Financial services with global reach are becoming ever more important in the conduct and organization of the trade and investment of nations, and currencies that lack international standing lose out in this business. The result of financial development has been destabilizing currency and portfolio substitution - in favour of international currencies and against local ones. This book analyses formal approaches to overcoming monetary divisions within countries and within integrating regions, focusing on the consequences of monetary union for trade among union members and their financial development and stability. The authors discuss hard pegs such as those attempted by the currency board of Argentina, outright dollarization, such as in Ecuador, and multilateral monetary union, as in Europe, the least reversible form of monetary union and the most powerful elixir of financial integration and trade. The political classes and central banks in most countries have been reluctant to admit the market- and technology-driven forces of currency consolidation, much less yield to them. International financial institutions too are still in the habit of proffering advice about national monetary and exchange-rate policies on the assumption that getting rid of both is not even an option. Emerging-market countries, in particular, have to choose between retaining what independent monetary means they still have - and can safely use in the presence of widespread liability dollarization and currency mismatches - and formally replacing the domestic with an international currency to reduce exposure to debilitating financial crises. In concrete investigations of this choice, this volume shows that monetary union deserves a much more sympathetic hearing.

Why has China been able to avoid the crippling hyperinflation that has bedeviled so many developing and reforming centrally planned economies? This is puzzling because the potential for inflation in the Chinese economy is enormous, the fiscal control by the central government is weak, and China's tax and monetary policies are still passive. This book analyzes an important aspect of this issue - how the central government has been able to tame inflationary investment demand and to impose investment reduction policies that go against the economic interests of Chinese local officials. Yasheng Huang focuses on the controlling role of political institutions and argues that one of the central functions of the political institutions is to make allocative decisions about bureaucratic personnel. Drawing on institutional economics, he hypothesizes that centralized personnel allocations help reconcile some of policy differences between the central and lcoal governments and provide vital information to the central government about the conduct of local officials. Systematic data analysis is carried out to test the propositions developed on the basis of this hypothesis. The book also contains detailed descriptions of the roles of local governments in economic and investment management and of China's bureaucratic system. Huang argues that China now has a de facto federalist system in which the central government specializes in political responsibilities and the local governments specialize in economic responsibilities. This, he suggests, has a number of important normative implications. Under the condition of political authoritarianism, this combination of economic and fiscal decentralizations withpolitical centralization may be an optimal governance structure. Economically, a degree of political centralization is useful to alleviate coordination problems when economic agents lack financial self-discipline and when indirect macroeconomic policies are ineffective. Premature political decentralization in the presence of soft-budget constraints may have contributed to runaway inflation in other reforming centrally planned economies. Politically, the Chinese style of federalism can also be optimal because fiscal decentralization helps check the enormous political discretion in the hands of the central government, on which the Chinese political system itself places no formal constraints. Given China's recent history, this ought to be an important consideration in designing China's economic system.

Volker Simmering shows how globalization influences the evolution of international standards and compares the roles of mandatory and voluntary standards. He investigates the problem of technological progress in networks and analyzes the resolution of conflicts within international standardization bodies. As a result, he suggests that policy intervention and the presence of adjacent institutional arrangements are likely to improve the performance of network markets, e.g. those for information technology and telecommunication.

As the complexity of financial markets keeps growing, so does the need to understand the decision-making and the coordination of the exsuing actions in the marketplace. In particular, the disclosure of information to market participants and its impact on the market outcome mertis attention. This study analyses the role of private and public information in currency crises. Calls for increased dissemination of economic and policy-related information by central banks notwithstanding, the study shows that transparency is not generally conductive to preventing speculative attacks in fixed exchange-rate regimes. Rather, the role of private and public information in the market-place depencs critically on the prevailing market sentiment. The study also highlights the import of market transparency design in an environment that allows for herding and market leadership of individual speculators.

