"The United States of Europe" considers the post-WWII transition of Europe from a diverse and disparate continent to the economically integrated European Union of today. Initiated by the Benelux Customs Union, and later the European Coal and Steel Cooperation, the six-member European Economic Community was formed in 1957, becoming the EC in 1967, and finally the EU in 1992. This process of Europeanization reached its zenith in 1987 with the approval of the Single European act, creating a single market economy. This was followed in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty, defining the intra-EU macro- and micro-economic parameters. The inauguration of a single common currency, the euro, on 1st January 1999 was a further innovative step, a process that has enabled the EU-27 to enjoy a competitive share of the world GDP and trade.

This book of case studies is a significant contribution to monetary macroeconomics in which country-specific experience and issues in inflation and monetary policy are reviewed and analysed in an historical context. In doing so, the key ideas and views on the sources and dynamics of inflation and monetary-policy behaviour are investigated after taking into account institutional arrangements for the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies.This book selects for study twelve diverse countries from the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR (China), India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the US. In addition, the book: - reviews the literature on inflation, inflation volatility and monetary policy issues - examines macroeconomic developments and monetary policy regimes - undertakes an empirical investigation of key monetary relations - discusses institutional arrangements and draws policy implications based on empirical findings on price stability, financial stability and economic growth. This volume will be of great value to students and researchers interested in banking, finance, and macroeconomic and monetary policy in the Asia-Pacific.

This book provides a broad overview of monetary developments in Norway over the past 200 years, using a rich variety of graphical illustrations based on a unique data set of historical monetary statistics, which will be documented and made available on the Norges Bank website (in English) at http://www.norges-bank.no/en. Throughout the book, Norway's monetary developments are anchored in a historical context and in the development of monetary thinking. Through their analysis of the historical data, the authors provide new insights and comparisons to other Scandinavian countries, along with an excellent examination of the development and character of the banking and financial system in Norway.

Originally published in 1939, this book presents a study of the history and method of operation of the Exchange Equalisation Account. Avoiding an exhaustive approach, the text selects principal phases and events in the development of the Account, using them to illustrate 'the evolutionary character of the mechanism employed'. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the Exchange Equalisation Account, British history and economics.

The economies of the Eurozone countries are plagued by multiple crises, which cast major doubts over the future of the Euro. In this engaging new book, leading heterodox economist Malcolm Sawyer argues that the entire policy framework of the Eurozone was fundamentally flawed from its foundation. He shows how these design faults intensified the effects of the crisis, made an effective response to the crash almost impossible, and are now locking in perpetual self-defeating austerity. Sawyer proposes a bold alternative agenda for reviving the continent s economic prosperity and saving the Euro, centred on a Federal fiscal policy and deep reform of the European Central Bank. He argues, however, that these solutions would require a fundamental transformation that is almost certain to encounter huge ideological and political obstacles. He therefore concludes that Europe faces a bleak economic future, blighted by low growth, high unemployment and social division. This major contribution to one of the key economic and political issues of our time will be essential reading for everyone interested in Europe s future.

A dollar is a dollar--or so most of us believe. Indeed, it is part of the ideology of our time that money is a single, impersonal instrument that impoverishes social life by reducing relations to cold, hard cash. After all, it's just money. Or is it? Distinguished social scientist and prize-winning author Viviana Zelizer argues against this conventional wisdom. She shows how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise varying the process by which spending and saving takes place. Zelizer concentrates on domestic transactions, bestowals of gifts and charitable donations in order to show how individuals, families, governments, and businesses have all prescribed social meaning to money in ways previously unimagined.

This volume brings together some of the most important articles on the topic of financial intermediaries. Financial Intermediaries puts recent developments into an appropriate historical setting, with seminal works by Edgeworth, Arrow, Gurley, Shaw, Baumol, Tobin and Stigler combined with more recent ones by Fischer, Black, Weiss and Stiglitz.

