This book offers new insights and perspectives on the financial and banking sector in Europe with a special focus on Central and Southeastern European countries. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of primary sources and datasets, the book examines both the financial development and performance of the real sector of the economy and the impact and involvement of the banking sector. The contributions offer new insights into current financial innovations and discuss best practices in innovative financial solutions. They also highlight new perspectives in finance and analyze characteristic problems in the real and banking sectors in various European countries. The insights and financial solutions presented in this book will be of interest to scholars of finance and financial economics as well as practitioners in the financial industry and policy makers.

Sustainable Consumption is unique, not just in its inter-disciplinary and substantive subject matter (changing networks of utility consumption and production), but because it examines empirically the key theoretical debates underpinning the social sciences at the beginning of the 21st century. This book shifts the focus of sustainable consumption away from the individual consumer and their lifestyles, and examines how existing systems of provision constrain how people consume and how sustainability is conceived in popular and policy-related discourses. The authors address a number of relevant and topical issues including: the relationship between production and consumption, with a focus on how each sphere configures the other; the escalation of choice and the emergence of differentiation in service provision and lifestyle orientation; the constraints on consumption that are embedded both in systems of provision and in the collective routines of everyday life; and the differential capacities of states, public agencies, social movements and commercial companies to facilitate sustainable consumption. In tackling these issues, the book advances the sustainable consumption agenda by highlighting the ways in which socio-technical and market regulatory arrangements at the systemic level increase opportunities for the gradual re-orientation of consumption habits across social groups and over time. This book offers a comprehensive evaluation of sustainable consumption in the context of infrastructure provision. The interdisciplinary nature and rigorous analysis will make it essential reading for scholars, students and policymakers interested in sustainability, sociology, culture, consumption patterns and the environment.

All the major financial centres have experienced a rise in anti-money laundering rules and regulations. Initially, anti-money laundering laws were used as a weapon in the war on drugs, whilst more recently they have been deployed in the ongoing fight against terrorism. These developments, the authors reveal, have had serious consequences for banks and other financial institutions - affecting not only profit margins but also the way in which business is conducted. Topical and pertinent issues addressed in this book include questions such as, has all the recent legislative activity really put a stop to the problem? Are the international rules being implemented as carefully as they should? How level is the playing field in cross border banking? The regimes and implementation of anti-money laundering laws and regulations of four major, cross border, financial centres are also examined in depth: Switzerland, Singapore, the UK, and the USA. Going beyond the purely descriptive, there are comparative analyses of these countries against existing international standards - with illuminating results. This new book is full of original insight and analysis and will be an invaluable resource for lawyers, both scholarly and practitioner based, with an interest in economic crime as well as policymakers and compliance officers within banks and other financial institutions.

This influential volume, which has been revised and updated for the twenty-first century, includes both new material and more detailed expositions of existing arguments. Although so-called 'real' theories of business cycles and growth are prevalent in contemporary mainstream economics, Controversies in Monetary Economics suggests that those economists who have instinctively focused on monetary factors in explaining macroeconomic behaviour are more genuinely 'realistic'. The author combines an explanation of past and present monetary controversy with practical proposals for the conduct of monetary policy in the contemporary global economy. Several alternative approaches are discussed, ranging from the traditional quantity theory to post Keynesian theories of endogenous money. This insightful book will be of interest to all those concerned with monetary economics and macroeconomics, including academic researchers, graduate and senior undergraduate students - particularly those looking for an alternative to current economic orthodoxy - and historians of economic thought. Practitioners in central banks, international financial institutions, the financial markets and finance ministries will also find this work invaluable.

