Offering the first scholarly analysis of the economic nature of blockchains and the formation of the blockchain economy, this timely book explores the future of global capitalism. Applying the institutional economics of Ronald Coase and Oliver Williamson, the authors highlight how blockchains are poised to reshape the nature of firms, governments, markets and civil society. Chapters apply basic economic principles to explore blockchains and distributed ledger technologies through the framework of institutional economics. The book suggests ways in which cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin may develop further in the future, bringing us back to a barter economy which removes the need for a third person in economic transactions. Outlining a ledger-centric view of the economy, the authors explore how blockchains and dehierarchalisation will reduce the demand for government regulation. Institutional economists and scholars will greatly appreciate the thorough analysis of the development of institutional cryptoeconomics and insight into the future of blockchains that this book offers. Computer and technology scientists will also find this book to be a valuable read, as well as those working specifically in the blockchain industry.

Over the last three decades, inflation targeting (IT) has become the most popular monetary policy framework among larger economies. At the same time, its constituting features leave room for different interpretations, translating into various central banks' institutional set-ups. Against this backdrop, this book investigates the importance of institutional arrangements for policy outcomes. In particular, the book answers the question of whether there are significant differences in IT central banks' institutional set-ups, and-if yes-whether they influence the ability of monetary authorities to meet their policy goals. The book examines around 70 aspects related to independence, accountability and transparency of 42 IT central banks over the last 30 years. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the quality of the institutional set-ups materially affects monetary policy effectiveness. In fact, a visible improvement of institutional arrangements resulting from pursuing an inflation targeting strategy can be treated as its lasting contribution to central banking. Thus, despite the recent critique of the framework, its prospects continue to be rather favourable. Overall, for the advocates of inflation targeting, the findings of the book can be seen as identifying the sources of IT strengths, while for IT opponents, they may be viewed as indicating which elements of IT institutional set-ups should be kept even if the need to replace this strategy with another regime will, indeed, result in a change. Given the role monetary policy plays within the economy, such knowledge may have significant implications. Therefore, the book will be relevant for different audiences, including scholars and researchers of monetary economics and monetary policy, and will be essential reading for central banks already pursuing an IT strategy or those preparing to adopt one. Importantly, the book includes supplementary indices of proposed institutional arrangements that assess a range of aspects related to IT central bank's independence, accountability, and transparency. Readers thus have access to the author's full database, which covers individual indices for all monetary authorities investigated across the given period of analysis.

Neoclassical economics has been criticized from various angles by orthodox schools. The same can be said about its particular branch: the theory of the firm. This book demonstrates how a successful theory of the firm can be presented without flawed notions of a neoclassical framework and used to comprehend actual business history. The author argues that we should start from the assumption that businesses are inevitably imponderable, as that is their nature, in the process of economic evolution. The book offers an in-depth exploration of neoclassical limitations by examining each of the small details associated with the famous MR = MC rule. It follows a step-by-step approach, which starts off with neoclassical assumptions and then moves into more empirically sound theory, based on modeling logic and rooted in real world examples. The author presents a novel discussion on the size of the firm, both in terms of classifying a firm's expansion and about the factors that limit the size of the firm and argues how formal pricing theory can be built using more indeterminate assumptions about firms. Further, there is a discussion on how firms are rooted in amorphous industries, which helps to explain economic progress better by emphasizing the importance of economic experiments, mistakes and bankruptcies. This is a valuable reference for scholars and researchers who are interested in a range of topics from microeconomics, through pricing theory to industrial organization, history of economic thought and managerial economics.

This book offers a novel understanding of money by moving away from the dominant lens of economics through which it is usually seen. In contrast to the economic frameworks of "money", the volume examines philosophical discourses on money through conceptual frameworks that explain how monetary value manifests in various empirical monetary systems. It showcases how the increasingly abstract nature of the objects that stand proxy for money could be conceptualized ontologically, highlighting the predominance of digital money today, as well as contemporary monetary innovations such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Provocative, yet grounded in a sound theoretical framework, this book will be of interest to scholars, students, and teachers interested in money or monetary value, across various domains and disciplines such as philosophy, economics, sociology, anthropology, finance, science, and technology studies, as well as the interested general reader.

