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."

With the rapid growth of China and India and the resurgence of Southeast Asia post-1997 8, emerging Asia has once again become one of the most dynamic regions in the world. This dynamism has in turn been fuelled largely by a carefully calibrated embracement of economic openness to international trade, investments and capital flows. While much has been written about international trade, there has been somewhat less work on the issue of capital flows, macroeconomic management and foreign direct investment (FDI) to and from the region, a gap that this book attempts to fill.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with selected issues pertaining to macroeconomic management in small and open economies, with particular focus on exchange rates. The second part of the book deals with the trends and determinants of FDI in emerging Asia, its importance as a source of finance, its impact on growth and development, and the nexus between FDI and foreign portfolio flows (FPI).

Overall, the chapters in this book tackle important policy issues of contemporary relevance, but are informed by analytical frameworks, data and empirics. While each of the topic areas chosen in individual chapters is intentionally narrow, the book as a whole covers a number of areas and countries/regions within Asia (i.e. East, Southeast and South Asia). While the chapters have been written in a manner that can stand up to academic scrutiny, they are also meant to be accessible to policy makers, researchers and others who might be interested in FDI and related issues in Asia.

It may be possible to claim that, generally speaking, central banks around the world have never before held such a central and well-respected position in their respective countries as they hold now. Their tasks seem to be reasona bly well defined and the mandate given to them to guarantee price stability has so far worked more successfully than was perhaps expected. Inflation is lower than it has been for a long time. One central bank after the other has been given a position independent of normal party political processes. Re search concerning monetary policy and other topics of relevance for central banking has made good progress during the past decade. Much of the mys tique that has typically surrounded the internal work and decision-making of central banks has gradually disappeared. Instead, openness and transparency have become the key words of the day. The communication channels of central banks; speeches, inflation reports, minutes of meetings, etc. receive considerable attention and often give rise to headlines in the media. The en vironment in which central banks work and act today has thus undergone changes that in my view are very positive. However, we should always be on our guard against complacency. It would be most dangerous for central bankers today to sit back and relax in the belief that all of the important problems have been resolved and need no further consideration. Unless central bankers remain constantly alert and vigilant, their policy-making can easily deteriorate."

The drama of the common currency is a hot topic. The Euro was planned for the European Union's member states, bringing economically strong nations like Germany and Holland and weaker nations like Greece, Spain and Italy under one set of currency rules. A dozen years of its implementation has shown that the planning was incomplete at best. Add to this the weight of a deepening debt crisis among western nations, which continues unabated, and Europe has a very deep financial hole to climb out of. In this work, Dimitris N. Chorafas provides the reader with evidence to poor political judgment, then delves into preparation for the foreseeable Euro breakup and confronts the redenomination risk associated to it.

How can we effectively aggregate disparate pieces of information that are spread among many different individuals? In other words, how does one best access the ?wisdom of the crowd Prediction markets, which are essentially speculative markets created for the purpose of aggregating information and making predictions, offer the answer to this question. The effective use of these markets has the potential not only to help forecast future events on a national and international level, but also to assist companies in providing, for example, improved estimates of the potential market size for a new product idea or the launch date of new products and services.

The markets have already been used to forecast uncertain outcomes ranging from influenza outbreaks to the spread of other infectious diseases, to the demand for hospital services, to the box office success of movies, climate change, vote shares and election outcomes, to the probability of meeting project deadlines. The insights gained also have many potentially valuable applications for public policy more generally. These markets offer substantial promise as a tool of information aggregation as well as forecasting, whether alone or as a supplement to other mechanisms like surveys, group deliberations, and expert opinion. Moreover, they can be applied at a macroeconomic and microeconomic level to yield information that is valuable for government and commercial policy-makers and which can be used for a number of social purposes.

This volume of original readings, contributed by many of the leading experts in the field, marks a significant addition to the base of knowledge about this fascinating subject area. The book should appeal to all those with an interest in economics, forecasting or public policy, and in particular those with an interest in the study of money, investment and risk.