Today, most money is credit money, created by commercial banks. While credit can finance innovation, excessive credit can lead to boom/bust cycles, such as the recent financial crisis. This highlights how the organization of our monetary system is crucial to stability. One way to achieve this is by separating the unit of account from the medium of exchange and in pre-modern Europe, such a separation existed. This new volume examines this idea of monetary separation and this history of monetary arrangements in the North and Baltic Seas region, from the Hanseatic League onwards. This book provides a theoretical analysis of four historical cases in the Baltic and North Seas region, with a view to examining evolution of monetary arrangements from a new monetary economics perspective. Since the objective exhange value of money (its purchasing power), reflects subjective individual valuations of commodities, the author assesses these historical cases by means of exchange rates. Using theories from new monetary economics , the book explores how the units of account and their media of exchange evolved as social conventions, and offers new insight into the separation between the two. Through this exploration, it puts forward that money is a social institution, a clearing device for the settlement of accounts, and so the value of money, or a separate unit of account, ultimately results from the size of its network of users. The History of Money and Monetary Arrangements offers a highly original new insight into monetary arrangments as an evolutionary process. It will be of great interest to an international audience of scholars and students, including those with an interest in economic history, evolutionary economics and new monetary economics.

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

In this book, outstanding political economists provide wide-ranging and accessible essays on the global monetary system and its interaction with dynamic and crisis-prone financial markets. The essays are filled with fresh and well-articulated insights. This timely survey of an increasingly important field deserves a prominent place on the syllabi of graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in international political economy, global governance, and international finance.' - Louis W. Pauly, University of Toronto, Canada'Here is an intellectual feast for anyone interested in the political economy of international monetary and financial systems, served up by an impressive collection of experts. Students and specialists alike can gorge themselves on the many fascinating analyses of core issues and latest debates in the field. Highly recommended for anyone with an appetite to learn more about global money and finance.' - Eric Helleiner, University of Waterloo, Canada This extensive Handbook provides an in-depth exploration of the political economy dynamics associated with the international monetary and financial systems. Leading experts offer a fresh take on research into the interaction between system structure, the self-interest of private firms, the political institutions within which governments make policy, and the ideas that influence beliefs about appropriate policy responses. Crucially they also assess how these factors have shaped the political economy of various facets of monetary and financial systems. Organized into four comprehensive sections, the Handbook begins with a focus on the international system and explores how the distribution of power in the system shapes its structure and dynamics. The next section then considers the politics of exchange rate regime choice before analyzing current research on financial crises and financial regulation. Key questions are asked, such as: what drives financial crises and why do some economies suffer banking and currency crises while others do not? How does politics shape the central characteristics of the IMF s approach to crisis management? And how does change in the distribution of power in the international system change the structure of the global monetary and financial systems? The Handbook addresses these concerns and concludes with an examination of international governance, including the IMF and institutional reform in the post-crisis eurozone. This detailed Handbook brings together original contributions from some of the leading authorities in the field, making it an invaluable resource to academics and students of international relations, governance, and political economy. Contributors: L.E. Armijo, D.H. Bearce, G. Bird, P.G. Cerny, M. Chang, H.-k. Chey, E.M.P. Chiu, S. Cooper, J. Echeverri-Gent, K.A. English, Y.H. Ferguson, J. Grittersova, M.J. Lee, R.W. Mansbach, B. Momani, T. Oatley, T.B. Pepinsky, D. Rowlands, H. Schwartz, W.T. Selmier II, A.C. Sobel, S. Walter, H. Wang, T.D. Willett, W.K. Winecoff, K. Young, E. Yujuico

Aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students in economics, banking, and finance, this is a core textbook for the financial markets, institutions, and regulation option of courses in financial economics. It integrates modern theories of asymmetric information into the analysis of financial institutions, relating the theory to current developments.