This book offers a novel understanding of money by moving away from the dominant lens of economics through which it is usually seen. In contrast to the economic frameworks of "money", the volume examines philosophical discourses on money through conceptual frameworks that explain how monetary value manifests in various empirical monetary systems. It showcases how the increasingly abstract nature of the objects that stand proxy for money could be conceptualized ontologically, highlighting the predominance of digital money today, as well as contemporary monetary innovations such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Provocative, yet grounded in a sound theoretical framework, this book will be of interest to scholars, students, and teachers interested in money or monetary value, across various domains and disciplines such as philosophy, economics, sociology, anthropology, finance, science, and technology studies, as well as the interested general reader.

This book represents the third of three volumes offering a complete reinterpretation and restructuring of Keynesian macroeconomics and a detailed investigation of the disequilibrium adjustment processes characterizing the financial, the goods and the labour markets and their interaction. This book offers a full treatment of the interlinkages between the real and the financial markets, including an analysis of banking, credit, and endogenous money and asset markets. It remains critical of quite frequently used conventional macro models that have dropped the tradition of studying the macroeconomic feedback channels, well-known in the history of macroeconomics. Those feedback mechanisms are known to have the potential for instabilities with respect to real markets, price dynamics and financial markets. In this volume a particular emphasis is given to the financial-real interaction. The research in this book with its focus on Keynesian propagation mechanisms provides a unique alternative to the black-box shock-absorber approaches that dominate modern macroeconomics. The main conclusion of the work is that policy makers need to reconsider Keynesian ideas, but in the modern form in which they are expressed in this volume. Reconstructing Keynesian Macroeconomics will be of interest to students and researchers who want to look at alternatives to the mainstream macrodynamics that emerged from the Monetarist critique of Keynesianism. This book will also engage central bankers and macroeconomic policy makers.

How can financial flows help the EU fulfil its mandate to promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, and solidarity among Member States enshrined in the EU Treaty? Dissecting the complexity of cohesion, this book examines the factors that matter most for the functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union and the convergence of Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries. This insightful and timely book brings together central bankers, policy makers and academics to discuss how to best advance and fund the catching-up process of the euro area and CESEE countries. Focusing on a modern understanding of industrial policy - which fosters skills, innovation and infrastructure - contributors highlight how the EU's regional policy can better meet persistent investments needs. Critical and comprehensive, this book is crucial reading for researchers at all levels focusing on policy reform in emerging European economies. Central bankers and policy experts in public or international organizations will also benefit from this book's contemporary perspective on monetary and industrial policies.

In its pursuit to equip the reader with a basic knowledge of Islamic economics, this book divulges the micro-foundations of the discipline, and highlights the predominant schools of thought that exist in the field. It explains, in simple terms, what Islamic economics entails and how it can be studied as a science in relation to the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and the Islamic intellectual tradition based on these two sources. The book familiarizes the reader with knowledge of the basic maxims of the discipline. It then establishes the arguments that are presented by the proponents of religion-based economics, specifically Islam, and apprises readers about the aforementioned schools as they exist. A number of chapters consider the dimension of the dilemmas the discipline is facing, and the chronological progress of the field is reviewed, hence providing a comprehensive overview of the topic. The book deals with the issues about the origins of Islamic economics, the basic methodological questions, the use of the opportunities offered by fiqh in the methodological discussions and the main problems arising from the encounter with other cultures and civilizations. It offers practical solutions, despite the differing schools of thought, not unlike the development of conventional Economics where radical differences between Keynesian, Classical and Monetarist approaches existed. It concludes by incorporating some of the finest works that explain to the reader how Islamic economics may progress as a discipline. This guide will provide both students and researchers in Comparative Economic Studies, Islamic Economics and Islamic Finance with an essential overview of the field.

