Is structured finance dead? Many have asked this question after the financial crisis. Or is structured finance evil and therefore should it be dead? This book suggests neither nor. Even if structured finance can be misused or applied under inappropriate conditions, it can also be an effective tool for reaching development objectives. The authors in this volume focus on the potential of structured finance in the aftermath of the financial crisis. They explore the conditions under which structured finance is suitable for emerging markets highlighting both its benefits and risks. The book combines professional and scientific perspectives and points towards various useful applications of structured finance in support of small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance. This also includes activities as diverse as infrastructure development, remittances, rural livelihood, and Shari ah-compliant Islamic finance.

The author examines the theory and practice of government interventions in the financial sector of two newly industrializing countries, Brazil and South Korea. Findings from this study help to explain the widespread use of such interventions despite the generally negative predictions (of inefficiencies and general failure) which derive from more prominent and traditional theories. This work contributes a political-economic exploration of how, when, and what kinds of financial regulations can be successful. Historical and institutional analysis of the use of capital controls, credit controls, and economic planning in Brazil and the Republic of Korea illuminate the ways in which strategic use of specific financial controls facilitate these countries's efforts to industrialize rapidly, and solve the problems of capital creation, productivity, preservation, and disciplined management.

The various dimensions of the changes to the EC budget induced by Maastricht are explored in this volume. Based on the theory of fiscal federalism, this book discusses important aspects of multilayer government finance for existing federations: Australia, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Paul Bernd Spahn sketches the effects of an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) onto the Community budget, and a systematic treatment of revenue instruments for its future financing concludes the analysis. The main emphasis of the work is on revenue raising for the EC under EMU.

This addition to the ISOR series introduces complementarity models in a straightforward and approachable manner and uses them to carry out an in-depth analysis of energy markets, including formulation issues and solution techniques. In a nutshell, complementarity models generalize: a. optimization problems via their Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions b. on-cooperative games in which each player may be solving a separate but related optimization problem with potentially overall system constraints (e.g., market-clearing conditions) c. conomic and engineering problems that aren't specifically derived from optimization problems (e.g., spatial price equilibria) d. roblems in which both primal and dual variables (prices) appear in the original formulation (e.g., The National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) or its precursor, PIES). As such, complementarity models are a very general and flexible modeling format. A natural question is why concentrate on energy markets for this complementarity approach? s it turns out, energy or other markets that have game theoretic aspects are best modeled by complementarity problems. The reason is that the traditional perfect competition approach no longer applies due to deregulation and restructuring of these markets and thus the corresponding optimization problems may no longer hold. Also, in some instances it is important in the original model formulation to involve both primal variables (e.g., production) as well as dual variables (e.g., market prices) for public and private sector energy planning. Traditional optimization problems can not directly handle this mixing of primal and dual variables but complementarity models can and this makes them all that more effective for decision-makers.

In this volume, Louis-Philippe Rochon and Hassan Bougrine bring together key post-Keynesian voices in an effort to push the boundaries of our understanding of banks, central banking, monetary policy and endogenous money. Issues such as interest rates, income distribution, stagnation and crises - both theoretical and empirical - are woven together and analysed by the many contributors to shed new light on them. The result is an alternative analysis of contemporary monetary economies, and the policies that are so needed to address the problems of today. Students and professors of economics, policymakers interested in alternative policies, academics and scholars in all fields will benefit from the explorations therein, and would also appreciate the companion publication, Economic Growth and Macroeconomic Stabilization Policies in Post-Keynesian Economics, also published by Edward Elgar Publishing. Contributors include: R. Bellofiore, H. Bougrine, J. Chen, L. Cordonnier, E. Correa, S. Dow, T. Ferguson, G. Fontana, C. Gnos, R. Guttmann, P.D. Jorgensen, P. Kriesler, E. Le Heron, J. Leclaire, V. Monvoisin, A. Parguez, E. Perez Caldentey, P. Petit, J.-F. Ponsot, L.-P. Rochon, S. Rossi, S. Thabet, J. Toporowski, M. Vernengo