This book aims to identify and analyze the impact of the 2007-09 global financial crisis on Asian economies and to assess the short-term and longer-term policy responses to the crisis in terms of their effectiveness and sustainability. It draws lessons on how best to avoid and/or mitigate future crises and to identify structural policy recommendations that can help guide Asian policymakers to expand the growth potential of domestic and regional demand in coming years, and thereby create a basis for sustainable and inclusive long-term growth. Organized into four parts, it offers an accessible explanation of the causes, consequences, and contagion mechanisms of the crisis. Part 1 provides an overview of the major issues and presents policy recommendations. Part 2 reviews the crisis in the US and its transmission to Europe. Part 3 focuses on the impact on Asia. And Part 4 concludes lessons of the crisis for Asian countries. The volume highlights that Asian economies have already recovered strongly from the global financial crisis, reflecting their aggressive moves to ease monetary and fiscal policy as well as the underlying fundamental strength of their economies. However, the biggest challenge lies ahead. It asserts that, given that it is unlikely that the US and Europe will be engines of global growth, Asian economies should contribute to global economic adjustment by creating their own growth engines.

Under the direction of Nobel laureate Robert A. Mundell and Paul J. Zak, eminent contributors to Monetary Stability and Economic Growth offer a unique insight into the way that economists analyse the causes of money (mis) management in the US, Latin America, Europe and Japan, and prescribe stabilising reforms. Their lively discussion provides answers to various questions including: How does monetary stability affect economic growth? How can nations best achieve monetary stability? When is monetary union desirable? Which anchors for monetary stability are likely to be most effective? How will the euro affect financial markets and the international monetary system? Is international monetary reform possible, and how can it be achieved? The mechanisms that link monetary policy - including foreign exchange regimes and the international monetary system - to economic performance are examined, and the ways in which countries can stimulate economic growth are explored. This superb narrative volume, brought alive by the debate between leading economists, is contextualised by the editors' excellent introduction. It will be of immense interest to students, researchers and teachers of macroeconomics and financial economics as well as professional economists.

This book approaches economic problems from a systems thinking and feedback perspective. By introducing system dynamics methods (including qualitative and quantitative techniques) and computer simulation models, the respective contributions apply feedback analysis and dynamic simulation modeling to important local, national, and global economics issues and concerns. Topics covered include: an introduction to macro modeling using a system dynamics framework; a system dynamics translation of the Phillips machine; a re-examination of classical economic theories from a feedback perspective; analyses of important social, ecological, and resource issues; the development of a biophysical economics module for global modelling; contributions to monetary and financial economics; analyses of macroeconomic growth, income distribution and alternative theories of well-being; and a re-examination of scenario macro modeling. The contributions also examine the philosophical differences between the economics and system dynamics communities in an effort to bridge existing gaps and compare methods. Many models and other supporting information are provided as online supplementary files. Consequently, the book appeals to students and scholars in economics, as well as to practitioners and policy analysts interested in using systems thinking and system dynamics modeling to understand and improve economic systems around the world. "Clearly, there is much space for more collaboration between the advocates of post-Keynesian economics and system dynamics! More generally, I would like to recommend this book to all scholars and practitioners interested in exploring the interface and synergies between economics, system dynamics, and feedback thinking." Comments in the Foreword by Marc Lavoie, Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa and University of Sorbonne Paris Nord

This outstanding text, a follow-up to the authors' award-winning 1982 text, provides a thorough treatment of economic welfare theory and develops a complete theoretical and empirical framework for applied project and policy evaluation. The authors illustrate how this theory can be used to develop policy analysis from both theory and estimation in a variety of areas including: international trade, the economics of technological change, agricultural economics, the economics of information, environmental economics, and the economics of extractive and renewable natural resources. Building on willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures as the foundation for applied welfare economics, the authors develop measures for firms and households where households are viewed as both consumers and owner/sellers of resources. Possibilities are presented for (1) approximating WTP with consumer surplus, (2) measuring WTP exactly subject to errors in existing econometric work, and (3) using duality theory to specify econometric equations consistent with theory. Later chapters cover specific areas of welfare measurement under imperfect competition, uncertainty, incomplete information, externalities, and dynamic considerations. Applications are considered explicitly for policy issues related to information, international trade, the environment, agriculture, and other natural resource issues. The Welfare Economics of Public Policy is ideal for graduate and undergraduate courses in applied welfare economics, public policy, agricultural policy, and environmental economics and provides an essential reference for practitioners of applied welfare economics.

