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.

"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.

A group of leading European scholars examines the likely impact of European Monetary Union on the political institutions of the region. This book moves the debate about the Euro forward beyond the economic and sovereignty questions that have so far dominated discussion.

In recent years, currencies of major industrial nations have fluctuated widely in response to trade imbalances, interest rates, commodity prices, and political uncertainty. The pressure to maintain currency parity has led to the breakdown of many exchange rate mechanisms, and has forced the need for active foreign exchange hedging decisions to prevent the erosion of profit margins. To counteract this worldwide market volatility, currency options were developed as an alternative risk management tool to the spot and forward foreign exchange market, and owe their existence to the demands of foreign exchange users for alternative hedging and exposure management techniques. This essentially practical book gives a thorough and comprehensive guide to currency options, with clear explanations of the technicalities. It should become recommended reading for many business courses, and will be of interest to new recruits and junior members in investment and merchant banks; to Forex specialist firms; to Treasury institutions; and to investors who require a quick guide within a trading and sales environment.

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.

Understanding money's nature as political, institutional, and material answers today's big money questions. Money remains a foundational question of social theory. What is money? Why does something so insubstantial have value? How do money systems make promises function like valuable things? Why are money systems always hierarchical yet variable? The answer, the book argues, is politics. Money is institutionalised social power. Politics generates institutions that differentially lock into the future product of political and economic collectives. Money emerges from the institutionalisation of social antagonisms to encapsulate a collective's productive potential in a flexible, tradable instrument. This takes a system. Money is built in hierarchical layers out of the inherently variable material of politics and at various economic scales. This book outlines these variable processes theoretically and through case studies.

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.

To help overcome its financial crisis, Russia is being urged to create a currency board, which has met with success in other countries such as Argentina, Estonia, and Hong Kong. This study explains what a currency board is and how it differs from a central bank, and examines the advantages and disadvantages of each type of arrangement. The author concludes that currency boards may be quite attractive to small, open economies and a useful prop for those emerging from a very deep macroeconomic crisis, but that their disadvantages outweigh these attractions in most large countries.

Macroprudential policy is perhaps the most important new development in central bank policymaking circles since the global financial crisis, and reliance on such policies has continued to spread. The crisis, which showed the limits of conventional monetary policy as a tool to deal with financial stability, forced a wide-ranging rethink of economic policies, their interactions and their repercussions. It has led to new forms of intervention, of regulation and of supervisory practice. Macroprudential regulation is now one of the most important topics in modern macroeconomics, because it concerns measures put in place to reduce the risks and costs of the instability caused by financial crises. Written by senior figures from the worlds of academia and banking, this volume combines theoretical approaches with hard evidence of the policy's achievements in many countries. It is the first in-depth analysis of macroprudential instruments for policymakers, banks and economists.

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.

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

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.

Understanding the changing role of central banks and their recent novel policies is essential for analysing many economic and financial issues, ranging from financial regulation and crisis, to exchange rate dynamics and regime changes, and QE and prolonged low interest rates. This book features contributions by the world's leading experts on central banking, providing in accessible essays a fascinating review of today's key issues for central banks. Luminaries including Stephen Cecchetti, Takatoshi Ito, Anil Kashyap, Mervyn King, Donald Kohn, Otmar Issing and Hyun Shin are joined by Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics and Political Science, whose many achievements in the field of central banking are honoured as the inspiration for this book. The Changing Fortunes of Central Banking discusses the developing role of central banks in seeking monetary and financial stabilisation, while also giving suggestions for model strategies. This comprehensive review will appeal to central bankers, financial supervisors and academics.

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.

Monetary policy is still one of the most contested areas of modern economics, and since the original publication of Policy Makers on Policy much has changed. This new edition collects contributions from leading policy makers and practitioners to reflect on the aims and objectives of monetary policy and on what it can achieve, combining the old chapters from Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Kenneth Clarke, Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, and others, with new perspectives from Mervyn King, Jean-Claude Trichet, Ernst Welteke, Otmar Issing, and Alastair Darling. A new far-reaching introduction from the editors Forrest Capie and Geoffrey Wood puts these important contributions to the discussion of economic policy in the new context. They look at what lessons can be learnt from the earlier discussions, what anticipations of present difficulties can be found in them and what, in other words, the comparatively recent past teaches us about how to deal with the turbulent present. The second edition of Policy Makers on Policy brings together otherwise inaccessible commentaries and reflections on policy by those involved in making it, along with a commentary on and context for their remarks. Thus the book will be of great interest and use to students of economics and politics, and indeed anyone with an interest in current economic developments and their roots in the past.