In the 1990s, numerous Latin American nations privatized their public pension systems. These reforms dramatically transformed the way these countries provide retirement income, and they provoked widespread protests from workers and pensioners alike. Retiring the State represents the first book-length study of the origins of this surprising trend. Drawing on original field research, including interviews with key policymakers, Madrid argues that the recent reforms were driven not by social policy, but by macroeconomic concerns. Countries facing growing financial pressures chose to privatize their pension systems largely to boost their domestic savings rates and reduce public pension spending in the long run. The author explores his arguments through detailed case studies of pension reform in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, a survey of social security privatization efforts in East Europe and Latin America as a whole, and a quantitative analysis of pension privatization worldwide.

This book analyses the widely-held view of the merits of the 'bank-based' German system of finance for investment, and shows that this view is not supported by evidence from the post-war period. The institutional features of the German system are such that universal banks have control of voting rights at shareholders' meetings due to proxy votes, and they also have representation on companies' supervisory boards. These features are claimed to have two main benefits. One is that the German system reduces asymmetric information problems, enabling banks to supply more external finance to firms at a lower cost, and thus increasing investment. The other is that German banks are able to mould and control managements of firms on behalf of shareholders, and thus ensure that firms are run efficiently. This book assesses whether empirical evidence backs up these claims, and shows that the merits of the German system are largely myths.

This book examines all major facets of the Philippine economy and development policy. Contributors to this volume look both to the past and to the future, and their approaches are variously descriptive, analytical, interpretive , and comparative. The book assesses trends since the 1980s, identifies major policy issues, and provides a balance sheet of achievements and deficiencies over the past decade and beyond. It highlights future challenges that need to be addressed if the country is to embark on a sustainable, durable, and equitable growth trajectory. The book also offers lessons from the country's development experience which may be relevant for many countries at the present time. The volume has particular relevance for the country's policymakers, academics and the business community, and will also appeal to a broader international audience.

Financial intermediation is currently a subject of active research on both sides of the Atlantic. The integration of European financial markets, in particular, highlights several important issues. In this volume, derived from a joint CEPR conference with the Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), leading academics from Europe and North America review 'state-of-the-art' theories of banking and financial intermediation and discuss their policy implications. The principal focus is on the risks of increased competition, the appropriate regulation of banks, and the differences between Anglo-American and Continental European forms of financial markets. Relationship banking, stock markets and banks, banking and corporate control, financial intermediation in Eastern Europe, monetary policy and the banking system, and financial intermediation and growth are also discussed.

This book provides a comprehensive account and analysis of the plan for European monetary union contained in the Maastricht Treaty. The provisions of the treaty itself are examined, showing how they evolved, what must be done to implement them, and some of the problems they will pose. Kenen goes far beyond the treaty, however, to survey and adapt recent research by economists on the benefits and costs of monetary unions, the conduct of monetary policy, and the consequences of large public deficits and debts. The European exchange-rate crises of 1992 and 1993 are analyzed, as well as their impact on the prospects for monetary union and the problems they pose for implementation of the Maastricht Treaty. The author makes specific proposals to handle the transition to a single currency, integrate the existing central banks into a single system, and modify parts of the treaty itself. The implications of European monetary union for the international monetary system in the mid-to-late 1990s are also considered.

This book describes and evaluates the literature on exchange rate economics. It provides a wide-ranging survey of the different theories that attempt to explain the behavior of exchange rates, and outlines the salient institutional characteristics of the modern foreign exchange market in the context of an evolving international monetary system. An important feature of the book is its emphasis throughout on the main policy issues relating to the stabilization of exchange rates. The level of exposition is relatively nontechnical, and will be intelligible to undergraduate students.

