Monetary union has dawned in Europe. Now that the common currency is a reality, questions concerning the practical conduct of monetary policy in the European Monetary Union (EMU) are moving to the forefront of the policy debate. Among these, one of the most critical is how the new monetary union will cope with the large heterogeneity of its member economies. Given the large differences in economic and financial structures among the EMU member states, monetary policy is likely to affect different member economies in different ways. Regional Aspects of Monetary Policy in Europe collects the proceedings of an international conference held at the Center for European Integration Studies of the University of Bonn, dedicated to this issue. The contributions to this conference fall into two parts. The first part consists of empirical and theoretical studies of the regional effects of monetary policy in heterogeneous monetary unions. The second part consists of papers analyzing the political economy of monetary policy in a monetary union of heterogeneous regions or member states. The papers all support the conclusion that regional differences in the responses to a common monetary policy will make European monetary policy especially difficult in the years to come. Such differences arise from a variety of sources, and they cannot be expected to be mere teething troubles that will disappear after a while. Even if they were ignored in the run-up to the EMU, Europe's central bankers and economic policy makers will have to learn how to cope with such differences in the future.

The basic motivation for this book is my lifelong interest in the relationship between political processes and macroeconomic outcomes, especially in the area of monetary policy. Nowadays, monetary policy is an area where political considerations are believed by scholars to regularly impact upon economic results. In contrast, when my interest in this subject began thirty years ago, the scholarly literature on monetary policy hardly ever mentioned systematic political influences. My dissertation at the University of Illinois in 1966 and my first article (in the Joumal of Political Economy in 1967) addressed the modeling and estimation of the concerns that propel monetary policy. In the political and economic turbulence of the period from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, it became clear that the directions taken by monetary policy were changing with some frequency. My research during that period dealt with models of monetary policy. In attempting to measure these changes, it suggested that monetary policy reactions to the state of the economy were not stable over time. During this period I became interested in reforms which might reduce the resulting instability in the economy. For example, my 1972 article in the Joumal of Political Economy suggested systematic penalties Federal Reserve officials who failed to meet the goal of monetary stability by tying their budgets or salaries inversely to the rate of inflation.

Intended as a successor to Monetary Policy and Credit Control (Croom Helm, 1978; Routledge Revivals, 2013), this book, first published in 1982 with a revised edition in 1984, traces the changes in approach to monetary control in the U.K. throughout the 1970s, and the consequences for policy and the British economy. The book considers the widely-publicised proposals for 'reserve base' or 'monetary base' control of the financial system, including a critique of the 1980 Bank of England Green Paper. David Gowland concludes with an analysis of the 1979 Conservative Government's monetary policy. This is a very interesting title, of great relevance to students and academics researching recent British economic history and varying governmental approaches to monetary policy.

The essays in this edited collection, first published in 1986, focus on important debates surrounding the central Marxian problem of the transformation of values into prices. The collection brings together major contributions on the value theory debate from the decade prior to the book's publication, and assesses the debate's significance for wider issues. Value theory emerges as much more than a technical relation between labour time and prices, and the structure of the capitalist economy is scrutinised. This is a relevant and comprehensive work, valuable to students, academics and professionals with an interest in political and Marxist economy.

Japan's economy, once the envy of the world, has recently experienced a period of malaise and stagnation. This is due in part to over-regulation and resistance to change within the Japanese bureaucracy. Many argue that this bureaucracy must be replaced with a system similar to that in the United States, involving ruthless competition, fluid job markets unhindered by notions of lifetime employment, tolerance of business failures, and the elevation of conflict over consensus in economic decision making. The author argues that not only will the bureaucracy, in the form of the Ministry of Finance, retain its position, it will also evolve to be more consistent with the transformed economic system allowing the Japanese economy to recover and retain its important role in the global economy.

The book details the history of the Ministry of Finance and Japan's financial markets since World War II. It describes the economic crisis in Asia and Japan's attempts to transform its bureaucracy to better compete in the global arena. Economists, business practitioners, trade specialists, and anyone interested in Japan's role in the world economy will find this lucid and detailed book an invaluable resource.