If the plans concerning EMU will be realised, by 2002 national currencies will be replaced by the Euro and national central banks will be partially replaced by the European Central Bank. The Politics of Economic and Monetary Union starts with the argument that EMU is more a political than an economic project. It develops this theme by addressing five different questions. First, precisely what is the general role of EMU in the globalising political economy? Second, how EMU will change the power relations and the relationship between political' and economic'? Third, what effects will EMU have on generally accepted values - including for example efficiency, self-determination, and democracy? Fourth, how does the EMU-related politics of symbols - including money - take part in constructing political identities? And last, but certainly not least, what effects EMU will have on the social and political dimension of the Union and thus also on its legitimacy? The politics of EMU includes many dimensions. The book tries to explain the hegemony of the neoliberal and German vision of Europe in the context of recent development in the global political economy. It assesses the consequences of this hegemony and the possibility for alternatives from a variety of perspectives. In many chapters, it is also argued that the legitimation problems of the Union may turn into an acute crisis also because of EMU. We should expect an actualised crisis to lead to a transformation of the Union.

The present book avoids the fantasy recipes that abound in technical analysis and focuses instead on those that are statistically correct and can be understood by newcomers as well as appreciated by professionals. The described protocols and techniques will prove invaluable in analyzing market behavior and assisting in trading decisions.

The algorithms used in the technical analysis of financial markets have changed beyond recognition.This book offersa more efficient technical analysis - one that is not satisfied with protocols that just seem to be fine, but which requires that they are indeed fine, verifying this through simulations on the PC, serious statistical counts, and so on. "

This volume integrates financial theory, particularly financial contracting theory, into macroeconomics. The role of financial contracts in reducing the conflict between the various factors of production within the firm is described, particularly their influence upon the pricing, employment, production, and financing decisions of firms during various stages of the business cycle. Dr. Krainer takes an unconventional approach to the subject of financial institutions and markets: by applying financial theory to macroeconomic topics, he portrays a different view of how the financial system interacts with the economy.

In all countries debt and deficits of the public sector are at the heart of economic policy debate. Debt and deficits pose major problems, all the more pressing in Europe because of the Maastricht criteria for entry into European Monetary Union. And in the developing world debt has been associated with major financial crises. This volume, arising from an International Economic Association conference at the Bundesbank, sees academics and policy makers debate the key issues and their implications in theory and practice.

The combined collapse of Iceland's three largest banks in 2008 is the third largest bankruptcy in history and the largest banking system collapse suffered by any country in modern economic history, relative to GDP. How could tiny Iceland build a banking system in less than a decade that proportionally exceeded Switzerland's? Why did the bankers decide to grow the system so fast? How did businesses tunnel money out of the banking system? And why didn't anybody stop them? Bringing Down the Banking System answers these questions. Gudrun Johnsen, Senior Researcher with Iceland's Special Investigation Commission, tells the riveting story of the rise and fall of the Icelandic banking system, describes the commission's findings on the damaging effects of holding company cross-ownership, and explains what we can learn from it all.

Why did France, with its strong sense of national identity, want to give up the Franc for the Euro? This book, by a former British diplomat in Paris, draws on new archive evidence to explore France's drive for European Economic and Monetary Union, and how unresolved Franco-German tensions over its design led to crisis.

Hassan Bougrine, Louis-Philippe Rochon and the expert contributors to this book explore issues of economic growth and full employment; presenting a clear explanation to stagnation, recessions and crises, including the latest Global Financial Crisis of 2007-8. With a central focus on the role played by government spending, deficits and debt as well as the setting of interest rates, the chapters propose alternative policies that can be used by central banks and fiscal authorities to deal with problems of income inequality, unemployment and slow productivity. Students and professors of economics, policymakers interested in alternative policies, academics and scholars in all fields will benefit from the explorations therein and would do well to seek out the companion publication, Credit, Money and Crises in Post-Keynesian Economics, also published by Edward Elgar Publishing. Contributors include: P. Arestis, R.A. Blecker, S. Cesaratto, O. Costantini, J.J. da Silveira, M. Dufour, A.K. Dutt, G. Epstein, G. Fujii-Gambero, M. Garcia-Ramos, J. Halevi-Haifa, G.C. Harcourt, E. Hein, E. Kam, J.E. King, P. Kriesler, G.T. Lima, J.A. Montecino, T.I. Palley, F.J. Prante, M. Sawyer, M. Setterfield, J. Smithin, J. Stanford, S. Storm

