These proceedings, from a conference held at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on October 17-18, 1991, attempted to layout what we currently know about aggregate economic fluctuations. Identifying what we know inevitably reveals what we do not know about such fluctuations as well. From the vantage point of where the conference's participants view our current understanding to be, these proceedings can be seen as suggesting an agenda for further research. The conference was divided into five sections. It began with the formu lation of an empirical definition of the "business cycle" and a recitation of the stylized facts that must be explained by any theory that purports to capture the business cycle's essence. After outlining the historical develop ment and key features of the current "theories" of business cycles, the conference evaluated these theories on the basis of their ability to explain the facts. Included in this evaluation was a discussion of whether (and how) the competing theories could be distinguished empirically. The conference then examined the implications for policy of what is known and not known about business cycles. A panel discussion closed the conference, high lighting important unresolved theoretical and empirical issues that should be taken up in future business cycle research. What Is a Business Cycle? Before gaining a genuine understanding of business cycles, economists must agree and be clear about what they mean when they refer to the cycle."

This book traces the developments of the post-war monetary story, with an emphasis both on theory and practice. A survey of monetary policy and a discussion of the effects of a credit squeeze are set against a survey of the very different American scene. Comparative analysis of the 'new money markets' is also included as is discussion of the significant developments in the world's major capital markets.

The Role of Money examines the mystery of money in its social aspect and illustrates what money now is, what is does and what it should do. The standpoint from which the book is written is that of the public. The significance of the 'money-power' of the state to issue money has been recently recognized by historians. Its key position in shaping the course of world events is here explained. Included are: * Chapters on the philosophic background * The theory of money - Virtual Wealth * The Evolution of Modern Money * International Economic Relations * Debts and Debt Redemption

'It provides the best complete discussion I know of the economics of repressed inflation' F.W. Paish. The Economics of Repressed Inflation is a micro-economic analysis of the effects of a partially controlled inflation in a peacetime economy. This analysis suggests that the combination of inflationary pressures and the control of consumption has economic effects on the price level and on the distribution of resources which may be as serious for the economy as the more widely recognized effects of an uncontrolled inflation.

Part One of this book deals with the theory of how money is created and destroyed. Essential principles are illustrated by considering various models of banking systems. Part Two provides an account of the modern theory of income and employment. * Theory backed up with examples of the simplest to the most complicated models, for example: * The model of "a closed economy without a government" to one in which government expenditure and revenue affect the level of national income * The model in which the rate of interest and quantity of money have no effect and the model in which they are variables relevant to the determination of income

Attempts to establish an international economic and financial order where a key feature of the settlement which followed the Second World War, as policy makers sought to establish a framework which would prevent an economic crisis on the scale of the great depression. This volume explores this period, focusing on monetary issues. Part 1 provides a general analysis of the scope for international monetary co-operation dealing in particular with: * The Provision of additional means of international settlement * The arrangement of settlements on a multilateral basis * The orderly fixation of exchange rates * The correction of international disequilibria * The provision of safeguards against the international transmission of business depressions. Part 2 deals with the actual machinery of international co-operation since the war and in particular with * The International Monetary Fund * The European Payments Union * The role of sterling Part 3 surveys the actual course of events since 1945, illustrating the problems that have called for treatment by international co-operation, the extent to which such treatment has been attempted, and with what success.

The creation of the ECU in 1979 as part of the newly established European Monetary system was greeted with widespread scepticism, few predicted the success it would have in private financial markets. The macroeconomic and microeconomic implications of the ECU and its significance for monetary integration in Europe are considered by a variety of contributors from academics to those in banking circles. Current research is examined and the theoretical and empirical aspects of the emergence of the ECU as a vehicle for European policy-making are considered to provide insights as to its future development.

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in which some members of the European Union have joined, has prompted much discussion of monetary union. Most of this discussion has focused on the immediate issues, such as prospects for the Euro and the possibility of expanding the Euro-zone. This book stands back and considers the relevant theory or what lessons might be drawn from other unions that have been formed in the past as well as looking at EMU directly.

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The book develops an explanation of distribution between profits and wages, which is both logically coherent and supported by reality. It is centred upon a concept of the money rate of interest as the variable that governs the normal profitability of capital.

In this book, the author presents fresh perspectives on the theories surrounding European Monetary Union. Urging the reader to examine conventional ideas from new viewpoints, he discusses the events which led to EMU, analyses the current situation, and projects possible futures.
Essential reading for academics and professionals concerned with the background and implications of EMU, this book will also be of considerable interest to scholars in the fields of European studies, monetary economics, international economics and economic history.