Kristi A. Olson asks: What is a fair income distribution? She rejects equal income shares: equal pay undercompensates workers in dangerous and onerous jobs. The envy test, which takes both income and work into account, fares better. Yet, a distribution in which no one prefers someone else's circumstances to her own-as the envy test requires-is unlikely to exist, and even when it does exist, the normative connection between envy and fairness has not been established. After critiquing existing answers, Olson invokes the idea of mutual justifiability: when someone claims that her situation should be improved at someone else's expense, she must be able to give a reason that cannot be reasonably rejected by a free and equal individual who regards everyone else as the same. To give the answer bite, Olson distinguishes two types of envy. Reasons based on personal envy can be reasonably rejected; reasons based on impersonal envy cannot. Olson then tests the solidarity solution against the theories of Ronald Dworkin, Philippe Van Parijs, and Marc Fleurbaey and applies it directly to the concrete issues of the gender wage gap and taxation. By providing a new approach to problems of fair resource allocation, The Solidarity Solution establishes philosophical discussion as critical to today's fight to end economic injustice.

This book is about three key dimensions in economics-globalization, migration and the welfare state-that are of enduring interest. These issues are particularly important to consider at the present moment given the strains posed by the pandemic: there is at least a temporary setback to trade-globalization and migration, and the cost of fighting the pandemic will strain the ability of governments to provide welfare state services in a style and scope to which many of their citizens have become accustomed. The book explains the changing function of the welfare state in the presence of intensified globalization, or de-globalization, forces. The welfare state's policy-maker attitudes toward openness and migration depend on open-economy fundamentals, and the income class it represents. The author demonstrates the interactions between migration, globalization and macroeconomic policy in practice, using real-world unique episodes, with Israel deemed as well-functioning trifecta, and the US and Europe as imperfectly functioning trifecta.

This volume spans economics, history, sociology, law, graphic design, religion, environmental science, politics and more to offer a transdisciplinary examination of debt. From this perspective, many of our most pressing social and environmental crises are explored to raise critical questions about debt's problems and possibilities. Who do we owe? Where are the offsetting credits? Why do such persistent deficits in care permeate so much of our lives? Can we imagine new approaches to balance sheets, measures of value, and justice to reconcile these deficits? Often regarded as a constraint on our ability to meet the challenges of our day, this volume reimagines debt as a social construct capable of empowering people to organize and produce sustainable prosperity for all. This text is ideal for provoking classroom discussions that not only point out the gravity of the crises we face in the twenty-first century, but also seeks to set readers' minds free to create innovative solutions.

In the 1970s, the Keynesian orthodoxy in macroeconomics began to break down. In direct contrast to Keynesian recommendations of discretionary policy, models advocating laissez-faire came to the forefront of economic theory. Laissez-faire no longer stood as an exceptional policy endorsed for rare occurrences of market clearing; rather it became the policy standard. This book provides the definitive account of this watershed and traces the evolution of laissez-faire using the cases of its proponents, Frank Knight, Henry Simons, Friedrich von Hayek, Milton Friedman, James Buchanan and Robert Lucas. By elucidating the pre-analytical framework of their writings, Sherryl Kasper accounts for the ideological influence of these pioneers on theoretical work, and illustrates that they played a primary role in founding the theoretical and philosophical use of rules as the basis of macroeconomic policy. A case study of the way in which interwar pluralism transcended to postwar neoclassicism is also featured. The volume concludes that economists ultimately favoured new classical economics due to the theoretical developments it incorporated, although at the same time, since Lucas uncritically adapted some of the ideas and tools of Friedman, an avenue for ideological influence remained. Tracing the evolution of American macroeconomic theory from the 1930s to the 1980s, this book will appeal to those with an interest in macroeconomics and in the history of scholars associated with the Chicago School of economics.