The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) encompasses the legislative text and political resolutions regulating fiscal policy and public finances in EMU. The contributions in this volume analyze the institutional, legal, theoretical and empirical aspects of the SGP, examine its development and evaluate its main implications. The authors include academic economists, who provide insightful analysis, and policy makers who have contributed to the shaping of the pact and have a direct responsibility for its implementation. This book is the definitive source of reference on the SGP for academics, policy makes and economists.

Sir Alan Walters ex-chief economic advisor to PM Margaret Thatcher Whether it succeeds or fails, Europe is everyone's concern. The idea of a united Europe has been entertained, even partially at least, achieved, inter alia, CharlemagI e, Napoleon, Hitler, and in our da)' by Spaak, Monet and Chancellor Kohl: the first three by military conquest, the last three by "negotiation" and the creation of integrating institutional arrangements. The motives varied from the twisted paranoia of the Nazis to the idealism of SpaaklMonet/Kohl in avoiding conflicts and wars. Under the protection of NATO the European Coal and Steel Community soon was transformed into the EEC by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The massive reduction of trade barriers, particularly between France and Germany, was rewarded by vigorous growth over the next 15 years. Even as late as 1972, when Britain acceeded to the Treaty of Rome, the EEC was thought to be lar ely a customs union: in de Gaulle eyes the EEC was simply a collection of sovereISJ: l states who cooperated primarily on trade. Each state however enjoyed a veto; deCIsions had to be unanimous.

The European economy is emerging from its deepest recession since the 1930s. This volume, which brings together economic analysis from the European Commission services, explains how swift policy response avoided a financial meltdown; but turning the ongoing recovery into sustained growth requires action on five challenges: boosting potential output, enhancing labour market flexibility, preparing fiscal consolidation, facilitating intra-EU adjustment, and unwinding global imbalances. Europe also needs an improved co-ordinated crisis-management framework to help it respond to any similar situations that may arise in the future. Economic Crisis in Europe shows that the beginnings of such a crisis-management framework are emerging, building on existing institutions and legislation and complemented by new initiatives. Naturally, initial EU policy efforts, such as fiscal stimulus, focused on crisis control and mitigation. But first steps have also been taken to redesign financial regulation and supervision with crisis prevention in mind. The design of crisis resolution policies is now becoming a main task. While any premature withdrawal of policy stimulus should be avoided, exit strategies should be ready for implementation, embedded in a broader policy framework that also includes growth-enhancing structural reforms.

This reissue, first published in 1982, is the first of two volumes on the causes and cure of Stagflation - the two-headed monster that combines mass unemployment with rapid inflation, which affected contemporary economies across the industrially developped world in the 1970s.

Professor Meade outlines the nature of the problem, contrasting the Great Slump of the 1930s with the Great Stagflation of the 1970s and comparing the Orthodox Keynesian and Monetarist approaches with the New Keynesian strategy. Various proposals for the reform of wage-fixing institutions are discussed, including the limitation of trade-union bargaining powers, an official incomes policy, labour management and ownership in business, and tax or subsidy measures to discourage inflationary rises in wages and prices.

The book will be essential reading for all concerned with both the theory and policy of contemporary macroeconomics, industrial relations, labour economics and labour law. It has been written so that the general argument in the main text is accessible to the general reader as well as of interest to the professional economist.

This book explores the new economics of monetary union. It carefully discusses the effects of shocks and policies on output and prices. Shocks and policies are country-specific or common. They occur on the demand or supply side. Countries can differ in behavioural functions. Wages can be fixed, flexible, or slow. In addition, fixed wages and flexible wages can coexist. Take for instance fixed wages in Germany and flexible wages in France. Or take fixed wages in Europe and flexible wages in America. A special feature of this book is the numerical estimation of shock and policy multipliers. Further topics are inflation and disinflation. Take for instance inflation in Germany and price stability in France. Then what policy is needed for disinflation in the union? And what will be the dynamic effects on Germany and France?