This book introduces the fundamental monetary law problems of cross-border economic activity and the solutions thereto in international monetary law, and in EU law. After decades of having been neglected by legal scholars, international and European monetary law has attracted increasing attention in recent years. With the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), a full-fledged monetary union between sovereign States has been established for the first time in history. Its construction is primarily a work of law, with the Treaties on European Union (TEU) and on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) together with a number of protocols forming the constitutional basis. Yet, European monetary Integration has never taken place in isolation from international developments. Moreover, international monetary law, namely the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has always played a role - initially as the external monetary addition to the internal market project, after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods System in the 1970s as one of the major driving forces for monetary Integration within the EU. On a fundamental basis, international and European monetary law address the same principled problems of monetary cooperation: how to proceed with financial transactions cross-border where no global currency exists. The present work describes the different approaches and relations and interplay between the two legal regimes.

With a new foreword by Charles Lemert

'Its greatness...lies in ceaseless and varied use of the money form to unearth and conceptually reveal incommensurabilities of all kinds, in social reality fully as much as in thought itself.' - Fredric Jameson

In The Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel puts money on the couch. He provides us with a classic analysis of the social, psychological and philosophical aspects of the money economy, full of brilliant insights into the forms that social relationships take. He analyzes the relationships of money to exchange, human personality, the position of women, and individual freedom. Simmel also offers us prophetic insights into the consequences of the modern money economy and the division of labour, in particular the processes of alienation and reification in work and urban life.

An immense and profound piece of work it demands to be read today and for years to come as a stunning account of the meaning, use and culture of money.

Georg Simmel (1858-1918) was born in Berlin, the youngest of seven children. He studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin and was one of the first generation of great German sociologists that included Max Weber.

The Roman monetary system was highly complex. It involved official Roman coins in both silver and bronze, which some provinces produced while others imported them from mints in Rome and elsewhere, as well as, in the East, a range of civic coinages. This is a comprehensive study of the workings of the system in the Eastern provinces from the Augustan period to the third century AD, when the Roman Empire suffered a monetary and economic crisis. The Eastern provinces exemplify the full complexity of the system, but comparisons are made with evidence from the Western provinces as well as with appropriate case studies from other historical times and places. The book will be essential for all Roman historians and numismatists and of interest to a broader range of historians of economics and finance.

It is estimated that between 2 and 5 per cent of global GDP (over $3 trillion) is laundered by criminals around the world every year. Once thought to be a problem which only affected banks and the financial services sector, high profile cases, such as the recent leak of the Panama Papers in 2016, have thrust the issue into the public arena, and governments around the world are being forced to put robust systems and controls in place. Anti-Money Laundering offers a cost-effective self-development tool for the busy compliance professional eager to progress their career and in need of an accessible, practical and jargon-free introduction to anti-money laundering (AML). Anti-Money Laundering offers a practical guide to navigate the maze of requirements needed to counter money laundering in an organization. This book separates the different elements of AML practice, featuring a range of case studies and scenarios highlighting issues and best practices around the world. The text demonstrates that it is by foresight and methodology that AML can be mitigated, and provides clarity on complex points to better enable readers to gain the expertise they need to achieve success in practice.

Many of the assumptions that underpin mainstream macroeconomic models have been challenged as a result of the traumatic events of the recent financial crisis. Thus, until recently, it was widely agreed that although the stock of money had a role to play, in practice it could be ignored as long as we used short-term nominal interest rates as the instrument of policy because money and other credit markets would clear at the given policy rate. However, very early on in the financial crisis interest rates effectively hit zero percent and so central banks had to resort to a wholly new set of largely untested instruments to restore order, including quantitative easing and the purchase of toxic financial assets. This book brings together contributions from economists working in academia, financial markets and central banks to assess the effectiveness of these policy instruments and explore what lessons have so far been learned.

This monograph is devoted to the modern theory of capital cost and capital structure and its application to the real economy. In particular, it presents a possible explanation to the causes of global financial crisis. The authors of the book modify the theory of Nobel Prize winners Modigliani and Miller to describe an alternative theory of capital cost and capital structure that can be applied to corporations with arbitrary lifetime and investment projects with arbitrary duration. The authors illustrate their theory with examples from corporate practice and develop investment models that can be applied by companies in their financial operations.