International Macroeconomics for Business and Political Leaders explains the fundamentals of international macroeconomics in a very efficient and approachable text. It explores key macro concepts such as growth, unemployment, inflation, interest, and exchange rates. Crucially, it also examines how these markets are interconnected so that readers will fully understand why economic, political, and social shocks to nations, such as the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and Brazil, must be evaluated in the context of all three macroeconomic markets: goods and services, credit, and foreign exchange. This book is as relevant and useful to individuals who have successfully taken and passed a Principles of Economics course, or more, as it is to those who have never taken any economics in high school or college but are motivated to understand the way international economies act and react. It uses an innovative approach to teach supply and demand principles, without using graphs, so as to be understandable and accessible to any interested reader or audience. This is not a theory-for-theory's-sake textbook but a practice-oriented, common-sense approach to explaining international macroeconomics which quickly connects readers to real world events.

Originally published in 1995, Beyond Capital Labor is a comprehensive empirical study about how and how much technology and regional contextual factors may influence company production and productivity growth. The book constitutes a conceptually consistent and empirically efficient study and provides a consolidated model and an analytical framework to examine the contributions of technology and regional factors to company production and productivity growth. This work goes beyond the current state and brings many scattered theoretical components together to establish an integrated model.

Milton Friedman is beyond question the most famous living economist of the 20th century. He is closely associated with the doctrine of 'monetarism' which has been adopted by many governments around the world.This important two volume collection presents a major study of Milton Friedman's outstanding contribution to economics as a teacher at the University of Chicago. It shows how Friedman's distinctive ideas about money, markets and economic theory, communicated in the classroom and in thesis committees, influenced an entire generation of economists. It also reveals his influence on graduate-education practices at the University of Chicago and elsewhere.

Financialisation and the Financial and Economic Crises provides comparative, empirical case studies of a diverse set of eleven countries. In particular, the book helps in understanding the current (mal)performance of Euro area economies by explaining the causes of the shifts in growth regimes during and after the crises. It goes well beyond the dominant interpretation of the recent financial and economic crises as being rooted in malfunctioning and poorly regulated financial markets. The contributions to this book provide detailed accounts of the long-term effects of financialisation and cover the main developments leading up to and during the crisis in eleven selected countries: the US, the UK, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Italy, France, Estonia, and Turkey. The introductory chapter presents the theoretical framework and synthesizes the main findings of the country studies. Furthermore, the macroeconomic effects of financialisation on the EU as a whole are analyzed in the final chapter. Offering an illuminating overview and invaluable alternative perspective on the long-run developments leading to the recent crises, this book is essential reading for researchers, students and policymakers and an ideal starting point for further research. Contributors: S. Bahce, R. Barradas, C.A. Carrasco, H. Coemert, G. Cornilleau, J. Creel, D. Detzer, N. Dodig, N. Erdem, T. Evans, J. Ferreiro, G. Gabbi, C. Galvez, C. Gomez, A. Gonzalez, E. Hein, E. Juuse, E. Karacimen, A.H. Koese, S. Lagoa, E. Leao, J. Lepper, OE. Orhangazi, G. OEzgur, R. Paes Mamede, M. Shabani, A. Stenfors, E. Ticci, J. Toporowski, L. Tserkezis, J. Tyson, Y. Varoufakis, P. Vozzella, G.L. Yalman

Financialization - the increasing importance of financial markets, institutions and motives in the world economy - is described and analyzed in this rigorously researched volume. The contributors, top scholars in their fields, explore the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of financialization and tally its costs and benefits for society as a whole. They explore the puzzling promotion of financial liberalization by governments despite its enormous costs, and describe what can be done to alter the destructive path toward excessive financialization that most countries are taking. The book begins by presenting basic data on the distributional implications of financialization. Part two focuses on financialization in the context of the US economy, with discussion of the relationship between financialization and non-financial corporations, the stock market bubble, and the evolution of derivatives markets. The international dimensions of financialization are explored in part three, with particular attention paid to the evolution of the international monetary system. Part four presents five case studies of financialization and financial crises in emerging markets in the 1980s and 1990s: Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea. The final section offers ideas for policy responses, including capital controls and securities transaction taxes. Researchers and students of international economics and finance will find this provocative volume an important part of the debate surrounding this multi-faceted phenomenon.

