, in-departmental performance of tasks. The new model asks "how and by whom can the tasks of government best be performed?" The answer sometimes lies with another inter-governmental department, leading to an in-house atmosphere of healthy competition and entrepreneurship, and sometimes with outside contractors. New Ways of Doing Business provides descriptions and guidelines for successfully navigating management under the new model. There are also dramatic new ways in which services to the public can now be delivered: via the Internet, via contracts with private organizations, and via faith-based initiatives and business improvement districts. Experts provide valuable checklists and guidelines and case studies exploring the merits and disadvantages of these new service delivery routes. Finally, New Ways of Doing Business explores what the editors call one of the most highly experimental policy arenas in government, that of the delivery of environmental programs. The authors of these articles explain via case study analysis many of the innovative programs currently in existence, and postulate that the traditional "command-and-control" stance of government to businesses will be superceded by a flexibility that will allow for incre

This second edition - completely up to date with new exercises - provides a comprehensive and self-contained treatment of the probabilistic theory behind the risk-neutral valuation principle and its application to the pricing and hedging of financial derivatives. On the probabilistic side, both discrete- and continuous-time stochastic processes are treated, with special emphasis on martingale theory, stochastic integration and change-of-measure techniques. Based on firm probabilistic foundations, general properties of discrete- and continuous-time financial market models are discussed.

Handbook of Empirical Economics and Finance explores the latest developments in the analysis and modeling of economic and financial data. Well-recognized econometric experts discuss the rapidly growing research in economics and finance and offer insight on the future direction of these fields. Focusing on micro models, the first group of chapters describes the statistical issues involved in the analysis of econometric models with cross-sectional data often arising in microeconomics. The book then illustrates time series models that are extensively used in empirical macroeconomics and finance. The last set of chapters explores the types of panel data and spatial models that are becoming increasingly significant in analyzing complex economic behavior and policy evaluations. This handbook brings together both background material and new methodological and applied results that are extremely important to the current and future frontiers in empirical economics and finance. It emphasizes inferential issues that transpire in the analysis of cross-sectional, time series, and panel data-based empirical models in economics, finance, and related disciplines.

Now in its fourth edition, and containing over 500 pages of fully revised and updated material, Shipping Finance includes an analysis of ship mortgage terms and conditions, and mortgagee rights across the main maritime jurisdictions. In addition, Shipping Finance provides an extensive discussion of the procedure and documentation for registering ships on a country-by-country basis, with detailed advice from local experts. Chapters include: shipping finance from a banker's perspective; the financing of secondhand ships; the financing of new buildings; assignments of insurances and earnings, guarantees, indemnities, charges, debentures and other security relied upon by financiers; the sale and purchase of secondhand ships; the role of insurance in shipping; Islamic finance; Chinese leasing; and restructuring. Shipping Finance is an essential reference tool for anyone involved in shipping finance including bankers, lawyers and shipowners.

China's financial system and its legal reform have drawn a great deal of attention from around the world. This fast development is motivated by political, social, and economic factors. In addition, the continuing calls for establishing economic justice have contributed to further reforms of this system. Nevertheless, despites these rapid developments, the challenges and constraints are many; eg, the mismatch between the legal framework and financial development, inefficiency of the legal regime, difficulties in enforcing the law, and financial crimes. This collection uncovers the motivation, strength and strategy of these reforms, and examines their real impact in China.

The theme of this volume is 'Recovering from Financial Crisis'. The lead chapter sets the theme by giving insight into the recent surge in going-private transactions (and the corresponding reduction of Initial Public Offerings). The author develops evidence (reaching back 25 years) that going-private transactions tend to be inversely related with the return on diversified equity portfolios, suggesting that the recent upswing in going-private transactions in the United States is not simply the result of the Sarbanes - Oxley Act of 2002. The second chapter offers insights into the recent round of hedge fund failures. Then, the third chapter offers new insights into some of the more controversial aspects of private equity arrangements - when private equity arrangements are expressed as real options, the actions of the managing partners are more readily understandable. The fourth chapter offers insights into why commodity producers (such as oil companies) choose not to hedge, so that their stock can offer shareholders the opportunity to gain valuable diversification benefits using the stock as a pure play in the commodity. Remaining chapters offer further insights into recent trends in IPO activity, lease versus purchase decisions, agency costs, project risk, and emerging markets.

By providing a comprehensive overview of policy proposals for the international monetary system from an Asian perspective, this book aims to identify what innovations are needed to reform the international monetary and financial system to promote financial stability and sustainable economic growth for emerging economies. The book is organized into four parts. Part 1 discusses major theoretical and empirical issues related to reform of the international monetary system. Part 2 includes two chapters that present the recent developments and challenges for managing capital flows. Part 3 presents different perspectives on regional currency cooperation in Asia and Europe by assessing the evidence supporting increased currency coordination in Asia and by review issues of policy cooperation in the Euro area after the global financial crisis and their implications for Asia. Part 4 discusses emerging issues for regional/global cooperation and financial safety nets. The main inference of the book is that, in light of the drawbacks of the existing international monetary system exposed in the global financial crisis, along with other countries, Asian emerging economies should work cooperatively to reform and strengthen international monetary and financial policy. To do so, regional and global monetary cooperation is needed and financial safety nets should be strengthened to alleviate the impact of possible global financial crises. This will be one of the first books written about the global financial crisis and the on going the European sovereign debt crisis to comprehensively address the issues related to currency cooperation, based on the Euro area experience, with the specific implications for Asia.

