This book examines the history of what became one of Portugal's largest banks, the Caixa Geral de Depositos. The bank was founded in 1876 by the state to run public deposits, and evolved into a savings bank, catering for both public and private deposits. Its history goes beyond the history of banking, as it ties in with the role of the state in the banking sector and financial markets. The book weaves in and out of different political and international contexts, following the many changes of the Portuguese political regime and of its interactions with the national and international economy. The most important lesson from the study is that publicly owned institutions can compete successfully with the private sector when they simultaneously cater for the interests of policy makers as well as those of the public, in this case, the depositors. The history of the Caixa Geral de Depositos therefore shows how the state of a peripheral economy is capable of successfully managing a large financial institution when the right set of incentives is in place. This work will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of financial and economic history at both the advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It will also provide interesting insights for practitioners in the financial sector.

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.

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.

Assessing the potential benefits and risks of a currency union Leaders of the fifteen-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have set a goal of achieving a monetary and currency union by late 2020. Although some progress has been made toward achieving this ambitious goal, major challenges remain if the region is to realize the necessary macroeconomic convergence and establish the required institutional framework in a relatively short period of time. The proposed union offers many potential benefits, especially for countries with historically high inflation rates and weak central banks. But, as implementation of the euro over the past two decades has shown, folding multiple currencies, representing disparate economies, into a common union comes with significant costs, along with operational challenges and transitional risks. All these potential negatives must be considered carefully by ECOWAS leaders seeking to meet a self-imposed deadline. This book, by two leading experts on economics and Africa, makes a significant analytical contribution to the debates now under way about how ECOWAS could achieve and manage its currency union, and the ramifications for the African continent.

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 introduces readers to the world of international financial markets and their integration on a global and regional scale. The author presents the theoretical and practical issues concerning the processes of financial market integration, with a particular focus on the monetary union. The empirical research results are based on econometric modeling, thus simplifying them for a non-specialist audience, who can instead concentrate on the author's conclusions, which comprise the results of these complicated research methods. The author outlines the role and functions of financial markets in the economy, in particular the relationship between financial intermediaries and financial markets and tackles the question of integration of new EU member countries' financial markets within the eurozone. The integration of financial markets in an international context is inevitable, and the author argues that we must learn how to benefit from it from in terms of economic growth. This book will be a valuable resource for students of economics and finance, particularly those studying financial management and international business and finance, as well as professionals in these fields. Further, this book will be of interest to anyone looking to discover more about the problems of globalization and the integration of financial markets into the modern economy.

This book is a Festschrift to Annamaria Simonazzi and embraces the themes that she has contributed to over the years through her insightful and inspiring works. It brings together contributions from a number of distinguished European economists, which pay tribute to her by engaging in a dialogue with her research, simultaneously reflecting on the process of growing economic disintegration in the European Union, its causes and its possible remedies. The book shows the deep interrelations between macroeconomic issues and the social sphere, and points to the need to rethink the very foundations of European economic policies as an effective antidote to growing imbalances and disintegration. In particular, the effects of austerity are assessed alongside the dimensions of inequality, gender discrimination, poverty, and unemployment, broadening the perspective also beyond the Eurozone. The authors envision a progressive society, in which investments in research and intelligent industrial policies govern the processes of technological change and drive the economy towards a more efficient and more equal model of development characterized by high productivity and high wages. While some chapters deal directly with policy issues, policy suggestions and proposals are scattered throughout the whole book. This volume will appeal to academics, economists, and policy-makers interested in understanding the policy response of European institutions to the challenges posed by both the Great Recession and subsequent developments in the European economies. The book is written in an engaging and accessible way, and the themes are broad enough to generate interest from the international public.

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.

The Korean Economy: From Growth to Maturity takes an in-depth, amalgamated look at the evolution of Korea's globalization drive from the early 2000s (Kim Dae-jung regime, 1998-2003) to the present period (Park Geun-hye, 2013-2017). The book discusses the role of foreign companies on the sustainability of Korea's economic growth, the relationship between the chaebol and the MNCs, the evolution of Korea's nation brand, and the role of the state in Korea's new economic trajectory (globalization) since the 2000s. With data collected from fieldwork, the book provides both empirical and qualitative insights (economic, socio-cultural and political economic analysis) into the Korean political economy and would be a very useful reference to other emerging economies experiencing similar globalization paths.

