Productivity varies widely between industries and countries, but even more so across individual firms within the same sectors. The challenge for governments is to strike the right balance between policies designed to increase overall productivity and policies designed to promote the reallocation of resources towards firms that could use them more effectively. The aim of this book is to provide the empirical evidence necessary in order to strike this policy balance. The authors do so by using a micro-aggregated dataset for 20 EU economies produced by CompNet, the Competitiveness Research Network, established some 10 years ago among major European institutions and a number of EU productivity boards, National Central Banks, National Statistical institutes, as well as academic Institutions. They call for pan-EU initiatives involving statistical offices and scholars to achieve a truly complete EU market for firm-level information on which to build solidly founded economic policies.

Adair Turner became chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority just as the global financial crisis struck in 2008, and he played a leading role in redesigning global financial regulation. In this eye-opening book, he sets the record straight about what really caused the crisis. It didn't happen because banks are too big to fail--our addiction to private debt is to blame. Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth--but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money--the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money. Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.

Everybody uses money every day, but we rarely stop to think about how money works. In this book, scholars from different disciplines seek to answer that question; from historians to economists, sociologists, a philosopher and a physicist. Money works as a social construction because we have mutual expectations that support its use -- despite the seeming irrationality of trading valuable things or doing strenuous work for pieces of paper or numbers in accounts. Recently, there has been a revival of interest in monetary theory, not least because the impacts of globalizing markets and of new communication and information technologies have changed the forms of money. The deep crisis of the financial system has demonstrated the importance of a functioning monetary system and although renewed interest in this has led to significant contributions in various fields, it remains true that no social science discipline on its own is sufficiently equipped to explain the basic workings of monetary systems, their rapid innovation and their effects on social, economic and political structures. The contributors to this book report on their latest research on the origins of money, on the nature of monetary transactions, on money and the state, and on the role of money and finance in the recent global crisis. They show how established theories of money and the policies guided by these theories went wrong. This collection will be a valuable resource for students and researchers seeking a deeper understanding of money.

Monetary policy in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries remains an understudied area; this book fills an important gap by examining monetary policy frameworks and monetary policy strategies in the region. Building on the editors' earlier book, Monetary Policy and Central Banking in the Middle East and North Africa, which focused on central bank independence issues and on exchange rate regimes, this book emphasises monetary policy strategies. Part I contains an overview of the financial markets and institutions which condition the choice of monetary policy strategy in the countries of the region, followed by single-country studies on aspects of the monetary policy frameworks of Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Territory and Turkey. Part II includes analyses of the prospects for inflation targeting in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, of the monetary transmission mechanism in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, of the relative advantages of inflation targeting and exchange rate fixity with reference to Egypt, of the problem of fiscal dominance in Egypt, and of the inflationary implications of exchange rate fixity for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The contributors are experts from universities inside and outside the MENA region, from central banks in the region and from outside institutions such as the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

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

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 study provides a comprehensive account and reconsideration of the contribution to political economy of Thomas Tooke (1774-1858). It clarifies Tooke's monetary thought and its legacy to modern economics. The study shows Tooke possessed a rich and extensive political economy, covering many aspects of economic activity relevant to key policy issues. Tooke's political economy is shown to be a unified and coherent body of intellectual thought in the classical tradition which, like most of his nineteenth-century contemporaries, was much influenced by Adam Smith's economics. More particularly, Tooke's monetary thought, especially his novel banking school theory, is shown to be theoretically coherent from the standpoint of nineteenth-century classical economics. It is also shown that besides contributing toward a better understanding of the behaviour of monetary systems in general, key elements of Tooke's banking school theory make an important contribution to explaining distribution, growth and price inflation in modern economics.