First published in 1983, this is the second of two volumes on the causes and cure of stagflation ? that combination of mass unemployment and rapid inflation that is currently afflicting the mixed economies of the industrially developed world. The authors deplore the unemployment due to the failure of governments to adopt Keynesian measures for the expansion of economic activity, but recognise that in present conditions such measures would lead to an unacceptable and explosive inflation of money wages and prices. They therefore advocate a dual strategy of financial policies for a steady expansion of total money incomes combined with individual wage rates set at levels to promote employment.

The book is of importance for all those concerned with macroeconomic theory and policy. The description of the meaning of a New Keynesian policy and of the arguments for it have been written in a way which should be intelligible to policy-makers and students, and not only to economists with technical training. Professional macroeconomists will be interested not only in these sections but also in the fully specified macroeconomic model used to analyse New Keynesian policies in economic terms and to carry out a counterfactual re-running of history. In addition, the unusually detailed exposition of the application of control techniques to a difficult multivariable control problem also makes the book of interest to control engineers who wish to acquaint themselves with recent generalisations of classical frequency response methods.

The single European Market, the Second Banking Directive, relaxation of cross-border capital and funds movements and the possible introduction of a single European currency have led most corporations to adopt new cash management strategies, or to plan for major structural changes in the near future. This book focuses upon treasury and electronic banking practices in European Cash Management. It is based upon research done by 19 leading European Business Schools and practitioners involved in planning, gathering and analysing data and will include discussion of recent themes and issues.

This book provides the first comprehensive and accessible account of the evolution of exchange rate regimes in the twentieth century. It presents a chronological, non-technical history and in doing so manages to link the past with the present to shed new light on the merits of different exchange rate systems.Since the golden age before the First World War, the international monetary system has experienced several changes in exchange rate regimes, alternating between fixed and floating rate systems interspersed with managed or dirty floats. The authors examine and assess the evolution of exchange rate regimes since the First World War to the present day. They discuss the forces that have brought about change in order to determine how different regimes affected the economic environment. They consider the merits or otherwise of the respective regimes and assess the evidence and arguments for and against fixed and floating exchange rate systems. Exchange Rate Regimes in the Twentieth Century provides a coherent and manageable analysis of a complex subject. It will prove invaluable to both undergraduates and postgraduates studying economic history, international economics and international studies.

Until recently the world has been relying on the US dollar and the Euro to lubricate the flow of global trade and finance. A newcomer, the Renminbi (RMB) or Chinese Yuan, joined the global monetary system in 2000. The rise of the RMB is both an indicator and a result of the evolution in the global macro landscape that shifts economic weight from the developed markets, led by Europe, Japan and the US, to the emerging markets, led by China.Research on RMB internationalisation is difficult because events have been unfolding fast, with frequent shifting regulations. Most financial market research is sales-driven, shallow and without serious investigation into the structural underpinning of events. Most crucially, there has been insufficient systematic research on the structural realities behind the RMB internationalisation exercise. No-one has openly questioned the credibility of the RMB as an international currency. This is the first book to address these issues by focusing on the structural factors behind the rise of the RMB. It uses a critical approach, questioning conventional wisdom and the status quo to anslyse China's currency ambition in the post-subprime world. Discussions combine rigorous research thoughts, data, facts and economic logic with real world issues to elaborate on the arguments and make them reader-friendly.

There are now increasing concerns about the need to upgrade public infrastructure, improve the delivery of public services, and explore new options for partnering with the private sector. This book looks at ways of strengthening the efficiency of public investment and managing the fiscal risks of public-private partnerships.

An authoritative examination for top international policymakers and academics conducting monetary policy arising from a conference organised by the Banca d'Italia. The yield curve - the relation among market interest rates of different maturities - is a key benchmark for evaluating investment strategies in the global financial market. To a growing extent, central banks use it to evaluate, explain to the public and monitor the results of policy decisions.