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The growth of interest in fiscal decentralization has meant that there has been something of a rush to enshrine this in policy - The World Bank has reported that about 70 countries see this as a major part of their development strategy. This book critically examines the case for decentralization.
This collection of contributions comes from a worldwide team of experts, including Albert Breton, Piero Giarda and Anwar Shah. After analyzing fiscal decentralization in general, the book goes on to look at intriguing case studies of various regions around the world including:
* The European Union
* Hungary and Slovakia
* Russia and China
* Asia and Africa

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To explain the pronounced instability of the world economy since the 1970s, the book offers an important and systematic theoretical examination of money and finance. It re-examines the classical foundations of political economy and the creator of money. It assesses all of the important theoretical schools since then, including Marxist, Keynesian, post-Keynesian and monetarist thinkers. By presenting important insights from Japanese political economy previously ignored in Anglo-Saxon economics, the authors make a significant contribution to radical political economy based on a thorough historical analysis of capitalism.

The central thesis of the book is that in order to evaluate monetary policy, one should have a clear idea about the characteristics and functions of money as it evolved and in its current form. That is to say that without an understanding about how money evolved as a social institution, what it is today, and what is possible to know about monetary phenomena, it is not possible to develop a meaningful ethics for money; or, to put it differently, to find what kind of institutional arrangements may be deemed good money for the kind of society we are in. And without that, one faces severe limitations in offering a normative position about monetary policy. The project is, consequently, an interdisciplinary one. Its main thread is an inquiry of moral philosophy and its foundations, as applied to money, in order to create tools to evaluate public policy in regard to money, banking, and public finance; and the views of different schools on those topics are discussed. The book is organized in parts on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics of money to facilitate the presentation of all the subjects discussed to an educated readership (and not necessarily just one with a background in economics).

This work, integrating monetary and value theory in a Walrasian general equilibrium context, anticipated by almost two decades the line of research which attempts to recast macroeconomics by reference to its microeconomic foundations. The notion of an integrated set of markets offered intuitive perception of intermarket linkages. At the same time it highlighted some of the pitfalls of traditional neoclassical monetary analysis, such as the erroneous imputation of unitary elasticity to the demand curve for money.;Patinkin's presentation of general equilibrium illuminated the difficulty in upholding the Keynesian notion of underemployment equilibrium. His insightful efforts to understand behaviour in labour markets in disequilibrium led him to provide the first well worked out example of the powerful implications of disequilibrium and thereby to lay the foundations for the disequilibrium analysis of the 1970s.

John Hicks's writing on monetary economics spans over 50 years. This book draws together the common threads of his work in a single succinct statement of the basics of monetary theory. It also outlines a theory of competitive markets which can be linked to the monetary sector; neither standard classical or neo-classical value theory can , on its own, fill the gap between monetary and non-monetary economics. In reviewing his own work, Hicks explains the way in which economic theory has been adjusted to reflect developments in the real economy. He sees these changes, sometimes quite major, as the discovery of truths which have become more appropriate, rather than the the discovery of completely new truths.

This book analyses Germany's role in the euro crisis. Based on the perception of Berlin as the emerging capital of the European Union, the author investigates three interrelated issues: Did the German policy approach of imposing austerity programs on countries in the middle of a deep recession contribute to the successful management of the euro crisis? Does Germany extend its sway over its European partners by forcing them to surrender to the German diktat of fiscal Disziplin and economic efficiency? Is the stubborn insistence on rigid fiscal adjustment another ominous sign of the Berlin Republic moving away from the country's traditional European vocation toward an imperial leadership role? The book's main argument is that Germany's role in and responses to the euro crisis can best be explained by different concepts of self, historical memory, and institutional practices.

The book gives an overview of the implications of population ageing for economic development in general and financial systems in particular. It describes several challenges which the ageing process poses for central banks, giving special consideration to the situation in Europe. The first two chapters discuss the relationship between ageing and saving and between ageing and international capital flows. Other chapters consider the possible implications for financial markets. The final part of the volume raises issues which are of particular relevance for central banks, namely ageing and financial stability and how ageing will affect monetary policy. While the ageing problem has been the object of a growing debate in Europe during the past few years, little attention has been devoted so far to its monetary aspects.