Forrest Capie is an eminent economic historian who has published extensively on a wide range of topics, with an emphasis on banking and monetary history, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also in other areas such as tariffs and the interwar economy. He is also a former editor of the Economic History Review, one of the leading academic journals in this discipline. This book comprises a collection of papers by eminent scholars in the fields of historiography, banking, monetary economics both domestic and international, and tariff theory and policy, all areas to which Forrest Capie, in whose honour this book was produced, has made major contributions. Under the editorship of Geoffrey Wood, Terence Mills and Nicholas Crafts, this book brings together a stellar line of contributors - including Charles Goodhart, Harold James, Michael Bordo, Barry Eichengreen and Charles Calomiris. The book analyses many of the mainstream themes in economic and financial history - monetary policy, international financial regulation, economic performance, exchange rate systems, international trade, banking and financial markets - where historical perspectives are considered important. The current wave of globalisation has stimulated interest in many of these areas as 'lessons of history' are sought. These themes also reflect the breadth of Capie's work in terms of time periods and topics. This expertly written book contain original scholarly work, often with new empirical results, and will be of interest to Economics postgraduates and researchers, particularly those focussing on monetary economics, banking and economic history, as well as to Central Bankers and trade negotiators.

In the crises of the past fifteen years, central bankers have become big public players in a drama that affects all our lives, involving financial market crashes, public health threats and devastating economic downturns. Having played a lead role in the global financial crisis and the coronavirus crisis, they are now being asked to broaden their appeal. But the key aim has always been one of simply ensuring monetary and financial stability. In this book, NIESR director Jagjit Chadha unpacks the world of central banking, explaining in accessible language the analytical techniques, policy toolkits or simple story-telling that they use to understand the economy, to implement monetary policy and to communicate their decisions to key decision-makers and the wider public.

The Eurozone is not a mere currency area. It is also a unique polity whose actors span multiple levels (supranational, national, regional, sectoral) and pursue overlapping economic and political objectives. Current thinking on the Eurozone relies on received categories that struggle to capture these constitutive features. This book addresses this analytical deficit by proposing a new approach to the political economy of the Eurozone, which captures economic and political interdependencies across different levels of decision making and sheds light on largely unexplored problems. The book explores the opportunities afforded by the structure of the Eurozone, and lays the foundations of a political economy that poses new questions and requires new answers. It provides categories that are firmly grounded in the existing configuration of the Eurozone, but are a precondition for overcoming the status quo in analysis and policy.

This study is among the first to examine the theory and practice of monetary policy in South Korea. Woosik Moon provides a detailed analysis of the central bank of South Korea, one of the most successful and important economies in Asia. He covers everything from monetary policy to inflation targeting and macroprudential regulation, explaining how these policy tools were used to deal with the aftermath of the 2007-2011 financial crisis. He then brings his study into our current moment, speculating as to how the use of these policies will change in order to deal with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. This book offers in-depth investigations and the provision of the most up-to-date information about the Bank of Korea's monetary and financial actions, serving as essential reading for central bankers and professionals of financial markets around the world, as well as anyone interested in monetary policy-making.

As a world economy emerged from the 16th-17th centuries onwards, a global cashless payment system arose. This had its base in Europe, first in Italy, then in the rising regions of the north-west, with Amsterdam and then London as the central financial market. The mutual quotation of exchange rates, which provide the data tabulated and analysed here, mark the integration into a global network of all areas with significant economic potential. The primary aim of this book is to provide a compact account of the exchange rates in all these financial markets, from the late 16th century up to the First World War. This makes possible an instant conversion between the major world currencies at nearly any date within that period, while the important introduction provides the explanation and context of developments. The present handbook therefore serves as an invaluable resource for those concerned with all aspects of commercial and financial history.

Providing an extensive examination of monetary theory and its implications for public policy, Monetary Theory and Public Policy is as relevant for an understanding of current economic problems as when it was first published. Looking at the concepts of modern economic theory, particularly as these concepts apply to problems of money and banking, both Keynesian and Post-Keynesian developments are discussed.