"Central bankers worldwide welcome the recent increase of research on payment systems. This volume, providing an expert overview on this timely subject, should be required reading for us all". - Erkki Liikanen, Governor of the Bank of Finland Monetary policy has been at the centre of economic research from the early stages of economic thought, but payment system research has attracted increased academic attention only in the past decade. This book's succeeds in merging these two so far largely separated fields. Innovative and groundbreaking, Schmitz and Woods initiate research on the interdependence of institutional change in the payments system and monetary policy, examining the different channels via which payment systems affect monetary policy. It explores important themes such as: conceptualization and methods of analysis of institutional change in the payments system determinants of institutional change in the payments system - political-economy versus technology empirics of institutional change in the retail and in the wholesale payments systems - policy initiatives and new technologies in the payments system implications of institutional change in the payments system for monetary policy and the instruments available to central banks to cope with it. The result is an accessible overview of conceptual and methodological approaches to institutional change in payment systems, and a comprehensive and yet thorough assessment of its implications for monetary policy. The insights this timely book provides will be invaluable for researchers and practitioners in the field of monetary economics.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the problems that the current working of capital markets are generating on both developed and developing economies. It pays special attention to the reasons explaining the unstable and volatile working of international financial markets and to the consequences of that behaviour on both the economic performance of the involved countries and on the economic policies implemented.

The formulation of a common European monetary policy offers an important challenge to policymakers both in Europe and around the globe. The analysis of monetary transmission mechanisms in Europe, and the US, provides insights of great importance as the institutional environment of monetary policy changes. Historically, it has been proved difficult to empirically establish the effects of monetary policy measures on the economy. This study of the monetary transmission mechanism pays close attention to the role of financial markets in the transmission process. The author analyses aspects of monetary transmission, such as interest rates and exchange rates, with evidence from several European countries including the Netherlands, UK and Germany as well as from the US. This research on monetary transmission greatly increases our understanding of the effect, or ineffectiveness, of monetary policy on economies in general. The author presents a comprehensive discussion of the outcomes of empirical research along with an extensive survey of the literature and a discussion of the methods used, since interest in the subject was renewed in the 1980s. This work will be invaluable to policymakers in central banks and government ministries as well as academic researchers and economists alike.

Looking at historical cross-country interactions, this book examines the role of the US in the world economy. Illustrating that US shocks tend to have a global nature and that Monetary Union only partially shelters the Euro area from its external environment, the book argues that the US should fully assume its responsibility, minimizing shock transmission.

Money and the Space Economy Contributor list Pietro Alessandrini Leslie Budd Gordon Clark Sheila Dow Richard T. Harrison Alan Hudson Roger Lee Colin Mason Jane Pollard David J. Porteous Barney Warf Neil Wrigley Alberto Zazzaro Money is central to understanding the space economy. Not only does money itself have its own geographies, but these in turn help to shape the geographies of economic activity more generally. Across the global economy banking systems and money markets are being restructured. A new economic geography of money and finance is emerging, reflecting, among other things, the momentous changes that are taking place in the world's financial systems, particularly the impact of globalisation, deregulation, privatisation and technological change. Money and the Space Economy brings together leading geographers and economists working on money to highlight the changing geographies of banking, the forces underpinning and threatening international financial centres, the relationship between financial systems, business and the local economy, and the financial causes and consequences of the retreat of the state. With case studies drawn from United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, Money and the Space Economy redraws the map of local, regional, national and international financial spaces. Economic Geography/Business/Finance/Social Science

This volume contains the proceedings of a conference held in 1990 on the theme of Exchange Rate Regimes and Currency Unions. The papers are all devoted to theoretical and empirical analyses of systems of fixed and flexible exchange rates, to the role of central bank behaviour and other government policies in such systems, to the prospects, workings and effects of a European monetary system, and to topics of capital mobility and economic integration in general.

This book pulls together papers presented at a conference in honour of the 1981 Nobel Prize Winner for Economic Science, the late James Tobin. Among the contributors are Olivier Blanchard, Edmund Phelps, Charles Goodhart and Marco Buti. One of the main aims of the conference was to discuss what potential role monetary policy has on economic activity and unemployment reduction in three key currency zones - the United States, European Union and Japan.

This research review assesses the ground-breaking contributions to the evolution of knowledge in the economics of risk and time, from its early twentieth-century explorations to its current diversity of approaches. The analysis focuses first on the basic decisions under uncertainty, and then on asset pricing. It further discusses both classical expected utility approach and its non-expected utility generalizations, with applications to dynamic portfolio choices, insurance, risk sharing, and risk prevention. This review will be valuable for scholars in finance and macroeconomics, particularly those with an interest in the modeling foundations of consumer and investor decisions under uncertainty.