Economic globalization has given rise to frequent and severe financial crises in emerging market economies. Other countries are also unsuccessful in their efforts to generate economic growth and reduce poverty. This book provides perspectives on various aspects of the international financial system that contribute to financial crises and growth failures, and discusses the remedies that economists have proposed for addressing the underlying problems. It also sheds light on a central feature of the international financial system that remains mysterious to many economists and most non-economists: the activities of the International Monetary Fund and the factors that influence its effectiveness. Dr Isard offers policy perspectives on what countries can do to reduce their vulnerabilities to financial crises and growth failures, and a number of general directions for systemic reform. The breadth of the agenda provides grounds for optimism that the international financial system can be strengthened considerably without revolutionary change.

Economic globalization has given rise to frequent and severe financial crises in emerging market economies. Other countries are also unsuccessful in their efforts to generate economic growth and reduce poverty. This book provides perspectives on various aspects of the international financial system that contribute to financial crises and growth failures, and discusses the remedies that economists have proposed for addressing the underlying problems. It also sheds light on a central feature of the international financial system that remains mysterious to many economists and most non-economists: the activities of the International Monetary Fund and the factors that influence its effectiveness. Dr Isard offers policy perspectives on what countries can do to reduce their vulnerabilities to financial crises and growth failures, and a number of general directions for systemic reform. The breadth of the agenda provides grounds for optimism that the international financial system can be strengthened considerably without revolutionary change.

It is often pointed out that "for every bad borrower, and for every failed project, there is also a culpable lender or investor." This observation is particularly apt for the debate now raging in the capital markets: should private bankers and investment managers bear a greater share of the costs when financial crises erupt in emerging economies? Critics who have analyzed the "plumbing" of the world's financial architecture have thus far devoted enormous attention to the demand side -- structural weaknesses in emerging markets. They have excoriated the IMF for ineptitude and policy mistakes.

But the authors of his study argue that financial leaders of the G-10 nations (industrial nations that were hardly affected by the crises of 1997-98) have a responsibility -- both to their own citizens and the emerging markets -- to take a far more vigilant stance. Dobson and Hufbauer criticize the supply side of world capital markets and ask how G-10 capital suppliers can reform their own financial systems to make the world safe for large-scale international capital flows. They draw a comprehensive picture of international finance through an extensive review of capital flows, the major financial players behind these flows, and the balance between costs and benefits of international capital movements. The authors analyze the implications of changing the rules of the game and recommend specific policy measures.

In the aftermath of the Asian/global financial crises of 1997-98, how should emerging markets now structure their exchange rate systems to prevent new crises from occurring? This study challenges current orthodoxy by advocating the revival of intermediate exchange rate regimes. In so doing, Williamson presents a reasoned challenge to the new prevailing attitude that claims that all countries involved in the international capital markets need to polarize to one of the extreme regimes (to a fixed rate with either a currency board or dollarization, or to a lightly managed float). He concludes that although there is some truth in the allegation that intermediate regimes are vulnerable to speculative crises, they still offer offsetting advantages. He also contends that it would be possible to redesign them to be more flexible so as to reduce their vulnerability to crises.

Presenting an economic history of international capital mobility in the modern era, this book blends narrative and quantitative methods and connects economic outcomes to the underlying political economy of international macroeconomics. It demonstrates that recent globalization can be seen, in part, as the resumption of a liberal world order that had previously been established in the years 1880-1914, although much is different in its causes and consequences.

This volume includes ten essays concerned with financial and other forms of economic intermediation in Europe, Canada, and the United States, dating from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. The essays relate the development of institutions to economic change and describe their evolution over time. Each also discusses several different forms of intermediation and deals with significant economic and historical issues.

The stakes were high in the financial services negotiations that were completed in December 1997 at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The developing countries were eager to strengthen and modernize their financial systems. The industrial countries sought access to important emerging markets in Latin America and Asia for their banking, insurance, brokerage, and other financial services firms. In the end, both sides agreed to bind unilateral and regional financial opening and reform that was already under way in many countries, industrial and developing alike. The authors assess the agreement reached in the WTO, identifying its shortcomings and suggesting ways that it can be bolstered in future negotiations. They analyze the impact of the agreement, and of the Asian financial crisis, on the state of liberalization and market opening in several important emerging-market economies-including a summary of the remaining obstacles to establishing efficient and open financial sectors. This book estimates the benefits of opening the financial sector to foreign competition. It assesses the macroeconomic benefits that flow from an improved financial sector and discusses the risks and costs involved in liberalization. The authors conclude with a blueprint for future efforts to liberalize financial services and emphasize that the recent financial services agreement represented only a beginning step in that process.

