The Asian crisis of 1997-1998 was a major influence on macroeconomic thinking concerning exchange rate regimes, the functioning of international institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank, and international contagion of macroeconomic instability from one country to another. Exchange Rate Regimes and Macroeconomic Stability offers perspectives on these issues from the viewpoints of two Nobel Laureates, an IMF economist, and Asian economists. This book contributes new ideas to the ongoing debate on the role of domestic monetary authorities and international institutions in reducing the likelihood of international financial crises, as well as the problems associated with various exchange rate regimes from the standpoint of macroeconomic stability. Overall, the chapters contained in this volume offer interesting perspectives, which have been stimulated by the recent events in the foreign exchange market. They provide a useful reference for anyone interested in the development of exchange rate regimes, and represent considerable reflection by economists half a century after Bretton Woods.

One thing all mainstream economists agree upon is that money has nothing whatsoever to do with desire. This strange blindness of the profession to what is otherwise considered to be a basic feature of economic life serves as the starting point for this provocative new theory of money. Through the works of Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Max Weber, "What Money Wants" argues that money is first and foremost an object of desire. In contrast to the common notion that money is but an ordinary object that people believe to be money, this book explores the theoretical consequences of the possibility that an ordinary object fulfills money's function insofar as it is desired "as" money. Rather than conceiving of the desire for money as pathological, Noam Yuran shows how it permeates economic reality, from finance to its spectacular double in our consumer economy of addictive shopping. Rich in colorful and accessible examples, from the work of Charles Dickens to Reality TV and commercials, this book convinces us that we must return to Marx and Veblen if we are to understand how brand names, broadcast television, and celebrity culture work. Analyzing both classical and contemporary economic theory, it reveals the philosophical dimensions of the controversy between orthodox and heterodox economics.

The Libor Market Model (LMM) is a mathematical model for pricing and risk management of interest rate derivatives and has been built on the framework of modelling forward rates. For the conceptual understanding of the model a strong background in the fields of mathematics, statistics, finance and especially for implementation, computer science is necessary. The book provides the ne cessary groundwork to understand the LMM and delivers a framework to implement a working model where possible calibration and parameterization methods for volatility and correlation are explained. Special emphasis lies also on the trade off of speed and correctness where differences in choosing random number generators and the advantages of factor reduction are shown.

One thing all mainstream economists agree upon is that money has nothing whatsoever to do with desire. This strange blindness of the profession to what is otherwise considered to be a basic feature of economic life serves as the starting point for this provocative new theory of money. Through the works of Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Max Weber, "What Money Wants" argues that money is first and foremost an object of desire. In contrast to the common notion that money is but an ordinary object that people believe to be money, this book explores the theoretical consequences of the possibility that an ordinary object fulfills money's function insofar as it is desired "as" money. Rather than conceiving of the desire for money as pathological, Noam Yuran shows how it permeates economic reality, from finance to its spectacular double in our consumer economy of addictive shopping. Rich in colorful and accessible examples, from the work of Charles Dickens to Reality TV and commercials, this book convinces us that we must return to Marx and Veblen if we are to understand how brand names, broadcast television, and celebrity culture work. Analyzing both classical and contemporary economic theory, it reveals the philosophical dimensions of the controversy between orthodox and heterodox economics.

This book was originally published in 2004. Fears of deflation seemed nothing more than a relic of the Great Depression. However, beginning in the 1990s, persistently falling consumer prices have emerged in Japan, China and elsewhere. Deflation is also a distinct possibility in some of the major European area economies, especially Germany, and emerged as a concern of the US Federal Reserve in 2003. Deflation may be worse than inflation not only because the real burden of debt rises but also because firms would confront rising real wages in a world where nominal wage rigidity prevails. This volume explores some key themes regarding deflation including: (i) how economic agents and policy makers have responded to deflation, (ii) the links between monetary policy, goods price movements, and asset price movements, (iii) the impact of deflation under different monetary policy and exchange rate regimes, and (iv) stock market reactions to deflation.