The Foundations of Monetary Economics presents an authoritative collection of key articles on monetary economics - one of the most contentious areas of economics. David Laidler - who has himself made important contributions - has selected those articles which are essential to an understanding of the origin and development of monetary economics. This important three-volume collection includes classic papers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries but places the emphasis on those papers written in the last half century. Particular weight is given to work that pays explicit attention to money's role in processes of exchange. Topics include the origins of money; cash in advance; overlapping generations and legal restrictions; theories of the demand for money; empirical studies of the demand for money; money, prices and output; money in general equilibrium and disequilibrium; money and clearing markets; credit market effects; monetary explanations of the cycle; money and the Great Depression; money and growth; monetary policy and the price level; rational expectations and monetary policy; central banking; free banking and the new monetary economics.

Acclaim for the first edition: 'Peter Bernholz's book brings together his comprehensive studies of inflation from the fourth century to the present, showing their common elements and their differences. This is an impressive work that bankers, central bankers, economists and laymen can read with pleasure and profit. I recommend it highly.' - Allan H. Meltzer, The Hoover Institution, Stanford Exploring the characteristics of inflations and comparing historical cases from Roman times up to the modern day, this book provides an in depth discussion of the subject. It analyses the high and moderate inflations caused by the inflationary bias of political systems and economic relationships, as well as the importance of different monetary regimes in containing them. The differences for the possible size of inflations among monetary regimes like metallic currencies, the gold standard and fiat paper money are discussed. It is shown that huge budget deficits of government have been responsible for all hyperinflations. This revised second edition debates whether a growth of the money supply exceeding that of real Gross Domestic Production is a necessary or sufficient reason for inflation and also includes a new concluding chapter, which explores the long-term tendencies to create, maintain and abolish inflation-stable monetary regimes. Moreover, the conditions for long-term inflation-stable monetary regimes in history are explored. By surveying thirty hyperinflations, Peter Bernholz demonstrates that certain economic traits have been stable characteristics of inflations over the centuries, and illustrates their causes. He also examines the consequences of high inflations for unemployment, the distortions between relative prices and the political conditions that allow a return to stable monetary regimes after high inflations, given the inflationary tendencies of political systems. This book will appeal to a wide-ranging audience, including students, economists, historians, political scientists and sociologists looking to improve their knowledge of monetary regimes and inflation. Bankers, businessmen and politicians attempting to solve the problems caused for them by inflation, will also find this to be a useful read.

The Political Economy of Monetary Union presents an important collection of the most influential articles covering different areas in this expanding field. The volume brings together both the classical articles which have laid the foundations for the theory of optimum currency and the resulting empirical literature. Further papers focus on the issues of fiscal policy, the design and operation of the central bank in a monetary union and the problems of transition to monetary union. This authoritative volume is essential reading for all scholars, students and practitioners interested in the issues relating to economic and monetary unification.

Financialization - the increasing importance of financial markets, institutions and motives in the world economy - is described and analyzed in this rigorously researched volume. The contributors, top scholars in their fields, explore the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of financialization and tally its costs and benefits for society as a whole. They explore the puzzling promotion of financial liberalization by governments despite its enormous costs, and describe what can be done to alter the destructive path toward excessive financialization that most countries are taking. The book begins by presenting basic data on the distributional implications of financialization. Part two focuses on financialization in the context of the US economy, with discussion of the relationship between financialization and non-financial corporations, the stock market bubble, and the evolution of derivatives markets. The international dimensions of financialization are explored in part three, with particular attention paid to the evolution of the international monetary system. Part four presents five case studies of financialization and financial crises in emerging markets in the 1980s and 1990s: Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea. The final section offers ideas for policy responses, including capital controls and securities transaction taxes. Researchers and students of international economics and finance will find this provocative volume an important part of the debate surrounding this multi-faceted phenomenon.