In the 1990s, numerous Latin American nations privatized their public pension systems. These reforms dramatically transformed the way these countries provide retirement income, and they provoked widespread protests from workers and pensioners alike. Retiring the State represents the first book-length study of the origins of this surprising trend. Drawing on original field research, including interviews with key policymakers, Madrid argues that the recent reforms were driven not by social policy, but by macroeconomic concerns. Countries facing growing financial pressures chose to privatize their pension systems largely to boost their domestic savings rates and reduce public pension spending in the long run. The author explores his arguments through detailed case studies of pension reform in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, a survey of social security privatization efforts in East Europe and Latin America as a whole, and a quantitative analysis of pension privatization worldwide.

The essays collected in this volume, written by well-known academics and policy analysts, discuss the impact of increased capital mobility on macroeconomic performance. The authors highlight the most adequate ways to manage the transition from a semi-closed economy to a semi-open one. Additionally, issues related to the measurement of openness, monetary control, optimal exchange rates regimes, sequencing of reforms, and real exchange rate dynamics under different degrees of capital mobility are carefully analyzed. The book is divided into four parts after the editor's introduction. The first part contains the general analytics of monetary policy in open economies. Parts two to four deal with diverse regional experiences, covering Europe, the Asian Pacific region, and Latin America. The papers on which the essays are based were originally presented at a conference on Monetary Policy in Semi-Open Economies, held in Seoul, Korea in November 1992.

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.

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) was one of the first great economists to have laid down the foundations of economic science. Author of the famous Treatise on Political Economy in 1803, which was revised and re-edited on several occasions, he published numerous other works including a voluminous Complete Course in Practical Political Economy in 1828-9. He also taught political economy successively from 1815 until his death in three Parisian establishments: the Athenee, the Conservatory of Arts and Trades, and the College de France. The texts in which Say exposes his approach to political economy have not been available in the English language until now except for the fourth edition of the 'Preliminary Discourse' which serves as an introduction to the Treatise. This book presents a translation which renders his works accessible to the English speaking world. For the first time, English readers will be able to become directly immersed in Say's principal texts, where he develops his conception of political economy. Jean-Baptiste Say and Political Economy proposes a translation of a selection of eleven of Say's texts. The first three are versions of the 'Preliminary Discourse' from the Treatise's editions of 1803, 1814 and 1826 with the variations of the editions of 1817, 1819 and 1841. The following four texts are the opening discourses pronounced at the Conservatory in 1820 and 1828 and the College de France in 1831 and 1832. The eighth text is the 'General Considerations' which open the Complete Course in Practical Political Economy of 1828, with the variations of the 1840 re-edition. The final three texts are those Say devotes to 'the progress of political economy' in what is akin to a history of economic thought. This volume is of great importance to economic historians and people studying Jean-Baptiste Say, as well as those who are interested in economic theory and philosophy

This volume represents the best European work on financial markets. It covers the core kernel pricing approach, market microstructure, speculation, and the contribution that corporate finance can make to the analysis of financial markets. The papers are both theoretical and empirical.

With Economic and Monetary Union, the European Union has embarked on one of the biggest projects in its history. Previous literature has focused on how EMU came into being and on the policy issues that it raises. European States and the Euro seeks to move the discussion forwards by offering the first systematic evaluation of how it is affecting EU states, both members and non-members of the Euro-Zone. It is the first book to explicitly situate EMU in the growing literature on Europeanization.

It examines the effects on public policies, political structures, discourses, and identities. The book seeks to identify the scope of EMU's effects, the direction that it imparts to political and policy changes, the mechanisms by which it produces its effects, and the role of domestic institutions, political leadership and specific forms of discourse in shaping responses. In addition, the book assesses how, and with what effects, EMU is affecting key policy sectors labour markets and wages, welfare states, and financial market governance. What conditions the degree of convergence discernible in these sectors? Finally, the book seeks to 'contextualize' EMU by assessing its effects both in comparison with other variables like globalization and in a historical perspective of the European Monetary System as a 'training ground'. The book combines sectoral and country case studies with a thematic treatment by recognized experts in their fields. It moves from globalization, through EU-level changes, to member states and finally to specific sectors.