The authors predict that the impact will be far-reaching, leading to a more liquid, mature and efficient capital market. The structure of capital markets in Europe and the behaviour of actors in these markets will be fundamentally affected, leading to a more integrated market. For monetary union to achieve its real objective, policy makers will need to address a wide variety of outstanding issues, in particular the taxation of savings income, accounting standards, capital market regulation and financial supervision.
The start of monetary union on 1 January 1999 launched a process of radical change in the structure of capital markets in Europe. Whereas previously, Europe had been fragmented into many diverse national markets, a single Euro capital market is now emerging.
This book focuses on the long-term impact that the introduction of the euro will have on European capital markets and spells out implications for the financial sector and the wider economy. It discusses what further steps need to be taken to achieve a fully integrated market.
In particular, the book examines:
* The institutional and regulatory framework for European capital markets
* The structure of European capital markets on the eve of EMU
* The regional differences and the contrasts with the US capital market
* The central role played by banks in European capital markets and the likelihood that a more market-based system may emerge
* The implications of EMU for organised securities markets
* The consequences for governance and policy, and more in particular for the taxation of savings income, securities market regulation and financial supervision

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

Most European countries are rather small, yet we know little about their monetary history. This book analyses for the first time the experience of seven small states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland) during the last hundred years, starting with the restoration of the gold standard after World War I and ending with Sweden s rejection of the Euro in 2003. The comparative analysis shows that for the most part of the twentieth century the options of policy makers were seriously constrained by a distinct fear of floating exchange rates. Only with the crisis of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1992 93 did the idea that a flexible exchange rate regime was suited for a small open economy gain currency. The book also analyses the differences among small states and concludes that economic structures or foreign policy orientations were far more important for the timing of regime changes than domestic institutions and policies."

During the recent financial crisis, the conflict between sovereign states and banks over who controls the creation of money was thrown into sharp relief. This collection investigates the relationship between states and banks, arguing that conflicts between the two over control of money produces critical junctures. Drawing on Max Weber's concept of 'mobile capital', the book examines the mobility of capital networks in contexts of funding warfare, global bubbles and dangerous instability disengaged from social-economic activity. It proposes that mobile capital is a primary feature of capitalism and nation states, and furthermore, argues that the perennial, hierarchical struggles between states and global banks is intrinsic to capitalism. Featuring authors writing from an impressively diverse range of academic backgrounds (including sociology, geography, economics and politics), Critical Junctures in Mobile Capital presents a variety of analyses using current or past examples from different countries, federations, and of differing forms of mobile capital.

This book argues that only by reforming the international monetary system can we prevent financial crises in the future and the internationalization of the Renminbi, China's national currency, will be an important step in the process.Just as the old saying goes, 'An old building needs to be demolished before a new one can be erected in its place,' there will be no construction without destruction. The commencement of the dismantling of the old monetary system is also the beginning of the construction of the new one. Contrary to Western rhetoric, which portrays China as part of the cause of the recent financial crisis, the author contends that China is actually a victim of the current unjust international economic and monetary system. To address the imbalance and break the dollar-dominated international monetary system, the author calls for the internationalization of the Renminbi and diversification of the international monetary system.Written by one of the foremost financial practitioners in China, this book is thought-provoking and provides a unique Chinese perspective on how the international monetary system should be reformed, what the future system should look like and the role China should play in the process. It is a required reading for anyone interested in understanding China's own vision in its rise in the global political, economic and financial systems.

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 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.

Against a background of liberalization and deregulation, the Japanese financial system is now undergoing substantial change - a topic of major concern in world financial circles. This book provides up-to-date, detailed information on the present system and its historical background. Prepared by the staff of the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, and edited by Dr Yoshio Suzuki, the distinguished monetary economist, this survey is supported by the most authoritative data and figures. The book is divided into two parts: Part I outlines features and changes in the Japanese financial system and economy after the Second World War. Part II gives detailed descriptions of various assets, interest rates, financial institutions, and monetary policy.

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.

The contents of this book include: Introduction (L. Renneboog) - Part 1: Corporate restructuring; mergers and acquisitions in Europe (M. Martynova, L. Renneboog); the performance of acquisitive companies in the US (K. Cools, M. V. D. Laar); The announcement effects and long-run stock market performance of corporate spin-offs: The international evidence (C. veld, Y. Veld-Merkoulova); the competitive challenge in banking (A. Boot, A. Schmeits); Consolidation of the European banking sector: Impact on innovation (H. Degryse, S. Ongena, M.F. Penas) - Part II: Corporate governance; transatlantic corporate governance reform (J. McCahery, A. Khachaturyan); The role of self-regulation in corporate governance: evidence and implications from the Netherlands (A. De Jong, D. Dejong, G. Mertens, C. Wasley); and Shareholder lock-in contracts: Share price and trading volume effects at the lock-in expiry (P. P. Angenendt, M. Goergen, L. Renneboog). It also features: The grant and exercise of stock options in IPO firms: Evidence from the Netherlands (T. V. D. Groot, G. Mertens, P. Roosenboom); Institutions, corporate governance and firm performance (J. Grazell) - Part III: Capital structure and valuation; Why do companies issue convertible bonds? A review of the theory and empirical evidence (I. Loncarski, J. Ter Horst, C. Veld); The financing of Dutch firms: a historical perspective (A. De Jong, A. Roell); Corporate financing in the Netherlands (R. Kabir); Syndicated loans: Developments, characteristics and benefits (G. Van Roij); The bank's choice of financing and the correlation structure of loan returns: loans sales versus equity (V. Ioannidou, Y. Pierides); and shareholder value and growth in sales and earnings (L. Soenen) - Part IV: Asset pricing and monetary economics. This book includes: The term structure of interest rates: An overview (P. De Goeii); incorporating estimation risk in portfolio choice (F. De Roon, J. Ter Horst, B. Werker); a risk measure for retail investment products (T. Nijman, B. Werker); understanding and exploiting momentum in stock returns (J. C. Rodriguez, A. Sbuelz); and Relating risks to asset types: A new challenge for central banks (J. Sijben).