What is the link between the financial cycle -financial booms, followed by busts - and the real economy? What is the direction of this link and how salient is this connection? This unique book examines these fundamental questions and offers a paramount contribution to the debate surrounding the recent financial and economic crisis.With contributions from eminent academics and policy makers, this multi-disciplinary collection ascertains the policy challenges perpetuated by financial cycles in the real economy. Prominent macroeconomic models are challenged as experts question the nexus between financial deepening and growth, and assess the contribution of real estate bubbles to financial crises. Focusing on Europe, and in particular on Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the collection provides country-specific accounts, suggesting policy initiatives for dealing with financial cycles. The book concludes that financial cycles are leading indicators for financial crises and calls for economists to integrate financial factors into macroeconomic modeling. The multi-faceted nature of this book will be invaluable to researchers and students interested in the post financial crisis debate. Policy makers and practitioners will find the expert insight into lessons learned in Europe in the wake of the financial crisis and the proposal for dynamic policy initiatives to be invaluable. Contributors: J. Asmussen, M. Belka, D. Bernhofer, C. Borio, C.M. Buch, G. M. Caporale, K. D'Hulster, M. Dumi i , O. Fernandez-Amador, M. Gachter, U. Herman, O. Holtemoeller, B. Jazbec, M. Lozej, D. Mihaljek, B. Mijailovi , E. Nowotny, E. Ortega, J. Penalosa, C. Rault, F. Sindermann, V. o i , A. Sova, R. Sova, A. Subelyte, J.W. van den End, P. van den Noord, A. Winkler, E. Zamrazilova, V. arek

Oliver Landmann Nobody needs to be convinced of the importance of banking for the Swiss economy. The financial sector grew well above average in the past decade and now accounts for almost 10 % of GDP. Compared to the economy-wide average, it creates more than double as much value added per employee and it is a major contributor to Swiss ex port revenues. But this is no cause for complacency. The industry is subjf: ct to rapid change as the competitive climate has become rougher nationally and internationally. Major structural weaknesses have corne to the surface which raise serious questions about the extent of the required structural adjustments. Thus, banking was an ideal candidate for a major case study in the framework of the National Research Programme No. 28 which is devoted to Switzerland's external economic challenges. The programme was commissioned by the Swiss government and is carried out by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The research project on the fmancial sector was directed by Professors Niklaus Blattner, Hans Genberg and Alexander Swoboda who assembled a team of research economists from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies (both at Geneva) and the Labour and Industrial Economics Research Unit at the University of Basel. This joint research effort has yielded an impressive crop of descriptive data, analytical insights and policy-oriented conclusions."

This volume provides a topical and up-to-date introduction to the principal Western financial markets and institutions, particularly those in the USA, Europe and Japan. The scope is comprehensive and topics covered include: commercial and investment banking, money and insurance, options, futures and other derivative products. A glossary of financial terms is also provided, and a final chapter surveys the key trends and issues in the market today.;A second edition is available: "An Introduction to Global Financial Markets" (hardback: 0-333-69584-4; paperback: 0-333-69394-9).

A major force in East Asia's remarkable economic growth and industrial transformation, foreign direct investment has been growing at 14-15 percent annually in Southeast Asia and China over the last decade. This timely volume examines the impact of investment on trade in the region, focusing especially on microeconomic issues of strategy, activity, and behavior of corporate investors. The contributors explore the role of corporate alliances and networks of Japanese and Chinese firms, as well as the influence of investors from newly industrializing economies, in the relocation of production and trade within the region.

This path-breaking comparative study of the economies of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan analyzes the evolution of the financial systems of each country in relation to their last four decades of dynamic economic growth. Each country study is addressed in two chapters, the first covering macroeconomic aspects of the financial system and the second chapter focusing on commercial banking. The analysis shows how financial development has occurred in two distinct phases. Initially interest rates were regulated to remain below market levels, entry of new financial institutions was restricted, financial markets were segmented, and domestic finance was insulated from world financial markets. The second phase has seen a steady, if sometimes slow, removal of these restrictions. This liberalization has meant regulation now focuses on prudential measures for system safety while financial resources are increasingly allocated through the marketplace. The evaluation of the financial development of Japan, Korea and Taiwan provides significant insights for economists and policymakers. In particular, there are many lessons for less developed markets and transforming socialist economics.