The explosive growth and increasing complexity of global financial markets are defining characteristics of the contemporary world economy. Unfortunately, financial globalization has been accompanied by a marked increase in the frequency and severity of financial crises. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken a central role in managing these crises through its loans to developing countries. Despite extensive analysis and criticism of the IMF in recent years, key questions remain unanswered. Why does the Fund treat some countries more generously than others? To what extent is IMF lending driven by political factors rather than economic concerns? In whose interests does the IMF act? In this book, Mark Copelovitch offers novel answers to these questions. Combining statistical analysis with detailed case studies, he demonstrates how the politics and policies of the IMF have evolved over the last three decades in response to fundamental changes in the composition of international capital flows.

Since the military coup d'etat in 1964 Brazil has experienced a period of almost uninterrupted inflation measured in tens and sometimes hundreds of per cent per year. In this book, originally published in 1991, Vincent Parkin sets out to explain the nature and causes of chronic inflation in middle-income developing countries by focusing on the Brazilian experience. He rejects the monetarist explanation for inflation and argues instead that the relationship between money and inflation is seldom clear-cut. The book will be of interest to all economists concerned with inflation and Latin America.

In this book, Iliana Zloch-Christy analyses the problems of Eastern Europe's convertible currency external debt situation and its impact on the financing of East-West trade in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This book, published in 1991, is a continuation of Dr Zloch Christy's Debt Problems of Eastern Europe (1987) and is the first study of the complexities of East-West trade and finance in this period. The author addresses four main issues. First, she examines market-oriented reforms in Eastern Europe's economic system and the changes that took place in East-West political relations. Dr Zloch-Christy then assesses whether convertible currency debt problems are an inherent part of the economic development of Eastern Europe, and if the problems are region-wide, and she discusses the strategies adopted to deal with them. She continues by exploring the extent to which the problems which arose from indebtedness affected the financing of East-West trade. Finally, the author assesses medium- and long-term debt prospects at this time, both for Eastern Europe as a whole and for each country within the CMEA.

As the global organisation of central banks, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has played a significant role in the momentous changes the international monetary and financial system has undergone over the past half century. This book offers a key contribution to understanding these changes. It explores the rise of the emerging market economies, the resulting shifts in the governance of the international financial system, and the role of central bank cooperation in this process. In this truly multidisciplinary effort, scholars from the fields of economics, history, political science and law unravel the most poignant episodes that marked this period, including European monetary unification, the paradigm shifts in economic and financial analysis, the origins and influence of macro-financial stability frameworks, the rise of soft law in international financial governance, central bank crisis management in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis, and, finally, the institutional evolution of the BIS itself.

Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to explore the problems of budget policy. The authors, including top economists, political scientists, historians, psychologists, and legal scholars, together provide a unique, multidisciplinary introduction to the subject. In addition to in-depth analysis of congressional budget procedures and the economics of federal deficits and debt, Fiscal Challenges explores important recent developments in budget policy at the state level and in the European Union. The goal of the volume is to offer readers wide-ranging perspectives on the many different academic disciplines and perspectives that bear on the evaluation of budgetary procedures and their reform.

Following years of control and regulation, there has been a massive trend towards the liberalisation of financial markets. This volume provides an analysis of this process and considers likely future developments. It is divided into three parts: the first covers the behaviour of households and firms; the second includes papers on stock, bond and currency markets; and the third part analyses the behaviour and performance of financial intermediaries, particularly banks. The topics examined range from the demand for personal and corporate credit and the allocation of savers' wealth, to innovations in securities and services traded in financial markets, and their regulation. The essays represent a blend of both theoretical and empirical work, the latter focusing in particular on Europe and the recent integration of financial markets on the continent. Discussions of the essays are provided by some of the world's leading financial economists.

The Maastricht Treaty, signed in December 1991, set a timetable for the European Community's economic and monetary union (EMU) and clearly defined the institutional policy changes necessary for its achievement. Subsequent developments have demonstrated, however, the importance of many key issues in the transition to EMU that were largely neglected at the time. This volume reports the proceedings of a joint CEPR conference with the Banco de Portugal, held in January 1992. In these papers, leading international experts address the instability of the transition to EMU, the long-run implications of monetary union and the single market for growth and convergence in Europe. They also consider the prospects for inflation and fiscal convergence, regional policy and the integration of financial markets and fiscal systems. Attention focuses on adjustment mechanisms with differentiated shocks, region-specific business cycles and excessive industrial concentration and the cases for a two-speed EMU and fiscal federalism.