Motivated by the recent proliferation of fiscal consolidation episodes in the advent of Monetary Union, this book explains the causes and consequences of fiscal policy in Europe. This book answers three related questions: What explains the timing of fiscal adjustments? What explains their different duration and composition? What are the economic and political consequences of having implemented different adjustment strategies?

This book, first published in 1978, provides an analysis of British monetary policy and considers what techniques of monetary control were most appropriate to the context of the U.K. during the 1970s and 1980s. David Gowland answers crucial questions surrounding economic management in the period between 1971 and 1976, in particular whether rapid monetary expansion was the cause of the acceleration of U.K. inflation. With an analysis of the government's experimentation with policy at its core, this is a unique study which will be of interest to students of monetary policy and recent British economic history.

This book, as a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of one of the fastest-growing industries in China, covers all the most important areas and issues in the country's online lending industry. It includes, but is not limited to, the history of online lending, the scale of the online lending market, the basic business models in and a risk analysis of online lending, the characteristics of typical online-lending borrowers and investors/lenders, the root causes of bankruptcy among failed online lending platforms, a comparative analysis of online lending platforms inside and outside China, the overall ranking of online lending platforms in China and finally, the outlook for the online lending industry in the future. The integration of Internet and finance has, in recent years, been among the most notable topics discussed in the media, the business community and academia, both in China and worldwide. The chapters are supplemented with detailed case studies, which include illustrations and tables and the book combines theoretical analysis with conceptual discussions of and best practices in the online lending industry. It will be of interest to a variety of readers worldwide, including: (1) existing and potential online borrowers; (2) existing and potential online lenders; (3) investors and professionals running online lending platforms; (4) traditional bankers and major shareholders in traditional financial institutions; (5) staff in regulatory government agencies; (6) academics; and (7) the general public.

Rochon and Rossi have made an important contribution to the field of central banking that will be invaluable to both students and faculty alike. The editors were meticulous and diligent in gathering some of the best thinkers on the topic.' - Basil J. Moore, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa'This new Encyclopedia is a most welcome addition, since the tools and the problems of central banking have changed so much with the advent of the global financial crisis. The editors have done a wonderful job in gathering a mix of well-known economists and bright young scholars and practitioners who analyze all the changes that have occurred. The entries provide a pluralistic view of the knowledge that is needed to be an enlightened central banker or a student of central banking.' - Marc Lavoie, University of Ottawa, Canada The Encyclopedia of Central Banking provides definitive and comprehensive encyclopedic coverage on central banking and monetary theory and policy. Containing close to 250 entries from specially commissioned experts in their fields, elements of past and current monetary policies are described and a critical assessment of central bank practices is presented. Since the global financial crisis of 2008-09, all major central banks have intervened to avert the collapse of the global economy, bringing monetary policy to the forefront. Rochon and Rossi give an up to date, critical understanding of central banking, at both theoretical and policy-oriented levels. This Encyclopedia explains the complexity of monetary-policy interventions, their conceptual and institutional frameworks, and their own limits and drawbacks. The reader is provided with the body of knowledge necessary to understand central banks' decisions in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and controversial explanations of the crisis are illuminated from a historical perspective. Academics and students of economics will find this an indispensable reference tool, offering current and necessary insight into central banking and monetary policy. Practitioners in the financial sector will also benefit from this refreshed insight into such a fundamental topic.

This work is a study of the Keynes and Friedman approaches to the institutions which implement monetary and other related policies. The policy of the United States is reviewed, in part, because of the U.S.'s rather central role in developments since World War I. The exchange-rate, reserve, and capital-flow mechanisms of the central banks are discussed from an historical perspective. The major interconnections between money, credit-creating potential of central banks, and fiscal/deficit potential of government are emphasized. The principal central banks considered are the Bank of England, Federal Reserve, and Bundesbank.

Challenges the conventional view that monetarism, or the theory of money, is a necessary part of classical economics and shows, in a historical account of monetary controversy, that the framework upon which classical (and Marxian) analysis is based suggests an alternative account of the inflationary process. A corollary of the argument is that the monetarist approach is a logically necessary component of neoclassical analysis and that any attempt to criticise that approach in a fundamental way must involve an explicit rejection of the conceptual structure of neoclassical economics.