The main conclusions are that EMU is most important in affecting the timing, tempo and rhythm of domestic change that these changes are experienced pre-eminently at the level of policy; that it strengthens pressures for convergence; but that different domestic institutional arrangements and discourses lead to variations in policy processes and effects and in the way change is 'framed'. In particular, whilst EMU contains a neo-liberalizing tendency exhibited most clearly in financial market effects, it is not to be characterized as a neo-liberal project by means of which the EU is becoming an economic and social space simply converging around Anglo-American market capitalism.

This volume represents the best European work on financial markets. It covers the core kernel pricing approach, market microstructure, speculation, and the contribution that corporate finance can make to the analysis of financial markets. The papers are both theoretical and empirical.

The basic question of this book is what we can learn from empirical as well as theoretical analysis of financial systems, differing cross-sectional and changing structually over time, with respect to the issue of stability of financial systems. Part I of the book deals with stability issues in a globalizing financial world and addresses topics of convergence, domestic policy, financial bubbles, crises and international coordination. Part II is on banking systems. Country specific adoption and restructuring of (universal but also separation) banking systems are key problems for the industrialized economies, while catching-up is of major concern for the economies in transition. Feeble regional economies and subsidized banking is at the heart of the vivid dispute on public sector banking being taken up in Part III. The last Part is devoted to resource-oriented approaches in quantifiying financial development and risk of sovereign default.

Financial crises have become more frequent over the last two decades than they were previously. This book illuminates the fierce debate over how the monetary authorities should handle these crises by bringing together a selection of the best writings on the subject and by reflecting all viewpoints.

This important contribution to comparative economic history examines different countries' experiences with different monetary regimes. The contributors lay particular emphasis on how the regimes fared when placed under stress such as wars and/or other changes in the economic environment. Covering the experience of ten countries over the period 1700-1990, the book employs the latest techniques of economic analysis in order to understand why particular monetary regimes and policies succeeded or failed.

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.

This book provides an overview as well as the latest research on currency unions - geographical areas throughout which a single currency circulates as the medium of exchange. The issues discussed are central to debates on economic and monetary union in Europe, and the future of Eastern Europe. In addition to a specially written survey chapter by the editors, it contains previously unpublished contributions by leading researchers in the field, discussing real and potential currency unions in the United States, the former Soviet Union, Europe, and Africa.

Get a handle on the digital currency revolution, and learn how to get on board The Bitcoin Big Bang is a guide to navigating the uncharted territory of digital currency. Written by CNBC contributor Brian Kelly, this book goes beyond Bitcoin 101 to explain how this transformative technology is about to change the world. Digital currency is thrown into perspective against the history of payment systems and its own evolution, as readers are invited to explore the ways in which this technology is already changing the way business gets done. Readers gain insight into the mechanisms behind Bitcoin, and an expert perspective on digital currency's effect on the future of money and the economic implications of the Bitcoin revolution. In the same way that e-mail changed the way we transfer information, the decentralized Bitcoin network is about to revolutionize the business world, the legal profession, and even the role of the government. The Bitcoin Big Bang dives head first into this paradigm shift, allowing readers to: Explore the origins of digital currency Learn the history and evolution of payment systems Discover how the Bitcoin network is facilitating free and instant transfer of value Understand the mining of Bitcoin, and how to invest The digital currency revolution has implications that spread far beyond the finance industry. Anyone who exchanges payment for goods and services is on the cusp of the next big push in societal evolution, and only an understanding of the technology and a clear knowledge of the systems and behaviors at play can fully prepare us for the changes to come. The Bitcoin Big Bang is the go-to guide, helping those who use money use it better.

Industrial Organization: A European Perspective presents an up to date and accessible guide to the main determinants of firm structure, market structure, industrial innovation, and static market performance. Professor Martin also looks at the policy issues raised by collusion and the behaviour of dominant firms, with particular reference to EU competition policy and there is a strong focus on performance in and policy toward imperfectly competitive international markets. The book then concludes with a discussion of market integration in the European Union.