Fully revised and updated from the hugely popular first edition, this book is an accessible and convenient one-volume introduction to international capital markets, ideal for those entering or planning to enter investment banking or asset management. As well as serving as an invaluable reference tool for professionals already working in the industry looking to extend their knowledge base it will also benefit all those working in trading, sales and support roles.

Describing how the key products and markets work, who the principle participants are and their overall goals and objectives, Andrew Chisholm provides a thorough overview of the global capital markets. The book covers a wide range of equity, debt, foreign exchange and credit instruments as well as the principal derivative products. In a step-by-step fashion, making extensive use of real world cases and examples, it explains money markets, foreign exchange, bond markets, cash equity markets, equity valuation techniques, swaps, forwards, futures, credit derivatives, options, option risk management and convertible bonds. An extensive glossary also explains concisely many of the 'jargon' expressions used in the financial markets.

Boasting an international focus, examples are drawn from major international markets around the world. It makes extensive use of numerical examples and case studies to help explain a wide range of cash and derivative products used in the capital markets business. It covers both debt and equity products and includes new material on credit products such as collateralized debt obligations and credit derivative structures; equity fundamental analysis, portfolio theory and convertible bonds. Market data has been fully updated from the first edition and recent events such as the 'credit crisis' are discussed.

European central bank policy is already taking place today in an informal way. It comprises, in short, European exchange rate management and interest rate policy decisions within and without the European Monetary System (EMS). A focal point of such policy actions are the money market operating targets of European Central Banks. Those central bank policies appear to be dominated, however, by the Deutsche Bundesbank. This has caused recurring critical discussion of European asymmetries and German leadership in monetary stabilization pOlicies, before and after the EMS turbulences of September 1992. However, it should be pointed out that German dominance has increasingly evolved in a cooperative way, ever since the Committee of European Central Bank Governors began to meet regularly in 1964; the Basle-Nyborg accord of 1987 formed a further stage of cooperative efforts within the EMS. Presently, a small group of countries (including Benelux and Austria) generally follows, after prior 'concertation', German monetary policy patterns. In this narrow sense, there exists a European central bank policy within a "Deutsche-Mark-Zone." In a broader sense, European central bank policy is shaped, after proper consultation, by monetary cooperation between the larger EMS countries, but once again dominantly influenced by Germany; recent problems of highjnterest rates in France and elsewhere due to (relative) restrictive German monetary pOlicies are striking examples. German monetary dominance, in the narrow or broad sense, obviously creates, in the long-run, an untenable situation in the eyes of European partner countries.

In 1933 and 1956, the United States sharply limited the kinds of securities, commercial, and insurance activities banks could engage in. These regulations remain in place despite profound changes in the economic environment, in the structure of the national and international financial markets, and in technology. This book evaluates the case for and against eliminating these barriers. The authors study the consequences of bank regulation in the US as it relates to competition in international financial markets. They examine universal banking systems in other countries, especially Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, and how they work. They then apply the lessons to US banking, paying particular attention to the benchmarks of stability, equity, efficiency, and competitiveness against which the performance of national financial systems should be measured. They propose a level playing field on which any number of forms of organization can grow in the financial services sector, in which universal banking is one of the permitted structures, and where regulation is linked to function.

The 4 volumes in this set, originally published between 1973 and 1998, draw together research by leading academics in the area of international finance and provides an examination of related key issues. The volumes examine international trade, principles of international finance, and one of the texts provides a comprehensive research and information guide to international financial statistics. This set will be of particular interest to students of economics and finance.

"Once upon a longish time ago, Swiss bankers were solemn men to whom you took the money stashed under your mattress so Oliver Landmann they could stash it under theirs. Not now." (The Economist, February 2nd, 1991) As The Economist has recognized, the banking business is subject to thorough change. Traditional competitive advantages are lost, new ones must be sought. And above all, the rapid globalization of fmancial markets in the recent past has greatly intensified international competition in banking. In view of these developments, the issue of competitiveness in banking has become an urgent research priority. The contributions collected in this conference volume present the ftrst results of a joint research project of the Labour and Industrial Economics Research Unit at the University of Basel, the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies, and the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva on the Swiss Financial Sector. TIle Conference was held in Basel on May 16 - 17, 1991. The research project, directed by Professors Alexander Swoboda, Niklaus Blattner and Hans Genberg, is part of the National Research Programme Nr. 28, commissioned by the Swiss Government and administered by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The programme is devoted to the external economic challenges faced by Switzerland. The notion of competitiveness is at the very core of this research programme.