This volume addresses one of the most topical and controversial issues in banking and financial policy. It explains why governments have felt the need to liberalize banking and finance, for example, by privatizing banks and allowing interest rates to be set by the market. It describes how the consequences have not always been smooth, and considers how financial liberalizations could be approached better in the future. In addition to a clear and concise presentation of current theories and global experience, there are six carefully chosen country case studies.

This volume, built on a recent series of courses at the Academy of European Law, Florence, addresses the overlapping regulatory trade regimes of the WTO, the EU and the NAFTA. The various contributions deal with discrete areas of the international trading system each placing considerable emphasis on the interlocking nature of the various components of that system. The co-existence of regimes, often governing simultaneously complex transnational transactions, is the focus of the volume.

This integrated study of law, economics and Peircian semiotics re-examines the relationship between law and market theory, and introduces the idea of law and market economy. Overcoming the traditional dichotomy between efficiency and justice, Malloy focuses on the relationship between creativity and sustainable wealth formation. He shows how creativity and sustainable wealth formation have more to do with an ethic of social responsibility than with a concern for economic efficiency. In presenting his case, Malloy uses numerous examples as he reinterprets classic problems related to rational choice, the Coase Theorem, public choice, efficient breach, social contract theory, and wealth maximization, among others.

As Ian Bremmer and Preston Keat reveal in this innovative book, volatile political events such as the 2008 Georgia-Russia confrontation--and their catastrophic effects on business--happen much more frequently than investors imagine. On the curve that charts both the frequency of these events and the power of their impact, the "tail" of extreme political instability is not reassuringly thin but dangerously fat.
Featuring a new Foreward that accounts for the cataclysmic effects of the 2008 financial crisis, The Fat Tail is the first book to both identify the wide range of political risks that global firms face and show investors how to effectively manage them. Written by two of the world's leading figures in political risk management, it reveals that while the world remains exceedingly risky for businesses, it is by no means incomprehensible. Political risk is unpredictable, but it is easier to analyze and manage than most people think. Applying the lessons of world history, Bremmer and Keat survey a vast range of contemporary risky situations, from stable markets like the United States or Japan, where politically driven regulation can still dramatically effect business, to more precarious places like Iran, China, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, and Nigeria, where private property is less secure and energy politics sparks constant volatility. The book sheds light on a wide array of political risks--risks that stem from great power rivalries, terrorist groups, government takeover of private property, weak leaders and internal strife, and even the "black swans" that defy prediction. But more importantly, the authors provide a wealth of unique methods, tools, and concepts to help corporations, money managers, and policy makers understand political risk, showing when and how political risk analysis works--and when it does not.
"The Fat Tail delivers practical wisdom on the impact of political risk on firms of every description and valuable advice on how to use it. Ian Bremmer and Preston Keat offer innovative thinking and useful insight that will help business decision-makers find fresh answers to questions they may not yet know they have."
--Fareed Zakaria, best-selling author of The Post-American World
"Political risk has become increasingly complex, and The Fat Tail provides a truly new way to quantitatively assess it in established and emerging markets. It is essential reading for any CEO with multinational interests."
--Randall Stephenson, Chairman, CEO and President, AT&T Inc.
"Should be essential reading for anyone involved in international business even--perhaps especially--in places that seem politically stable."
--Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist

This is an examination of the progress made in integrating the financial markets of the major industrial countries: Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. It sets out to show that deregulation and liberalization have succeeded to such an extent that interest rates in any single currency are nearly the same, regardless of whether they are offered in national or Euro-currency markets. Professor Marston also demonstrates that currency denomination remains a barrier to full financial integration, in that both nominal and real returns on financial instruments vary widely by currency tied together in the European Monetary System. The analysis examines returns in the money and bond markets of these countries, investigating whether there are systematic variations in relative returns across markets.

In the wake of the drastic changes that have occurred in the world banking industry over the past two decades, Professor Canals's new book addresses several important questions: are universal banks bound to disappear? What is the role of universal banks and financial markets in the context of deregulation and disintermediation? What should banks' strategic reactions be to changes in the industry such as diversification, internationalization, and restructuring? And what role do banks play vis a vis modern financial markets? Canals draws on up-to-date case studies from Europe, Japan, and the US to provide a provocative reassessment of universal banking.