The present global monetary regime is based on floating among the major advanced countries. A key underlying factor behind the present regime is credibility to maintain stable monetary policies. The origin of credibility in monetary regimes goes back to the pre-1914 classical gold standard. In that regime, adherence by central banks to the rule of convertibility of national currencies in terms of a fixed weight of gold provided a nominal anchor to the price level. Between 1914 and the present several monetary regimes gradually moved away from gold, with varying success in maintaining price stability and credibility. In this book, the editors present ten studies combining historical narrative with econometrics that analyze the role of credibility in four monetary regimes, from the gold standard to the present managed float.

Since publication of Hetzel's The Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve (Cambridge University Press, 2008), the intellectual consensus that had characterized macroeconomics has disappeared. That consensus emphasized efficient markets, rational expectations and the efficacy of the price system in assuring macroeconomic stability. The 2008-9 recession not only destroyed the professional consensus about the kinds of models required to understand cyclical fluctuations but also revived the credit-cycle or asset-bubble explanations of recession that dominated thinking in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. These 'market-disorder' views emphasize excessive risk taking in financial markets and the need for government regulation. The present book argues for the alternative 'monetary-disorder' view of recessions. A review of cyclical instability over the last two centuries places the 2008-9 recession in the monetary-disorder tradition, which focuses on the monetary instability created by central banks rather than on a boom-bust cycle in financial markets.

The book examines the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the subprime mortgage crisis. The CRAs are blamed for awarding risky securities '3-A' investment grade status and then failing to downgrade them quickly enough when circumstances changed, which led to investors suffering substantial losses. The causes identified by the regulators for the gatekeeper failure were conflicts of interest (as the issuers of these securities pay for the ratings); lack of competition (as the Big Three CRAs have dominated the market share); and lack of regulation for CRAs. The book examines how the regulators, both in the US and EU, have sought to address these problems by introducing soft law self-regulation in accordance with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions Code and hard law statutory regulation, such as that found in the "Reform Act" and "Dodd-Frank Act" in the US and similar provisions in the EU. The highly topical book examines these provisions in detail by using a doctrinal black-letter law method to assess the success of the regulators in redressing the problems identified. It also examines the US case law regulation relating to the legal liability of CRAs. The book examines whether the regulations introduced have had a deterrent effect on the actions of CRAs, whether investors are compensated for their losses, and how the regulators have dealt with the issues of conflicts of interest and an anti-competitive environment. Should liability be introduced for CRAs through changes in the law so as to compel them to issue reliable ratings and solve the current problems? The book seeks to simplify the complex issues involved and is backed by concrete evidence; as such, it will appeal to both the well-informed and the lay general public who are interested in learning more about the role of CRAs in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and regulators' attempts to remedy the situation. Novice readers can familiarise themselves with the legal and financial terminology used by referring to the glossary at the end of the book.

This book explores the opportunities and limits of currency cooperation in East Asia. Currency issues play an important role in the region. The Asian crisis of the late 90s was rooted in deficient currency arrangements. The Chinese RMB is not freely convertible yet, but policymakers in China nevertheless aim for a more international role of the Chinese currency. The recent change of direction in Japanese monetary policy caused a drastic depreciation of the Yen and led to warnings against a possible “currency war�, thus demonstrating that currency issues can also easily lead to political frictions. Most trade in and with the East Asian zone on the other hand is still conducted in US $. Against this background different modes of currency cooperation serve the goal of smoothing exchange rate fluctuations and capital flows. They are an important element to promote financial stability and to reduce the transaction cost for foreign trade or investment. The contributions of this book analyze the environment and design of currency cooperation in East Asia and their effects from a macro-and microeconomic viewpoint.