First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This second edition updates and extends the original foundations of the loanable funds model. It develops a new monetary model of inside money, which is created by the commercial (or retail) banks, drawing on the events of 2007/08 that led to the Great Recession and fragile economy of today. Coronavirus is likely to cause another downturn of economic activity, from the perspective of late 2020 as this is written. That will represent a long-period of subpar, anaemic growth, which has not been satisfactorily explained by the traditional theory in the form of neo-classical analysis. The reason may lie with the adoption of a body of theory based primarily on a barter system of exchange but sometimes with one commodity used as money to try to explain a dynamic, monetary economy of today. Money has evolved from a system of barter to become a medium of exchange based on fiat money and credit currency underpinned by legal tender, and therefore, a creature of law. If households and firms lose confidence in the banking system, they can withdraw their deposits in the form of cash as a medium of exchange, which must be accepted in exchange for goods and services as legal tender. This book highlights the importance of how money is created or destroyed endogenously and derives the loanable supply of funds in conjunction with the demand within a revised analysis of monetary theory, with a new emphasis on portfolio theory. It applies critical thinking and the realization of a more precise formulation of the loanable funds theory to final year and postgraduate students in particular, with various features systematically added such as the catastrophe framework and Minsky's theory of changing states in an attempt to derive a fully dynamic model. There is a new framework using aggregate demand and supply analysis to explain inflation. This will be reinforced at each stage by the inclusion of revised and updated case studies, graphs and figures to give an international setting and application

"I learned much from this book I had not previously known. Its cautions for the future should be required reading for all policy makers." - Warren Buffett

2008 saw one of the worst financial crises in generations, the global implications of which are still being felt today. Ten years later Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner and Hank Paulson reflect on the causes of the crisis, why it was so damaging, and what it ultimately took to prevent a second Great Depression.

All three had crucial roles in the government's response- Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve; Henry M. Paulson, Jr., as secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush; Timothy F. Geithner as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the Bush years and then Treasury secretary under President Barack Obama. A powerful, warts and all account told with unprecedented clarity; from the flawed human response to the necessity to learn from the past and help firefighters of the future protect economies from the ravages of financial crises.

Firefighting is a vital account of a defining moment in modern history and an inspiring lesson on leadership through crisis.

This book theoretically and empirically investigates the emergence of strong money demand in wartime Japan (1937-1945), its disappearance after the end of the war (1945-1949), and the reemergence of strong money demand in contemporary Japan (from 1995 to the present) in terms of the effects on fiscal activities and the price level. An augmented fiscal/monetary theory of the price level is constructed from a close examination of the strong money demand present in these periods. Then, profoundly puzzling phenomena such as mild deflation despite monetary expansion, low long-term interest rates despite fiscal unsustainability, and weak aggregate demand despite near-zero rates of interest, all of which are actually being observed in contemporary Japan, can now be interpreted in line with the above augmented theory. In the present, strong money demand at near-zero rates endows the Japanese government with maximum fiscal flexibility. However, if it disappeared for some reason, prices would surge to the quantity theory of money level, and fiscal sustainability would have to be restored. In the future, alternative currency units issued by private banks might carry out a purge of such strong demand for the yen.

As a fundamental review and critique of activist economic policies, this book is a unique contribution to classical political economy. "Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization" is about macroeconomic stabilization policy, with emphasis on the value of a distinct national monetary policy to growth. Ole Bji1/2rn Ri1/2ste's argument is for public officials to restrain themselves in the pursuit of policy. As the author notes: when you know less, you should do less.

The history of modern macroeconomics started in 1936 with the publication of Keynes' "General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money." The problems of the Great Depression of the 1930s paved the way for a change of focus, from the long run to economic fluctuations in the short run, and from nominal to real variables, such as unemployment and aggregate output. Keynes offered clear policy implications in tune with the times. Because economic adjustment was slow, waiting for the economy to recover by itself was irresponsible. Particluarly fiscal policy was essential to return to high employment. Monetary policy could affect aggregate demand through interest rates, but was less important. Ri1/2ste discusses the role of monetary policy, starting out with the implications of the theory of optimum currency areas (OCAs). This is followed by estimates of the output loss associated with disinflation policy (the sacrifice ratio) for six OECD economies. Further, Ri1/2ste models the dynamic adjustment to negative, local market shocks, with particular relevance to Scandinavia, in a final section.

The idea that governments should pursue stabilizing fiscal or monetary policies with regard to real variables is often taken for granted by the public, if not by economists. Among the reasons for skepticism, is the presence of differing views on how economies really work, that the state of a given economy becomes known only after a time lag, and that economic agents react to policy and expectations of policy. For these reasons, the effects of policy are generally uncertain. This book explains why the role of history is critical to the study of macroeconomics.