What are the conditions that gave rise to the change in central banks? Without recourse to ideological arguments, Chorafas derives lessons from current economic and financial challenges as well as failures in confronting them. Through this approach, The Changing Role of Central Banks brings into perspective financial, political and social reactions to major economic problems of the last ten years, particularly those pertaining to money and initiatives taken by central banks, and the parallel challenge of bank regulation.

This volume brings together some of the worlds leading economists, to focus primarily on Canadian policy issues and case study debates in honor of David Laidler. The book commemorates his success and active participation in the research and analysis of monetary policy.

Written especially for portfolio managers, financial analysts, and corporate economists, this volume considers the practical implications of government economic policies. The contributors illustrate how incentives and disincentives affect economic behavior and the performance of the economy through an in-depth discussion of monetary, fiscal, and international economic issues. In addition, the authors present a unique top-down approach that enables the reader to trace the impact of government policies through the economy and thereby discover the investment strategies most likely to be successful within a given policy context.

The first section of the book focuses on monetary issues and explores issues related to inflation, likely government intervention mechanisms to control inflation, variants of the monetarist model, interpreting the demand curve, and the development of a portfolio strategy designed to take advantage of anticipated changes in financial variables. The next group of chapters looks at supply-side economics and analyzes the effects of the economic incentives and constraints imposed by government. Particular attention is paid to the effects of taxation policies on equity values, economic growth, and savings. In the third section, the contributors present a supply-side view of selected international economic issues including the relationship between tax rate reductions and foreign exchange rates and the trade balance. The concluding section examines the portfolio strategies that can be derived from the analyses presented in previous chapters. An indispensable resource for finance executives, this book will also be of significant value to graduate students in economics, financial management, and business programs.

The book is an in-depth review of the theory and empirics of the demand for money and other financial assets. The different theoretical approaches to the portfolio choice problem are described, together with an up-to-date survey of the results obtained from empirical studies of asset choice behaviour. Both single-equation studies and the more complete multi-asset portfolio models, are analysed.

This text provides an integrated treatment of financial and operating strategies to exchange rate variability. The book analyzes theory and evidence on strategies for firms in handling exchange rate variability. The choice of price setting currency, when and how to adjust prices, the limitations of hedging and segmentation of national markets are some of the issues analyzed. The book investigates the impact of EMU. The non-technical presentation also makes it well suited to MBA students, practitioners or researchers who want an accessible synthesis of research in this area of economic theory and practice.

Following the acquisition of its sovereignty from the Netherlands in 1949, Indonesia experienced serious economic and political problems during the 1950s and 1960s, before entering a three-decade-long period of rapid economic growth. Hard-hit by the financial crisis of the late 1990s, Indonesia undertook a wide range of economic and financial reforms. These reforms served to prepare it well for the 2007-08 global financial crisis, through which Indonesia passed relatively unscathed.

Drawing on empirical research, this book presents a comprehensive empirical study on the key macroeconomic relations and monetary policy issues in Indonesia. The book analyses monetary, fiscal and exchange-rate policies, looking at their interactions and impacts on the economy. It demonstrates how important macroeconomic management for monetary and financial stability is to sustained national economic growth and development.

Data from the 1970s is compared and contrasted with 1950s data to analyse macroeconomic policies and issues in an historical context. Statistical and econometric techniques are juxtaposed with general empirical results to supplement informative discussion of macroeconomic and monetary developments. This book is a useful contribution to studies on macroeconomics and international development, as well as Southeast Asian studies.

This book represents the revised and enlarged results of a research projeet whieh recieved fmaneial support from the "Wissenschaftsforderung der Sparkassenorganisation e.V." and was originally published in German (Menkhoff 1996). As the issue of monetary poliey instruments for EMU is one whieh is inherently international, the publieation of an English edition is a logieal step. I whish to thank the Deutscher Sparkassenverlag, whieh published the German edition, for eneouraging work on this subsequent projeet. The major innovation in the English edition is the inc1usion of several new seetions, i.e. 3.2.4, 3.3.4, 3.3.5, 3.4.3 and 3.5. These new analyses, together with changing institutional eireumstanees and the addition of new literature have also resulted in a large number of minor ehanges through outthetext. The book is a contribution, from a German perspeetive, to the diseussion about monetary poliey instruments of the future European Central Bank. The main instruments are analyzed from the point of view of effieieney; in addition, the need to harmonize often divergent sets of national poliey instruments means that an emphasis on the additional goal of fair eompeti tion is of partieular relevanee. Last but not least, the explieit linking of EMU to the eoneept of subsidiarity has wide-ranging eonsequenees for monetary poliey instruments."