This book puts numerical methods in action for the purpose of solving practical problems in quantitative finance. The first part develops a toolkit in numerical methods for finance. The second part proposes twenty self-contained cases covering model simulation, asset pricing and hedging, risk management, statistical estimation and model calibration. Each case develops a detailed solution to a concrete problem arising in applied financial management and guides the user towards a computer implementation. The appendices contain "crash courses" in VBA and Matlab programming languages. A companion CD provides ready-to-run codes (VBA, MATLAB).

A Great Deal of Ruin provides an accessible introduction to the enduring problem of financial crises. Illustrated with historical analysis, case studies, and clear economic concepts, this book explains in three parts what financial crises are, how they are caused and what we can learn from them. It begins with a taxonomy of crises and a list of factors that increase the risk for countries experiencing a financial crisis. It then examines five of the most important crises in modern economic history, beginning with the Great Depression and ending with the subprime crisis in the United States and its evolution into a debt crisis in the Eurozone. The book concludes with a set of lessons that can be learnt from the crises of the past. It will appeal to university students as well as general readers who are curious to learn more about the recent subprime crisis and other financial crises.

The New Economic Diplomacy explains how states conduct their external economic relations in the 21st century: how they make decisions domestically, how they negotiate internationally and how these processes interact. Although the previous edition, published in 2011, was able to reflect the impact of the financial crisis and the immediate reaction to it, a lot has happened since then, and the atmosphere of economic diplomacy has darkened. To capture the emergence of new trends and the intensification of old ones, the salient features of this new edition are: The advance of China and other emerging powers at the expense of G7 governments, despite some setbacks; Much greater activity in negotiating regional and plurilateral trade agreements, while the multilateral system struggles; The persistence of problems exposed by the financial crisis, notably the long-running euro-zone crisis. The interaction between domestic and external forces: the balance has shifted towards the domestic axis, with international agreement more difficult to achieve. This edition goes further in comparing the practice of different players, to reflect the greater diversity of economic diplomacy. Based on the authors' work in the field of International Political Economy, it is suitable for students interested in the decision-making processes in foreign economic policy, including those studying international relations, government, politics and economics. It will also appeal to politicians, bureaucrats, business people, NGO activists, journalists and the informed public.

First Published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Globalization is not an external force but a result of concrete business decisions made by millions of entrepreneurs and managers across the world. As such, the modern corporation has completely altered the economic landscape; business and finance have shaped the international order of the modern world. History of Financial Institutions contributes to the analysis of how the modern corporation, business and finance have shaped and keep on shaping our world. In a collection of nine succinct essays, this volume looks at the role of finance in European history from the beginning of the 19th century to the period after the Second World War. Archivists and financial historians, who are also leading scholars of banking and financial history, investigate the ways in which the international post-war order developed. They draw on often hitherto unused archival sources from central banks and other institutions to reveal the unique histories of a variety of European countries and the paths that have led to the contemporary economic and financial system. The collection includes reflections on (monetary) stabilization, inflation, hyperinflation, globalization and public relations in banking and commerce. This book is essential reading for banking and finance executives, as well as policy makers with a historical interest. It will also be of importance to academics with a particular interest in economic history, financial or banking history, and European history.

As from 2012, the International Monetary Institution (IMI) of the Renmin University of China publishes annual reports on the internationalization of RMB. This series of annual reports create and publish the RMB Internationalization Index (RII). Besides, they focus on one topic in each year's report. This book focuses on the offshore RMB markets. It studies several major international currencies' historical developments to summarize theoretical implications between currency internationalization process and its offshore market development. It reviews the recent development of RMB offshore markets, identifies key opportunities and challenges, and proposes some suggestions to policy makers and market practitioners. The RII will continue to rise as the RMB plays a more and more important role in international trades and financial transactions. The establishment and development of RMB offshore markets will facilitate the internationalization process of the RMB.

"Joel Orosz has given us a rare gift at a critical moment. His book is a wise guide not only for the new program officer but also for the experienced grantmaker."
--Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors, The Drucker Foundation

"A book on grantmaking with the name of Joel Orosz attached to it has instant credibility in the foundation world.... Every grantmaker can learn from his example."
--Dorothy S. Ridings, president and CEO, Council on Foundations

"Foundation program officers inhabit a mysterious world that grantseekers strain constantly to understand. Joel Orosz has finally given us a glimpse into a world that may not be as strange and distant as we thought."
--Robert K. Goodwin, president and CEO, Points of Light Foundation

Unlike many formal professions, foundation grantmaking is a calling with no training programs and little definitive literature on the latest and best practices. Written for program officers and of considerable value to grantseekers, this volume is the first and only practical guide to making foundation grants and developing essential skills for effective and ethical grantmaking.

Author Joel J. Orosz not only introduces readers to the history, structure, and function of foundations in society but also explores the complex role that program officers play in their day-to-day activities. He provides real-world advice on a myriad of tasks--from meeting with applicants and reviewing their proposals to assisting the funded project and managing foundation initiatives. He also asks critical questions about this growing and evolving profession, such as "What kind of person should become a grantmaker?" and "How does one avoid the seven temptations of philanthropy?" Throughout the book, Orosz informs his lively, thoughtful discussions with his own considerable experience in grantmaking.

The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking invites readers to observe the world of foundations closely. It provides a useful overview for those new to the field, helps more experienced program officers to think more deeply about their work, and shares rich insights for the thousands of nonprofit leaders who pursue foundation grants.

Finance Mathematics is devoted to financial markets both with discrete and continuous time, exploring how to make the transition from discrete to continuous time in option pricing. This book features a detailed dynamic model of financial markets with discrete time, for application in real-world environments, along with Martingale measures and martingale criterion and the proven absence of arbitrage. With a focus on portfolio optimization, fair pricing, investment risk, and self-finance, the authors provide numerical methods for solutions and practical financial models, enabling you to solve problems both from mathematical and from financial point of view.