The start of the European monetary union gave additional impetus to the lively debate on the effects of monetary policy and the appropriate strategy for central banks. This book collects papers and comments by leading academics and central bankers such as Otmar. Issing, Melvin. King, Bennett T.. McCallum, Allan H.. Meltzer, Lars E.O. Svensson, and Hans Tietmeyer. The volume examines methodological questions, the actual role played by the financial sectors, and labor markets in implementing monetary policy in Europe, and the likely future developments in these areas.

The five parts of this collection of essays systematically and thoroughly examine the two competing theories of balance of payments and adjustment, namely the Keynesian and the Monetary approaches. Each part deals with specific aspects of the two approaches. Part I surveys the theories behind these two approaches, looking at the presuppositions, main theory, and policy recommendations which they include. Part II examines the empirical literature and describes the numerous models which have been proposed. Part III critiques the two theories on their assumptions, policy advice and empirical modeling. Part IV compares and contrasts the two views, both theoretically and empirically. Empirical studies on different countries are performed to emphasize the differing set of accounts and variables of the two approaches. Part V considers the approaches in a regime of flexible exchange rates. Scholars, students and researchers will find this collection of great help in understanding the two approaches to balance of payments and adjustment.

First published in 1913, this Routledge Revivals title reissues J. A. Hobson's seminal analysis of the causal link between the rise in gold prices and the increase in wages and consumer buying power in the early years of the Twentieth Century. Contrary to the assertions of some notable contemporary economists and businessmen, Hobson contended that the relationship between gold prices and wages (and the resulting social unrest across much of Europe) was in fact much more complex than it initially appeared and that there were significantly more important factors in the rise of contemporary wealth, such as the rapid enlargement of state enterprise and joint stock companies; a wide extension of banking and general financial apparatus; and the opening of profitable fields of investment for the development of underdeveloped countries, which helped raise the rate of interest and profits.

This volume addresses the attractiveness of financial centers with a primary focus on the mutual fund industry. It uses different empirical analysis approaches in an attempt to disentangle the reasons for location attractiveness and in order to identify its influence on fund pricing. The presented research tackles an issue that is fundamental to the understanding of organizational behavior in finance - the rationale in the decision-making process of market participants and its consequences for an economy.

This set reprints three classic volumes on Jeremy Bentham's economic writings. Before these volumes were published a great deal of Jeremy Bentham's economic work was completely unknown. All three volumes contain historical introductions and collections of passages from Bentham's non-economic writings which illustrate his views on economics as a science and the problems of methodology.
First published by George Allen & Unwin in the 1950s.

In recent years, there has been a surge in social movement theorizing known as the contentious politics approach to studying political protest activity. In 2002, a conference sponsored by the Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association was held at the University of Notre Dame to consider, in part, this development in field. But the conference organizers also wanted to consider more broadly what we collectively consider to be social movement research and theorizing. In part, this means moving beyond a state-centered view of contentious politics and toward a more open definition of what might be fruitfully examined by social movement theories - and in turn what might inform those theories even as we use then in more traditional social movement arenas. This volume represents some of the fruits of that conference and includes four sections that defines social movement authorities challenges beyond state targets, expands our notions of what constitutes repression of social movement activity, examines challenges to cultural authorities and processes, and illustrates the broader notions of authority challenge in three case studies of corporate systems. With this volume, "Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change" celebrates its 25th anniversary and a history of publishing important, leading edge research and theorizing in the areas pf protest, social conflict, and political change.

The leading researchers from central banks and universities around the world debate issues central to the performance of Divisia monetary aggregates both in theory and in practice. The overall conclusion is that Divisia monetary aggregates outperform their simple sum counterparts in a wide range of applications the world over. The book is the first volume-length study of empirical data and theoretical research on the subject.