This volume focuses on the analysis and measurement of business cycles in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). Divided into five parts, it begins with an overview of the main concepts and problems involved in monitoring and forecasting business cycles. Then it highlights the role of BRICS in the global economy and explores the interrelatedness of business cycles within BRICS. In turn, part two provides studies on the historical development of business cycles in the individual BRICS countries and describes the driving forces behind those cycles. Parts three and four present national business tendency surveys and composite cyclical indices for real-time monitoring and forecasting of various BRICS economies, while the final part discusses how the lessons learned in the BRICS countries can be used for the analysis of business cycles and their socio-political consequences in other emerging countries.

This volume is a six-part systematic, comprehensive, and up-to-date presentation, description, and methodological analysis of two hundred and forty-nine tables of statistics and related qualitative evidence on money, banking, and financial services in Chile. Part I, on money, deals with the historical statistics and related qualitative evidence needed to understand the monetary history of Chile from 1749 until the establishment of the Central Bank during 1925-6. Part II, on the banking system, presents information on the assets and liabilities of Chilean commercial banks during 1857-1900 and historical statistics of the Bank of Chile. Part III, on capital markets, contains extensive historical statistics on savings, mortgages, credit, and stocks and bonds, especially for the pre-1930 period. It also includes a description and analysis of credit asphyxia during 1940-1965. Part IV contains monetary statistics according to the old and new definitions of the Central Bank of Chile for the period 1960-1981. Part V contains detailed historical statistics on interest rates and the cost of credit for all or part of the 1848-1984 period. It also presents a theory of financial services which explains the contribution to income by the financial sector and the seeds of a theory of unilateral transfers. Part VI contains historical statistics, qualitative information and analysis of reserve requirements, income velocity of money, and demand for money, as well as a summary and the conclusions of this study.

This work examines the process of development financing through a comparison between some of the less-well-developed Caribbean countries and the More-Developed Commonwealth Caribbean countries of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Hope analyzes the ways in which development financing has been undertaken in the Caribbean countries and draws conclusions about the growth process in general. He focuses primarily on analyzing the available data from the less and more developed Caribbean countries. He also examines the successes and failures of Caribbean development efforts and makes projections for the future.

This book shows how money and banks emerge to efficiently address problems of trust between economic agents. The analysis offers an innovative approach for integrating monetary theory, banking theory, and standard economic theory in a game theoretical framework. The unified perspective of the book contributes to a better understanding of the microeconomic foundations of monetary policy and banking. It emphasizes the importance of trust supported by credible institutional structures in the financial industry.

A decade after the creation of EMU, Italy is still adjusting to the policy environment created by the euro. This book assesses Italy's experience in EMU, identifies the main challenges ahead, outlines key policy issues, and highlights how Italys experience offers lessons for other euro area members.

This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe's current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises's and Friedrich August von Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises's concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, including contributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

By now it has become obvious that Federal Reserve actions have an immense impact on the functioning of our economy. As a result, a great deal of research has been done on the Fed and on monetary policy. Much of this work is normative; it tells us what the Fed should do. Positive work on the Fed has usually tried to elucidate particular Fed policies, and has not tried to present a theory of why the Fed behaves the way it does. The dominant theory of Fed behavior is that the Fed does what it believes to be best for the public welfare. This theory - usually left implicit - is so simple, and seemingly so obviously correct, that it has received widespread credence without extended discussion or tests. When thinking about govern ment in general many observers doubt that it nearly always acts in the public interest. However, they ascribe this unfortunate state of affairs mainly to political pressures. Since the Fed is relatively removed from such pressures, the public interest theory of government seems more applicable to it."