With diminishing profits in traditional areas of banking, security houses are turning to other means in order to remain competitive. This book examines the changes in the world of international security lending as European financial markets move towards a more global perspective, and the market for international securities lending continues to develop. New opportunities are appearing for institutions to increase their yields on international equity and debt securities by lending out securities for a fee. Securities lending enables institutions to offset settlement costs as well as custodian fees. In this manner, a back office operation can be transformed into a profit generating concern.;Borrowers, lenders and intermediaries should be aware of the implications of these cross-border transactions. Important issues include the tax treatment of international lending transactions, what type of transactions are available and most importantly, what the financial risks involved are and the profitable opportunities for arbitrage.

Securitisation of assets has probably been the single most revolutionary development in the capital markets in the last ten years. This financing technique has now produced a mature market, not now restricted to the US. Securitisation analyses the depth and liquidity of this market by way of discussion of prominent issues by leading practitioners from the UK, US, Europe and other significant markets.

The German bond market is one of the world's most liquid and diversified capital markets. As the world's debt and derivative products become more closely linked, investors and traders are increasingly more interested in the security offered by German government debt, as well as the profitable opportunities available. This book is designed to appeal to bond traders in major financial centres, Erobond invesors, arbitrageurs, basic traders and repo market participants. Daniel Corrigan is the co-author of Gilts.

Asian economies strengthened their monetary and currency management after the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, and came through the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 relatively well. Nevertheless, the recent global crisis has presented new challenges. This book develops recommendations for monetary and currency policy in Asian economies aimed at promoting macroeconomic and financial stability in an environment of global economic shocks and volatile capital flows. Monetary and Currency Policy Management in Asia draws lessons from crises and makes concrete macroeconomic policy recommendations aimed at minimizing the impacts of an economic and financial downturn, and setting the stage for an early return to sustainable growth. The focus is on short-term measures related to the cycle. The three main areas addressed are: monetary policy measures, both conventional and unconventional, to achieve both macroeconomic and financial stability; exchange rate policy and foreign exchange reserve management, including the potential for regional cooperation to stabilize currency movements; and ways to ease the constraints on policy resulting from the so-called 'impossible trinity' of fixed exchange rates, open capital accounts and independent monetary policy. This is one of the first books since the global financial crisis to specifically and comprehensively address the implications of the crisis for monetary and currency policy in emerging market economies, especially in Asia. Presenting a broad menu of policy options for financial reform and regulation, the book will be of great interest to finance experts and policy makers in the region as well as academics and researchers of financial and Asian economics and also economic development. Contributors: J. Aizenman, M.D. Chinn, A. Filardo, S.-i. Fukuda, H. Genberg, H. Ito, M. Kawai, S. Kim, Y. Kon, P.J. Morgan, I. Patnaik, A. Shah, S. Takagi, D.Y. Yang, F. Zhai A Joint Publication of the Asian Development Bank Institute and Edward Elgar Publishing

How do countries' political and policy choices affect the credit ratings they receive? Sovereign ratings influence countries' cost of funding, and observers have long worried that rating agencies - these unelected, unappointed, unaccountable, for-profit organizations - can interfere with democratic sovereignty if they assign lower ratings to certain political and policy choices. The questions of whether, how, and why ratings react to policy and politics, however, remain unexplored. Rating Politics opens the black box of sovereign ratings to uncover the logic that drives rating responses to political and policy factors. Relying on statistical analysis of rating scores, interviews with sovereign rating analysts, and a close reading of the official communications of rating agencies about their decisions, Zsófia Barta and Alison Johnston show that ratings penalize center-left governments and many (though not all) policies associated with the center-left agenda. The motivation for such penalties is not rooted in assumptions about how those political and policy features affect growth and debt servicing capacity. Instead, ratings are lower in the presence of those features because they are expected to make a country more vulnerable to market panics whenever the economy is hit by unforeseen shocks, as they signal insufficient willingness and/or ability to engage in determined austerity for the sake of reassuring markets. Since market panics and the resulting "sudden stops" of funding lead to humiliating collapses of ratings, rating agencies attempt to insure themselves against "rating failures" by pre-emptively assigning lower ratings to countries with the "wrong" political and policy mix.