Although economic growth has historically been an engine of prosperity in the United States, recent trends have generated uncertainty regarding the prospects for sustaining such growth. Economists disagree about the relative importance of many factors affecting future growth, including rapid technological advances, immigration, the growth of the financial sector, problems with the educational system, increasing income inequality, an aging population, and large fiscal imbalances that have not been addressed by the political system. This collection of chapters, authored by many of today's leading economists, addresses the prospects for economic growth in the United States over the next few decades. During a time of great economic uncertainty, this book engages with both sides in the debate over economic growth, focusing on policy options that increase the prospects for vigorous economic growth in the future.

A powerful new understanding of global currency trends, including the rise of the Chinese yuan At first glance, the modern history of the global economic system seems to support the long-held view that the leading world power's currency--the British pound, the U.S. dollar, and perhaps someday the Chinese yuan--invariably dominates international trade and finance. In How Global Currencies Work, three noted economists provide a reassessment of this history and the theories behind the conventional wisdom. Offering a new history of global finance over the past two centuries, and marshaling extensive new data to test established theories of how global currencies work, Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehl, and Livia Chit?u argue for a new view, in which several national monies can share international currency status, and their importance can change rapidly. They demonstrate how changes in technology and in the structure of international trade and finance have reshaped the landscape of international currencies so that several international financial standards can coexist. They show that multiple international and reserve currencies have in fact coexisted in the pastupending the traditional view of the British pound's dominance prior to 1945 and the U.S. dollar's dominance more recently. Looking forward, the book tackles the implications of this new framework for major questions facing the future of the international monetary system, from whether the euro and the Chinese yuan might address their respective challenges and perhaps rival the dollar, to how increased currency competition might affect global financial stability.

This book critically examines the progress made on macroeconomic stabilization and financial sector reform in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe. It relates microeconomic experiences to the broader macroeconomic context of reform, and emphasises that macro reform is underpinned by micro and institutional reform, especially in the financial sphere.Key features include: bank and enterprise restructuring and the progress towards the resolution of banking and bad debt problems implications of bank and enterprise restructuring for corporate governance and company performance an evaluation of bank-enterprise relationships exchange rates and capital flows, with an analysis of the capital inflow problem and the performance of fixed exchange rate regimes in the post-stabilization phase of the transition detailed surveys of individual firm and bank behaviour and performance during the reform process. The book will be welcomed by scholars and practitioners interested in monetary and financial economics, the economics of transition and comparative economic systems.

Essential reading for understanding the international economy-now thoroughly updated Lucid, accessible, and provocative, and now thoroughly updated to cover recent events that have shaken the global economy, Globalizing Capital is an indispensable account of the past 150 years of international monetary and financial history-from the classical gold standard to today's post-Bretton Woods "nonsystem." Bringing the story up to the present, this third edition covers the global financial crisis, the Greek bailout, the Euro crisis, the rise of China as a global monetary power, the renewed controversy over the international role of the U.S. dollar, and the currency war. Concise and nontechnical, and with a proven appeal to general readers, students, and specialists alike, Globalizing Capital is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand where the international economy has been-and where it may be going.

Benjamin J. Cohen has been one of the most original and influential writers on international political economy. This book provides an overview of his contribution to the field, grouped around the central theme of global monetary governance. The book is divided into three sections: challenges to systemic governance - examines the challenge of governance of the international monetary system looking at such crucial issues as monetary reform, the growth of capital markets and financial globalization dealing with financial crisis - looks at efforts to deal effectively with financial crises, analyzing the relationships between governments and banks in the management of international debt problems and the case for capital controls. There are case studies of the Asian financial crisis and several other key instances of instability in world markets the new geography of money - analyzes the crisis of legitimacy created by a global system where governing authority is exercised now more by market forces than by sovereign states. It explores the geopolitical implications of the competition between the two most widely used currencies in the world today, the US dollar and the Euro and spells out the main implications for policy makers. The concluding chapters evaluate the merits and prospects for the two most widely discussed policy alternatives available to governments responsible for the world's many less competitive currencies - dollarization or monetary union.