This study, the first to look at the analytics of and experience with financial reform, examines a number of issues: the relationship between the financial and real sectors, and how this behavior can affect the economy at large; the process of reform and the sequencing of various elements, including in particular the timing of opening of the capital account; the impact of financial reforms on the efficiency with which capital is allocated.

Written from a European perspective and covering both trade and international finance, this innovative text provides a thoroughly up-do-date and comprehensive treatment of each area. The theory is illustrated with empirical evidence and an abundance of relevant case studies and brief accounts of the economists who have contributed to this area. A key feature of the book is the integrated Study Guide and Online Resource Centre that engages students and helps them prepare for exams. Online Resource Centre For Students: - Figures from the book - Study guide containing further practice questions and Excel simulations - Self-study material with further explanations of concepts - Adddtional Material on Zipf's Law to supplement the content in the book For Lecturers: - Answers to questions in the text - PowerPoint slides

Asian Money Markets traces the evolution of money markets in seven key economies of East and Southeast Asia: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. It asks how government policy affected the performance of the markets over several decades. Several very different approaches emerge, with important consequences for financial sector development. Countries pursuing market-oriented development strategies, including those in transition from socialist to market economies, need effective financial systems that include efficient money markets. This book should dispel the view that a government can quickly develop money markets; the most complex markets described here started with new government policies more than twenty years ago, and are still evolving to meet new challenges. Asian Money Markets will be of interest to scholars of development finance, financial officials and advisers, and anyone who wants to learn from the experience of some of the most dynamic economies in the world.

In the two decades prior to publication of this 1994 book, international monetary relations had been characterised by latent instability, and then by severe tensions. Yet the issue of reforming the international monetary system does not appear on the agenda of the policy makers of the major countries involved. The International Monetary System tries to analyse this apparent contradiction. It brings together contributions from some of the most authoritative academic economists and monetary officials, and examines each of the fundamental functions of the international monetary system. There is broad support for improving present monetary arrangements with the aim of ensuring more stable conditions in monetary and financial markets and of promoting the orderly adjustment of payments disequilibria. For political reasons a fully-fledged reform exercise is unlikely, but very few experts seem to like the status quo. This book provides the reader with a comprehensive account of the institutional and policy changes required to manage an increasingly integrated and interdependent global monetary and financial system.

U.S. securities firms are the most competitive in the world and are now facing challenges posed by the internationalization of securities markets. To remain competitive in this ever-changing environment, some of these firms have evolved into dynamic international financial services firms offering investors and corporate clients increasingly diverse services. Struggle and Survival on Wall Street: The Economics of Competition Among Securities Firms provides a timely and comprehensive economic analysis of competition among securities firms. John Matthews uses an industrial organization approach to analyze the interaction of the industry's structure, conduct and performance. To beat the competition and meet the needs of their customers, he argues, firms develop new financial products, some of which become new lines of business. The most important decisions firms make concern the methods of entry into these lines of business. Those firms that successfully innovate and adapt their organizations are in the best position to deal with both domestic and international competition. The regulatory framework of the industry is vital to its growth and Matthews makes insightful and realistic policy recommendations which urge regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission, to provide for a framework in which organizational change can take place. This book is unique in that it is the first comprehensive study of securities firms (or broker-dealers) from an industrial organization perspective. It will be of great interest to economists interested in industrial organization, finance and financial institutions, and money and banking, financial services professionals, the securities bar, aswell as students of financial services and general readers interested in investing.

As international financial markets have become more complex, so has the regulatory system which oversees them. The Basel Committee is just one of a plethora of international bodies and groupings which now set standards for financial activity around the world, in the interests of protecting savers and investors and maintaining financial stability. These groupings, and their decisions, have a major impact on markets in developed and developing countries, and on competition between financial firms. Yet their workings are shrouded in mystery, and their legitimacy is uncertain. Here, for the first time, two men who have worked within the system describe its origins and development in clear and accessible terms. Howard Davies was the first Chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority, the single regulator for the whole of Britain's financial sector. David Green was Head of International Policy at the FSA, after spending thirty years in the Bank of England, and has been closely associated with the development of the current European regulatory arrangements. Now with a revised and updated introduction, which catalogues the changes made since the credit crisis erupted, this guide to the international system will be invaluable for regulators, financial market practitioners and for students of the global financial system, wherever they are located. The book shows how the system has been challenged by new financial instruments and by new types of institutions such as hedge funds and private equity. Furthermore, the growth in importance of major developing countries, who were excluded for far too long from the key decision-making for a has led to a major overhaul. The guide is essential reading for all those interested in the development of financial markets and the way they are regulated. The revised version is only available in paperback.