New Approaches to Monetary Economics brings together presentations of innovative research in the field of monetary economics. Much of this research develops and applies approaches to modelling financial intermediation, aggregate fluctuations, monetary aggregation and transactions-motivated monetary equilibrium. The contents of this volume comprise the proceedings of the second in a conference series entitled International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics. This conference was held in 1985 at the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposia in this series are sponsored by the IC2 Institute and the RGK Foundation. New Approaches to Monetary Economics, edited by Professors William A. Barnett and Kenneth J. Singleton, consists of five parts. Part I examines transactions-motivated monetary holding in general equilibrium; Part II, financial intermediation; Part III, monetary aggregation theory, Part IV, issues in aggregate fluctuation; and Part V, theoretical issues in the foundations of monetary economics and macroeconomics.

This book represents an attempt to depict the late Roman and Byzantine monetary economy in its fullest possible social, economic and administrative context, with the aim of establishing the basic dynamics behind the production of the coinage, the major mechanisms affecting its distribution, and the general characteristics of its behaviour once in circulation. The book consists of four main sections, on economy and society, on finance, and on the circulation and production of coinage, and has made an unrivalled contribution in the field of late classical, Byzantine and medieval economic history. The text is fully supported by the extensive quotation of translated sources, and by maps, tables and plates.

Today, 318 million people in 15 countries use the Euro, which now rivals the importance of the US Dollar in the world economy. This is an outcome that few would have predicted with confidence when the Euro was launched. How can we explain this success and what are the prospects for the future? There is nobody better placed to answer these questions than Otmar Issing, who as a founding member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (1998 2006), was one of the Euro's principal architects. His story is a unique insider account, combining personal memoir with reference to the academic and policy literature. Free of jargon, this is a very human reflection on a unique historical experiment and a key reference for all academics, policy makers, and 'Eurowatchers' seeking to understand how the Euro has got to where it is today and what challenges lie ahead.

Today, 318 million people in 15 countries use the Euro, which now rivals the importance of the US Dollar in the world economy. This is an outcome that few would have predicted with confidence when the Euro was launched. How can we explain this success and what are the prospects for the future? There is nobody better placed to answer these questions than Otmar Issing, who as a founding member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (1998 2006), was one of the Euro's principal architects. His story is a unique insider account, combining personal memoir with reference to the academic and policy literature. Free of jargon, this is a very human reflection on a unique historical experiment and a key reference for all academics, policy makers, and 'Eurowatchers' seeking to understand how the Euro has got to where it is today and what challenges lie ahead.

This book surveys the imperfect-information approach to inflation and its real effects. Two types of informational limitation are considered. One involves situations in which individuals have asymmetric information about the current general price level and consequently confuse relative and aggregate changes in prices. The other considers situations in which individuals cannot distinguish permanent from transitory changes as soon as they occur, creating a temporary but persistent confusion between such changes. The author presents the arguments within the context of the recent re-evaluations by economists of previously established views concerning inflation and its interaction with real phenomena.

Previous efforts to create a European Central Bank (ECB) have stimulated debate on topics for research into the political economy of the European Community's institutions. These include the exact division of responsibilities of national governments and the ECB - especially concerning exchange rate policy; the need for and design of constraints on national fiscal policies; and the nature of the transition from adjustable parities and national monetary policies to irrevocably fixed parities and a single European monetary policy. The book also considers the implications of EMU for the international monetary system - for the use of the ECU as a reserve currency and for policy coordination among the G-7 countries. The volume thus provides a comprehensive examination of the issues that will be decisive for Europe in its choice of monetary institutions.

Despite the People's Republic of China's remarkable growth over the post-1978 reform period, questions have arisen about the sustainability of its exchange rate policy and the soundness of its financial system. This book focuses on the key monetary challenges to China's continued advancement and addresses such topical issues as the buildup of foreign exchange reserves, monetary control, credit allocation difficulties, and the expanding role of China's asset markets and stock exchanges. Current and past monetary policy strategies are examined in detail as are the banking sector reforms leading up to full foreign competition in December 2006. The analysis also assesses the People's Republic's role within Greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and the potential for future renminbi monetary hegemony within Asia. The treatment of these issues is intended to be accessible to non-economists and does not assume prior immersion in the underlying formal models.