This book aims at addressing the emergence of a 'new consensus in macroeconomics' (NCM), following the end of the 'old consensus' and the 'golden age' period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the spur of the 'schools of thought' controversies thereafter. The book deals not only with the question of whether a consensus has actually emerged, but also elaborates on the many aspects of this new consensus that exercised macroeconomics over the recent past.

Under the new world order, Japan's international business activity is being organized through tight networks that link banks, industrial corporations and trading companies and that are displacing their main domestic problems onto Asia. This book argues that since the US and Europe are refusing to fulfil that function, Japan is forming a new three-zone strategy in which production, marketing and finance are tightly co-ordinated within each zone but in which there is also an overall shift away from North America and Europe towards Asia.

Digital technology has revitalized the landscape of the global economy. As digital currency, such as bitcoin and IOTA, continues to become more prominent in society, conducting further research in this area is vital to promoting economic advancements. Digital Currency: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is a critical source of academic knowledge on the use of computers, smartphones, and the internet to purchase goods and services using virtual currency. The security and privacy aspects of using digital currency are also explored. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics such as electronic commerce, online transaction payment, and web-based electronic money, this book is an ideal reference source for business executives, financial analysts, business professionals, economists, IT professionals, and researchers interested in emerging trends in digital currency and finance.

Gain a thorough insight into the business of banking Introduction to Banking, 3rd edition, by Casu, Girardone and Molyneux offers an in-depth overview of the theoretical and applied issues in the global banking industry. Organised into five sections, it covers contemporary topics in banking, ranging from central banking and bank regulation, to bank management and corporate governance, providing the most up-to-date information on banking practice. The new edition discusses the developments contributing to the rapid transformation of the banking sector, such as digitalisation of banking and emergence of non-bank providers, the growing importance of sustainable banking, the FinTech boom, the impact of Covid-19 on banking services, structural and regulatory changes in the banking industry, and the growth of Islamic banking. Suitable for all undergraduate students taking a course in banking as well as professionals entering this industry, this text also provides background reading for postgraduate students on more advanced topics in banking. "I truly welcome this thoroughly revised edition of the Introduction to Banking textbook. Its authors are world-class scholars who on a daily basis research a wide array of highly relevant banking topics and maintain many close contacts with the commercial and central banking community. I can see no better guides to lead undergraduates into the fascinating (and at times bewildering) banking landscape." Steven Ongena, Professor of Banking, University of Zurich, Swiss Finance Institute and CEPR About the authors: Barbara Casu is the Director of the Centre for Banking Research at Bayes Business School, City, University of London where she is Professor of Banking and Finance. Claudia Girardone is Professor of Banking and Finance, Director of Essex Finance Centre (EFiC) and the Essex Business School's Director of Research. Philip Molyneux is Emeritus Professor at Bangor University. Pearson, the world's learning company

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.

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.

This two volume set reprints 28 papers on fiscal and monetary policy interpreted broadly enough to include such issues as the effects of government debt and intergenerational accounting. It emphasizes problems that are not specific to a particular country but are relevant for all developed market economies. Fiscal and Monetary Policy is divided into three parts; the first deals with the problems that are common to both fiscal and monetary policies; the second deals with fiscal policy and the third with monetary policy.Fiscal and Monetary Policy includes important articles on the effects of lags on the feasibility of stabilization policy, time inconsistency, the motivation of monetary and fiscal authorities, the Lucas critique, Ricardian equivalence, the choice of monetary targets, feedback rules, international aspects of monetary policy and the appropriate role of government in the monetary system.

In the long aftermath of the acute global financial crisis of 2008/09, the need to get economies back on track and to handle high levels of public and private debt has created conflicting objectives. Challenges yet to be mastered are the need to avoid counterproductive measures of adjustment and the persistent need to 'rebalance' the economy with new sources of growth and productivity. Hence, there is an urgent requirement for policies to reverse the decline in public and private investment, and to fuel innovation.These needs, and the corresponding policy challenges, are especially prevalent in Europe, in particular Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. On this issue, this book contributes important lessons learned from earlier balance sheet recessions. It also addresses the often overlooked link between macroeconomic imbalances and economic inequality. A mix of contributions from academics and policy-makers focus on the interaction between monetary policy and financial stability, adding regional perspectives to the resulting dilemmas and trade-offs. This book is essential reading for the study of economics in emerging economies. Contributors: T. Beck, M. Belka, S. Chakrabarti, D. Daianu, J.B. DeLong, N. Fabris, M. Gachter, M. Geiger, F. Glotzl, D. Gros, M. Holzner, J. in 't Veld, R.C. Koo, R. Kuodis, E. Nowotny, P. Pontuch, R. Raciborski, L. Reichlin, D. Ritzberger-Grunwald, H. Schuberth, M. Singer, L.E.O. Svensson, T. van Treeck

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.