The 21st century witnessed major changes in the financial environment surrounding bank regulators and banks. Banking and Monetary Policies in a Changing Financial Environment delves into three of these developments and challenges. The first change in the financial environment relates to the rise in the number and sophistication of financial and economic crimes which shaped the international regulatory architecture. New rules and regulations led to the creation of new strategies to combat these crimes, especially those concerning the spread of more advanced money laundering methods and techniques, terrorist financing after the 9/11 attacks, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The second development concerns the global financial crisis of 2008 which drastically affected the regulatory environment of various international and domestic financial authorities causing major changes in bank lending and corporate governance policies, and in the development of the Basel III accord on capital adequacy for bank supervision. The third development manifests itself in the creation of a major European monetary union without a fiscal union and a giant European central bank impacting the conduct of monetary policy. This book combines theory, policy, regulation and institutional approaches with empirical testing, analyzing applications and case studies of various international regulatory authorities and administrations, countries and jurisdictions, central banks and commercial banks. This volume is suitable for those who study international finance, Banking and white collar crime.

Global Corporate Finance, 3rd edition written by a son-father team, introduces students and practitioners to principles essential to the understanding of global financial problems and the policies that global business managers contend with. The objective of this book is to equip current and future business leaders with the tools they need to interpret the issues, to make sound global financial decisions, and to manage the wide variety of risks that modern businesses face in a competitive global environment. In line with its objective, the book stresses practical applications in a concise and straightforward manner, without complex treatment of theoretical concepts. Instructors who want students to possess practical, job-oriented skills in international finance will find this unique textbook ideal for their needs. Suitable for both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in international finances, this book is clearly the 'go-to' book on one of the most important aspects of corporate finance.Supplementary materials are available to instructors who adopt this textbook.These include:

This indispensable book provides a comprehensive analysis of monetary and financial integration in East Asia. It assesses the steps already taken toward financial integration and brings forward different proposals for future exchange rate arrangements in what has now become the world's most dynamic region. With contributions from distinguished experts this timely book evaluates the economic and politico-economic arguments and conditions for monetary and financial integration in East Asia. It explores how and to what extent the countries of the region can integrate despite their heterogeneity and their underlying political tensions. Drawing on the European experiences, this book analyzes the economic logic of monetary and financial integration in East Asia and its political feasibility. This invaluable broad analysis will be of interest to academic researchers, students, policy-makers and professional economists working on matters of international economic cooperation, common currency areas, international open economy macroeconomics, and East Asian integration.

This book takes a unique approach to the topic of poverty reduction, primarily employing an international business framework as opposed to the usual economic or political lens. Some of the key ideas explored in the book include: poverty is primarily the lack of choices, not the lack of material possessions; attacking inequality of opportunity might be a more effective means to reduce poverty than attaching inequality of wealth; political systems matter, but individuals and for-profit firms also have a vital and indispensable role in helping to create the wealth needed to reduce poverty; and an effective corporate social responsibility strategy to help reduce poverty may include finding innovative and creative ways to operate profitably in areas of the world where poverty is currently robbing too many people of the opportunity to live their version of the good life. Building on such ideas, the book advocates for private companies to expand operations into the least developed regions of the world as part of their corporate social responsibility programs and to reframe the debates away from ones focused on exploitation and economic nationalism to one of creating opportunities across political borders.

The explosion of the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020 led to a paradigm change in the European Union architecture of economic governance. To mitigate the pandemic's damage, the EU established a Recovery Fund called 'Next Generation EU' (NGEU). Funded though resources raised on the financial markets, this special budget is worth 750bnEURO at 2018 prices, which corresponds to 806,9bnEURO at current prices. Disbursed to member states in the form of both loans and grants and to be repaid on a long-term basis through the introduction of new EU taxes, the NGEU has endowed the EU with borrowing, spending, and taxing powers. EU Fiscal Capacity: Legal Integration After Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine argues that the NGEU constiutes a profound overhaul in the EU architecture of economic governance. Moving away from the fiscal surveillance shown in response to the euro-crisis, the EU has adopted a strategy of fiscal federalism more akin to the United States. The return of war in Europe following 75 years of peace has caused yet more socio-economic damage for the EU. Occuring as Europe was slowly re-emerging from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has disrupted supply chains, increased humanitarian assistance costs, and generated an energy crisis. Within the context of war, the limitations of the current EU constitutional arrangements have yet again been exposed. EU Fiscal Capacity argues that the EU needs to retain the NGEU as a permanent feature of EMU. The first book to analyse how the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have affected Europe's Economic & Monetary Union from an EU law and policy perspective, this book is a must read for policy makers and students of European law and politics alike.