This important book discusses European integration in a global economic setting, investigating the impact of China and Russia as emerging global players in the catching-up process in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The expert contributors focus on global imbalances and accompanying policy challenges, competitiveness and trade, the sustainability of current growth strategies, and banking and financial stability in the light of the global economic and financial crisis. They provide a multi-disciplinary assessment, combining the views of high-ranking central bankers, policymakers, commercial bankers and academics, and demonstrate that a broad view of European economic integration is crucial given that spillovers and contagion were major issues of the recent economic crisis. This book will prove an illuminating read for academics, researchers, students and policymakers with an interest in international economics, money, finance and banking and European studies. Contributors: S. Aleksashenko, A. Aslund, M.D. Chinn, A. Csermely, L. Everaert, P. Harasztosi, W.J. Kooi, I. Korhonen, E. Liikanen, G.M. Milesi-Ferretti, P. Mooslechner, C. Moser, F. Moss, E. Nowotny, G.F. Papa, G. Pellenyi, D. Ritzberger-Grunwald, A.K. Rose, C. Schitter, G. Schnabl, J.-L. Schneider, A. Scott, M. Silgoner, D. Soskic, K. Steiner, L. Stemitsiotis, A. Tanku, M. Taube, J. Worz, H. Zemanek, M. Zhu

Since the financial crisis began numerous ideas for monetary and financial cooperation in East Asia have been proposed both within and outside the region. Despite this strong level of interest, however, there are few studies that aim to comprehensively address the issue from multiple perspectives. This insightful book redresses the balance and illustrates how East Asian countries plan to take advantage of their rising economic power in rearranging the new international monetary and financial order in the post-crisis era. The authors examine the history, conditions and current efforts towards monetary integration in Asia and explore possible future paths, highlighting the roles and perspectives of East Asian countries in the integration process. They consider how East Asian economies could establish their own zone of monetary stability, and show that this stability cannot be separately addressed from the issues of economic growth and solidarity. Against this backdrop, the book tackles the issues of East Asian monetary integration underpinned by the broad framework of economic growth and solidarity. Scholars of economics, monetary integration, Asian studies and regionalism will find this book to be an illuminating and thought-provoking read.

In coming to terms with the still smoldering financial crisis, little attention has been paid to the flaws within our monetary system and how these flaws lie at the root of the crisis. This book provides an introduction and critical assessment of the current monetary system. It begins with an up to date account of the workings of today's system of state-backed 'bankmoney', illustrating the various forms and issuers of money, and discussing money theory and fallacy past and present. It also looks at related economic challenges such as inflation and deflation, asset inflation and bubble building that lead to market instability and examines the ineffectual monetary policies and primary credit markets that are failing to reach some sort of self-limiting equilibrium. In order to fix our financial system, we first need to understand its limitations and the flaws in current monetary and regulatory policy and then correct them. The concluding part of this book is dedicated to the latter, advocating a move towards the sovereign monetary prerogatives of issuing the entire stock of official money and benefitting from the gain thereof (seigniorage). The author argues that these functions should be made the sole responsibility of independent and impartial central banks with full control over the stock of money (not the uses of money) on the basis of a legal mandate that would be more detailed than is the case today. This includes a thorough separation of monetary and fiscal powers, and of both from banking and wider financing functions. This book provides a welcome addition to the banking literature, guiding readers through the inner workings of our monetary and regulatory environments and proposing a new way forward that will better protect our economy from financial instability and crisis.

One hundred years after its foundation, the Federal Reserve has been entrusted with an enormous expansion in its operating powers for the sake of reviving a sluggish economy during the financial crisis. The aim of the present volume is to present a thorough and fundamental analysis of the Fed in the recent past, as well as over the entire course of its history. In evaluating the origin, structure and performance of the Fed, the contributors to this volume critically apply the principles of Austrian monetary and business-cycle theory. It is argued that the Fed has done harm to the U.S. and increasingly, the global economy by committing two types of errors: theoretical errors stemming from an incorrect understanding of the optimal monetary system, and historical errors, found in episodes in which the Fed instigated an economic downturn or hindered a budding recovery. The book contains not only a critical analysis of the activities of the Fed over its history, but also a road map with directions for the future.