This account of monetary regimes since 1900 shows how the role of policy has changed, and how this has related to experience of inflation and the real economy, as well as to changes in political philosophies. The narrative concentrates on developments in America, Europe and Japan from the era of the classical gold standard, via the era of policy intervention and reduced faith in the market to the present "neo-liberal" regimes. It is argued that no school of macroeconomics is right for all time; different theoretical models may be appropriate.

This book delves into the many innovative changes that the financial industry has undergone in recent years. The authors investigate these developments in a holistic manner and from a wide range of perspectives: both public and private, business and consumer, regulators and supervisors. Initially, they set the framework of their analysis by discussing innovation cycles in financial services. Thereafter, they tackle the issue of financial innovations and their consequences for financial stability. They then review the new approaches to financial consumers' protection, which emerged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The authors underline the fact that this new approach is heavily influenced by the recent innovative drive in the financial industry. Next, they switch their attention to the public sector, examining the innovative processes in monetary policy and central banks, structural innovations in the supervisory models and systems, and they assess some specific supervisory challenges regarding blockchain and the application of mathematics in the supervisory capacity. Additionally, the book examines a range of issues related to the private sector, such as recent developments regarding risk transferring mechanisms on the financial market, artificial intelligence and natural language processing for regulatory filings, the development of process management in insurance companies and other innovative products on the market. Finally, Innovation in Financial Services discusses how the digital transformation of the financial system impacts the interaction between the public and private sectors. The book is intended for graduate and postgraduate level students, researchers, public sector officers, as well as financial sector practitioners.

The econometric consequences of nonstationary data have wide ranging im plications for empirical research in economics. Specifically, these issues have implications for the study of empirical relations such as a money demand func tion that links macroeconomic aggregates: real money balances, real income and a nominal interest rate. Traditional monetary theory predicts that these nonsta tionary series form a cointegrating relation and accordingly, that the dynamics of a vector process comprised of these variables generates distinct patterns. Re cent econometric developments designed to cope with nonstationarities have changed the course of empirical research in the area, but many fundamental challenges, for example the issue of identification, remain. This book represents the efforts undertaken by the authors in recent years in an effort to determine the consequences that nonstationarity has for the study of aggregate money demand relations. We have brought together an empirical methodology that we find useful in conducting empirical research. Some of the work was undertaken during the authors' sabbatical periods and we wish to acknowledge the generous support of Arizona State University and Michigan State University respectively. Professor Hoffman wishes to acknowledge the support of the Fulbright-Hays Foundation that supported sabbattical research in Europe and separate support of the Council of 100 Summer Research Program at Arizona State University."

Monetary Stability through International Cooperation contains essays written by high ranking policy makers in the field of central banking and international finance, written in honour of Andre Szasz, who has been Executive Director of De Nederlandsche Bank since 1973, responsible for international monetary relations. Colleagues from several other central banks, from finance ministries and from international institutions pay tribute to him by analysing the conditions fostering European as well as global monetary stability. The book provides an inside view of the thinking of monetary officials at the turn of 1993/1994, when the currency turmoil in the ERM of mid-1993 had subsided and views on its implications for exchange rate management and, more generally, for European integration were taking shape. Topics include exchange rate stabilisation, policy coordination and central bank independence. A second section, on the international monetary system, includes essays on the policy implications of present day dynamic financial markets as well as the role of the IMF. This book, written by insiders for an insider', provides valuable insights to those who are interested in contemporary international monetary relations. "

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.

The object of this volume is to evaluate the pattern and the function of foreign capital in developing countries in a long perspective. The main conceptual instruments employed are the theory of economic growth, and the techniques associated with recent advances in growth econometrics. Empirical work points out that there is no mechanical trade-off between the short-term dangers and the long-run gains from capital market integration, but the growth benefits of foreign capital in transforming economies are conditional on an effective destination of the resources. Over-borrowing and excessive consumption are the main pitfalls in the short as in the long run. Nevertheless, foreign capital can be conducive of faster growth and possibly higher welfare.