Recurrent instability has characterized the global financial system since the 1980s, eventually leading to the current global financial crisis. This instability and the resultant disruptions - sovereign debt defaults, exchange rate misalignments, financial market illiquidity and asset price bubbles - are linked, in this book, to the shortcomings of the global financial system which tends to generate cycles of boom and bust in credit flows. These cycles are set in motion by the monetary impulses of major industrial countries and are amplified and propagated through the operation of global financial markets. Fabrizio Saccomanni argues that to counter such systemic instability requires that national authorities give adequate weight to financial stability objectives when formulating their monetary and regulatory policies. He maintains that appropriate multilateral strategies to deal with unsustainable trends in credit aggregates and asset prices should be devised in the International Monetary Fund in the context of a strengthened framework to deal with global payments imbalances and exchange rate misalignments. Providing a comprehensive historical and analytical survey of the causes, consequences and possible cures of international financial instability, this book will be of great interest to students and academics of international economics and finance. It will also appeal to financial market participants and analysts, government officials and central bankers as a comprehensive survey of the relevant academic literature and of the state of the policy debate.

The International Money Fund (IMF) stands at a crossroad. Derided as increasingly irrelevant in the first decade of the new millennium, the fall-out from the 2008 global financial crisis has restored its power and prestige. The resurgent IMF has shifted in policy position with potentially transformative outcomes for its member states and global governance. But will the IMF use its power in global governance to assert a more just and sustainable macroeconomic model and provide voice for poor and marginalized people around the globe? Or will enduring weaknesses within the organization result in a broad-based failure to address these issues? In this book, Bessma Momani and Mark Hibben dissect the variables and institutional dynamics at play in IMF governance, surveillance, lending, and capacity development to expose the fundamental barriers to change. They go on to identify four areas that instead could "fix" the IMF, including governance reform that strengthens low and middle income power in decision making, hiring a more diverse staff with expertise in areas of inclusive economics, the development of enforceable benchmarks tied to the theme of inclusive growth, and greater outreach and coordination with development institutions, such as the World Bank and the new Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank. Ultimately, the authors show how these genuine and workable solutions can give the IMF the effectiveness and legitimacy it needs to positively shape 21st century global governance and push back against volatile and regressive forces in the international political economy.

Bridges the debates between IPE, CPE, International Relations and financial studies. Provides a methodology to study the interconnectedness of actors and practices in global financialized capitalism. Case studies ranging from banking, to payments systems, index providers and investor-state arbitration offer state-of-the-art insights on some of the most important new actors and practices in global finance.

What macroeconomic requirements must Turkey meet in its quest to accede to the European Union? This book, with its distinguished contributors - well-known economists and policymakers - examines and analyses these macroeconomic challenges confronting Turkey. Although the focus is on the specific situation of Turkey, the lessons are informative for other candidate countries and the findings directly relevant to the process of European integration.The book is divided into four parts: fiscal policies and sustainability of public finances monetary policy challenges preconditions for euro adoption sustainable regimes of capital movements. Each topic is studied in two consecutive papers, concentrating first on the challenges faced by the countries of the EU, and then by Turkey. Several papers review the experiences from the previous round of EU accession and the implications of these for Turkey. Macroeconomic Policies for EU Accession will appeal to policymakers, bureaucrats and academics interested in the macroeconomic problems of EU accession and European integration.

The banking and financial sector has expanded dramatically in the last forty years, and the consequences of this accelerated growth have been felt by people around the world. European Banks and the Rise of International Finance examines the historical origins of the financialised world we live in by analysing the transformations in world finance which occurred in the decade from the first oil crisis of 1973, until the debt crisis of 1982. This a crucial and formative decade for understanding the modern financial landscape, but it is still mostly unexplored in economic and financial history. The availability of new archival evidence has allowed for the re-examination of issues such as the progressive privatisation of international financial flows to Less Developed Countries, especially in Latin America and South-East Asia, and its impact on the expansion of the European banking sector, and for the development of an invaluable financial and political history. This book is well suited for those interested in monetary economics and economic history, as well as those studying international political economy, banking history and Financial history.