This book shows that research contributions from different fields-finance, economics, computer sciences, and physics-can provide useful insights into key issues in financial and cryptocurrency markets. Presenting the latest empirical and theoretical advances, it helps readers gain a better understanding of financial markets and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to use a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending and to control its issue without the need for a central authority, and it has attracted wide public attention since its introduction. In recent years, the academic community has also started gaining interest in cyptocurrencies, and research in the field has grown rapidly. This book presents is a collection of the latest work on cryptocurrency markets and the properties of those markets. This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers from disciplines such as finance, economics, financial engineering, computer science, physics and applied mathematics working in the field of financial markets, including cryptocurrency markets.

Since the rational expectations revolution in macroeconomics, the subject has evolved in a major way, adopting the principles behind the revolution and building on them in spectacular fashion. In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition, the authors provide a complete and up-to-date textbook designed to guide students through the mathematical and conceptual maze of modern macroeconomics. The updated second edition includes: Explanation of the historical development of the subject Introduction to traditional macro-classical/adaptive expectations Demonstration of how rational expectations are handled in macro models and in finance An explanation of the importance of structural, micro-founded models Key examples of structural models examined in detail, and with extension to the open economy Discussion of policy implications throughout Methodology for testing models against macro data behaviour, complete with the latest evidence on these models' success Coverage of key topics, including the supply-side, unemployment, growth and the open economy. By explaining the basics of each topic, and providing the solid grounding for students to tackle more complex and detailed material, this textbook will be an invaluable resource for both postgraduate and upper level undergraduate students of macroeconomics alike.

This book shares essential insights into the implementation of monetary policy in various East Asian countries. Highlighting case studies from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Singapore, leading economists and practitioners from central banks illustrate how dependent effective monetary policy is on the institutional and financial market environment, as well as on successful implementation and communication. The respective contributions cover various aspects of monetary policy implementation, such as: How is inflation targeting handled? For what purposes and how do central banks operate on financial markets, and what are the (at times unintended) effects? How do currency market interventions help achieve the monetary policy targets set by individual countries or areas? In addition, Asian experiences are contrasted with those from the Eurozone.

The growing levels of income inequality, an explosion of global financial flows, and a worldwide decline of economic growth have combined to challenge accepted economic wisdom. Utilizing a heterodox approach, Pablo G. Bortz provides a fresh look for understanding the interaction between these three factors while identifying challenges and possible alternatives for an expansionary and progressive economic policy. Reviewing several schools of thought, Inequality, Growth and 'Hot' Money explores the risks generated by capital flows and the limitations they impose on progressive economic policies. Professor Bortz then provides instruments and alternatives to pursue an expansionary and equalitarian program, including theoretical contributions to enrich heterodox and progressive economics. Standout features of this book include a review of the challenges that financial flows pose for developing countries; a redefinition of the role of capital controls; a policy approach that separates interest rate policies from a broader credit policy; and a rejection of the negative relationship between a more egalitarian income distribution and sustained economic expansion. Expanding the Kaleckian approach to include financial flows, this accessible introduction to heterodox growth models will be appreciated by graduate students and committed heterodox economists. Research departments at official institutions such as central banks may also be interested, specifically in the book's models and policy prescription.

The recent financial crisis has demonstrated the dangers of ignoring the factors that led to previous crises, and the effectiveness of the policies designed to deal with them. Over time, these macroeconomic policies have evolved, oscillating between state intervention and a free-market approach. Following a story that runs from the pre-Great Depression era up until the Financial Crisis of 2007-11, this book reveals an intimate connection between new macroeconomic ideas and policies and the events in the real economy that inspired them. It does this in an accessible, easy-to-follow style, first by focusing on the developments of economic theories and policies, and then by concentrating on the design of domestic and international institutions and economic governance. Written by three leading experts on the history of economic policy, the book is ideal for graduates and undergraduates studying macroeconomics, monetary policy and the history of economic thought.