The analysis of any monetary policy framework necessarily extends beyond the confinements of the central bank. A country's monetary framework can depend on many factors such as: its form of government; its legal system; the level of expertise in monetary policy matters that exists inside and outside the central bank; the country's financial institutions; as well as wider characteristics including the political system and level of literacy. This broad ranging collection focuses on the monetary policy frameworks used by central banks and governments in their attempt to achieve their various goals, of which price stability has become increasingly unpopular. It assesses the links between targets and central bank independence, accountability and the transparency of monetary policy. Based on data collected through a questionnaire completed by over 70 central banks in industrialized, transitional and developing economies, the analysis shows how the detailed characteristics of a monetary framework depend upon: structural differences; varying degrees of indexation and other nominal rigidities that affect the speed of transmission from monetary policy to inflation; and institutional arrangem

This six volume set includes "The Supply and Control of Money in the USA - Lauchlin B. Currie", "Banking Policy and the Price Level and Money - Dennis H. Robertson", "The Problem of Unemployment - P.H. Douglas and A. Director", "The Art of Central Banking - R.A. Hawtrey", and "Balanced Deflation, Inflation, or More Depression - J. Viner". During a long, varied, influential and productive career as a macroeconomic policy advisor, Lauchlin B. Currie developed and applied theoretical insights and new data sources to improve national well-being. From 1934 to 1945, Currie advised the New Deal on monetary and fiscal policies for recovery, full employment, maximum production for war and price stability. He sought public policies that would allow competitive markets to yield high saving and investment required for productivity and stable growth. Dennis H. Robertson studied economics at Cambridge, and in 1914 was elected to Fellow of Trinity College, followed by Reader in the University of Cambridge. In 1938 he left to become a Professor in the University of London, but during his time in that post he was seconded to the Treasury on war-related work. Elected in 1944 to succeed Pigou in the

The launch of European Monetary Union (EMU) marked the beginning of a new era, and its establishment has proved an impressive success at the technical, legal, and procedural level. After all, EMU has accelerated economic and political integration in the European Union and tied the economies of the Member States closer together. However, the performance of the euro, high unemployment rates, uneven output and investment growth, and the issue of structural reforms that have yet to be tackled have raised questions about the performance of EMU in practice. There is a general consensus on the justification for economic policy coordination. The existing literature on economic policy coordination, however, seems far from able to provide robust conclusions about how to organize the necessary interaction of institutions and policies. Therefore, there seems to be a case for re-examining the subject under the new framework set by EMU. The objective of such a reassessment is to enhance the understanding of what type of coordination and what institutional setting for policy coordination can be expected to be most favorable. Challenges for Economic Policy Coordination within European Monetary Union provides an intellectually stimulating contribution to the ongoing debate.

The remarkably successful gold standard before 1914 was the first international monetary regime. This book addresses the experience of the gold standard peripheries; i.e. regime takers with limited influence on the regime. How did small countries adjust to an international monetary regime with seemingly little room for policy autonomy?

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Peter Burnham presents a detailed, archive-based account of the keys aspects of international monetary relations in the 1950s focusing in particular on Anglo-American policy surrounding the restoration of sterling convertibility. He argues that in 1952 the British government had a unique opportunity to take an almost revolutionary step in the external field to transform the international political economy (through the abolition of the fixed rate system, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Payments Union) and restructure Britain's domestic economy to tackle longstanding productivity, export and labour market problems.

Combining a rich mixture of technical economics, political repercussions, and even the psychology of symbols and beliefs, monetary problems are both fascinating and perplexing. Given the unprecedented fiat monetary regime currently emerging, past and present struggles for monetary supremacy provide valuable lessons. This book provides insight into monetary and political problems as they appear in past and ongoing struggles for monetary supremacy in the United States and elsewhere.

In effect, the issue is control over the stock of money. After examining such subjects as the failure of a common currency and the rise of barter economies, pricing in the currency of another country, specie standard monetary regimes with fixed exchange rates, currency boards, and common currency, the book considers the obstacles to the operation and survival of the current fiat monetary system. Arguing that member nation-states with competing and conflicting agendas pose the most serious obstacle, the book concludes with a consideration of cooperation theory.

This book is written for quantitative finance professionals, students, educators, and mathematically inclined individual investors. It is about some of the latest developments in pricing, hedging, and investing in incomplete markets. With regard to pricing, two frameworks are fully elaborated: neutral and indifference pricing. With regard to hedging, the most conservative and relaxed hedging formulas are derived. With regard to investing, the neutral pricing methodology is also considered as a tool for connecting market asset prices with optimal positions in such assets.

SrdjanD.Stojanovic isProfessor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at University of Cincinnati (USA) and Professor in the Center for Financial Engineering at Suzhou University (China)."