This volume contains two major papers prepared for the Bank of England's Tercentenary Symposium in June 1994. The first, by Forrest Capie, Charles Goodhart and Norbert Schnadt, provides an authoritative account of the evolution of central banking. It traces the development of both the monetary and financial stability concerns of central banks, and includes individual sections on the evolution and constitutional positions of 31 central banks from around the world. The second paper, by Stanley Fischer, explores the major policy dilemmas now facing central bankers: the extent to which there is a short-term trade-off between inflation and growth; the choice of inflation targets; and the choice of operating procedures. Important contributions by leading central bankers from around the world, and the related Per Jacobsen lecture by Alexander Lamfalussy, are also included in the volume.

Currency crises in Europe and Mexico during the 1990s provided stark reminders of the importance and the fragility of international financial markets. These experiences led some commentators to conclude that open international capital markets are incompatible with financial stability. But the pre-1914 gold standard is an obvious challenge to the notion that open capital markets are sources of instability. To deepen our understanding of how this system worked, this volume draws together recent research on the gold standard. Theoretical models are used to guide qualitative discussions of historical experience, while econometric methods are used to help the historical data speak clearly. The result is an overview of the gold standard, a survey of the relevant applied research in international macroeconomics, and a demonstration of how the past can help to inform the present.

The Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve details the evolution of the monetary standard from the start of the Federal Reserve through the end of the Greenspan era. The book places that evolution in the context of the intellectual and political environment of the time. By understanding the fitful process of replacing a gold standard with a paper money standard, the conduct of monetary policy becomes a series of experiments useful for understanding the fundamental issues concerning money and prices. How did the recurrent monetary instability of the 20th century relate to the economic instability and to the associated political and social turbulence? After the detour in policy represented by FOMC chairmen Arthur Burns and G. William Miller, Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan established the monetary standard originally foreshadowed by William McChesney Martin, who became chairman in 1951. Monetary Policy explains in a straightforward way the emergence and nature of the modern, inflation-targeting central bank.

This work examines America's growing underground economy--its size, nature, and economic effects. The study begins with a critical analysis of the various methods used for measuring the size of the underground economy in the United States. It then develops a definition of the underground economy which is consistent with our system of national accounts. A sector-by-sector approach is used to measure the actual size of this sub-economy and to estimate the labor force involved. Finally, the author explores the economic consequences for the general economy of significant underground economic activity--for example: tax evasion, economic efficiency, and cyclical aspects.

This work will be of interest to scholars, students, and policy-makers in economics, economic policy, political science, and criminology.

Euro Crash diagnoses the three fatal design flaws in EMU as constructed by the Maastricht Treaty and analyses future likely monetary scenarios for Europe, demonstrating how the best of these would be the creation of a new narrow monetary union between France and Germany founded on strict monetarist principle and without a European Central Bank.

The recent global ?nancial crisis has made ?nancial liberalization a topic of great academic and practical interest. This book makes new contributions to the topic by combining fact-?nding, empirical analysis, and theory to examine the relationship between ?nancial liberalization and economic growth. Among its contributions, the book provides detailed country assessments on the effects of ?nancial liberalization, including its striking impact on the banking sector. Although an important goal of ?nancial deregulation has been to help ?nancial institutions better perform their role in intermediating resources, the book models how deregulation may fail to achieve that goal in countries with underdeveloped ?nancial markets and institutions. For that purpose, the book draws on actual experience in Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, and Thailand. This book should constitute important reading for students of ?nancial economics, researchers and general academics, ?nancial practitioners, policymakers, and teachers of economics. North Carolina, USA Steven L. Schwarcz December 2008 Stanley A. Star Professor of Law & Business, Duke University Founding Director, Duke Global Capital Markets Center Durham vii Abstract and Preface The latest global ?nancial and economic crisis of 2008 shows the need to - examine the desirability of ?nancial liberalization and the basis for the view that ?nancial deregulation by itself cannot be considered as a substitute for better economic management. The literature on ?nancial liberalization has identi?ed various mechanisms through which removing controls on interest rates may impact economic growth.