This book outlines the connection between the principles of proportionality of state intervention and strategies made by the European Union. It describes underlining reasons for the occurrence of the global economic recession and available intervention options for governments to the EU markets.This book works out several possibilities EU countries use with the help of state intervention to actively intervene in the market economy. The author critically assesses the proportionality of interventions in the markets of EU members. With regard to the European economic recession, the book highlights the background of the global financial and external debt crisis. In this context, possible measures for growth promotion processes of the EU are also described.The book will appeal to lecturers and students of economics disciplines worldwide, political advisors of EU member states and decision-makers of the European Central Bank; as well as, in principle, all interested readers who would like to learn more about fiscal policy in the European Union.

This important textbook offers a comprehensive look into the two main traditions in contemporary macroeconomics ? New Classical and Keynesian ? and examines the work of economists who have drawn on principles from both traditions to form a new, integrated approach known as New Neoclassical Synthesis. Importantly, this provides the theoretical foundation for much of current mainstream economics and the work done by central banks around the world. With a dual focus on research methods and policy applications, this book bridges the gap between intermediate macroeconomic and advanced graduate-level texts, making it an ideal resource for senior undergraduate and Masters students in applied economics programs. Key topics include:? a concise summary of intermediate macroeconomics, including the foundational ideas of both the New Classical and Keynesian traditions? the Lucas critique of standard methods for evaluating policy design? debt sustainability and austerity vs. stimulation debate? optimal inflation rates? tax reform and growth analysis? alternative monetary policies for pursuing price stability? theories of unemployment.Students and instructors will find additional useful resources on the book?s companion website, including practice questions for each chapter.

This expanded and enlarged third edition of Theodore Pelagidis and Michael Mitsopoulos' popular Who's to Blame for Greece? covers almost a decade of Greece's economic crisis from 2009 to 2019, as well as recent developments in the first months of 2020. It provides an overview of recent developments in the Greek economy and outlines the most important obstacles to a return to robust and sustainable growth rates. It considers the new optimism being developed in Greece after the crisis, but also the policy challenges facing Greece emanating from a deeply hurt economy in the aftermath of the crisis and the structural problems that persist. The book covers the most recent issues that affect the Greek economy including, the migration crisis at the borders with Turkey as well as a faltering global economy hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This book will appeal to researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the EU and the political economy of Greece and offers valuable updates on the second edition.

Providing a unique perspective on economic history and policy, this book shows how a daring method once recommended by top economists could be adapted to help America pay for the things it needs. Written in a crisp, fast-paced style, this groundbreaking work presents an in-depth account of monetary theory and practice as the basis for its suggestion of a new system of money creation. First, the economic history of the United States is explored, with special emphasis on the years from the Civil War to the Great Depression. The proposal that follows, based on a long-lost method of money creation, is related to that context, as well as to America's current situation, both economic and political. Readers will learn how banks have created most of America's money supply since the nation's founding, but also about experiments with an alternative system in which the government plays that role. The crux of the book is an examination of the way in which the two systems could be harmonized to pay for public necessities without increasing taxes or national debt. The proposed new system of money creation would incorporate two complementary money streams-the existing banking system run by the Federal Reserve and a new stream of money created by Congress. By integrating the "Greenback" method with the fiscal and monetary status quo, the author argues, the United States could spend its way back to greatness. Explains in vivid terms the way money has evolved in modern times, clarifying the rise and global triumph of "fractional reserve banking" Shows how a compromise between our existing method of money creation and the "Greenback" method could pay for hundreds of billions of dollars of national necessities without higher taxes, more deficit spending, or inflation Documents what money consists of, how it enters into circulation, and how the nature of money has changed over the centuries Reveals how significant numbers of economists, businessmen, and political leaders have advocated for the direct creation of money by government through the years Takes the lay reader through the history of previous attempts at direct money creation in a fascinating tour of American economic history