This book reveals the surprising role that credit, money created ex nihilo by financiers, played in raising the British government's war loans between 1793 and 1815. Using often overlooked contemporary objections to the National Debt a startling paradox is revealed as it is shown how the government's ostensible creditors had, in fact, very little "real" money to lend and were instead often reliant for their own solvency upon the very government they were lending to. By following the careers of unsuccessful loan-contractors, who went bankrupt lending to the government, to the triumphant career of the House of Rothschild; who successfully "exported" the British system of war-financing abroad with the coming of peace, the symbiotic relationship that existed between the British government and their ostensible creditors is revealed. Also highlighted is the power granted to the (technically bankrupt) Bank of England over credit and the money supply, an unprecedented and highly influential development that filled many contemporaries with horror. This is a tale of bankruptcy, stock market manipulation, bribery and institutional corruption that continues to exert its influence today and will be of interest to anyone interested in government financing, debt and the origins of modern finance.

Under the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.

Cryptocurrencies have had a profound effect on financial markets worldwide. This edited book aims to explore the economic implications of the use of cryptocurrencies. Drawing from chapter contributors from around the world, the book will be a valuable resource on the economics of cryptocurrencies. The intended audience is composed of academics, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, government leaders, consultants and policy makers worldwide. Over the past few years, the topic of cryptocurrencies has gained global attention and has been the subject of discussion in various news media, in policy-making bodies and government entities, and in financial institutions, classrooms and boardrooms. Despite widespread interest, much remains unknown on what the economic implications of cryptocurrencies are. This book enhances the reader's understanding of cryptocurrencies, its impact on industry and its implications on the political and economic environment. Drawing from chapter contributions from leading academics and thought leaders from around the world, this book is the definitive guide on the economics of cryptocurrencies. There is scarcity of well conceived, academically grounded literature on the impact of cryptocurrencies on industry, politics and economics. This pioneering book provides up-to-date and in-depth analysis on the subject. The book will be appealing to academic communities, business professionals and entrepreneurs in their quest for better understanding the challenges and opportunities brought about by cryptocurrencies. Consultants, government officials and policy makers will find the information helpful in defining strategic pathways into the future.

In the wake of the Greek crisis, the future of the EU is the subject of a great deal of debate. This book critically evaluates the current new monetarist model of Economic and Monetary Union in Europe, presenting an alternative post-Keynesian (progressive) model, aimed at addressing the current problems of trade imbalance and asymmetric macroeconomic policy infrastructure that are augmenting tensions within the Eurozone. The book's approach is based upon the development of a common, rather than a single, currency approach, and utilises post-Keynesian policy solutions in order to create a form of EMU which will promote full employment rather than austerity.

The 2008 credit crisis started with the failure of one large bank: Lehman Brothers. Since then the focus of both politicians and regulators has been on stabilising the economy and preventing future financial instability. At this juncture, we are at the last stage of future-proofing the financial sector by raising capital requirements and tightening financial regulation. Now the policy agenda needs to concentrate on transforming the banking sector into an engine for growth. Reviving competition in the banking sector after the state interventions of the past years is a key step in this process. This book introduces and explains a relatively new concept in competition measurement: the performance-conduct-structure (PCS) indicator. The key idea behind this measure is that a firm's efficiency is more highly rewarded in terms of market share and profit, the stronger competitive pressure is. The book begins by explaining the financial market's fundamental obstacles to competition presenting a brief survey of the complex relationship between financial stability and competition. The theoretical contributions of Hay and Liu and Boone provide the theoretical underpinning for the PCS indicator, while its application to banking and insurance illustrates its empirical qualities. Finally, this book presents a systematic comparison between the results of this approach and (all) existing methods as applied to 46 countries, over the same sample period. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the knowns and unknowns of financial sector competition for commercial and central bankers, policy-makers, supervisors and academics alike.