China is now the second largest economy in the world, with an increasingly efficient and open financial system. Many firms, agents and financial institutions have realized the potential in making money in China. Financial Theory: Perspectives from China serves as a timely textbook providing a unique introduction to economics theory, with a focus on money, banking and financial systems, through examples based mainly on China's financial practices. It contains up-to-date developments of theory and practices, as well as various interesting stories on China's financial system. Topics such as financial institutions, capital markets, debt securities markets, mutual fund markets, money markets, foreign exchange and financial derivative markets are discussed in depth. Financial theories are supplemented with illustrations from China's money supply mechanism and monetary policy system, China's financial regulatory and supervision system, as well as China's financial system and how it has liberalized and opened up to the rest of the world.Readers will find detailed examinations of financial theories, exemplified and reinforced by the inclusion of different financial cases and phenomena, each intriguing in their own right. This book provides readers with a deeper understanding of China's financial practices, providing vital knowledge for investing in China and engaging businesses there. Undergraduate students in economics and finance and those keen on becoming a player in China's financial markets will no doubt find this volume useful and necessary.

Microfinance has long been considered a development strategy that can correct the failure of the global credit market and address the financial needs of the poor enabling them to create and run profitable business enterprises. The Microfinance Mirage argues that this neo-liberal oriented analysis overemphasises the economic argument whilst ignoring the cultural roots of inequality and subordination. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted among rural credit clients in the Northern region of Ethiopia, Esayas Bekele Geleta provides a nuanced critical analysis of microfinance challenging the common assumption that it facilitates the building of social capital, poverty reduction and the empowerment of women. Making a unique contribution to our further understanding of the microfinance industry the research shows that, in some cases, microfinance can result in the disintegration of pre-existing relationships and in the disruption and destruction of the livelihoods of the poor. Exploring the impact of microfinance in one of the poorest regions of sub-Saharan Africa, this book demonstrates its potential and problems and shows the complex and contradictory social and cultural environments in which projects are often located.

The 2008 international crisis has revived the interest in Keynes's theories and, in particular, on Minsky's models of financial fragility. The core proposition of these theories is that money plays an essential role in modern economies, which is usually neglected in other approaches. This is Keynes's liquidity preference theory, which is also the foundation for Minsky's model, a theory that has been largely forgotten in recent years. This book looks at liquidity preference theory and its most important problems, showing how one should understand the role of money in modern monetary economies. It develops Keynes's and Minsky's financial view of money, relating it to the process of capital accumulation, the determination of effective demand and the theory of output, and employment as a whole. Building on the author's significant body of work in the field, this book delves into a broad range of topics allowing the general reader to understand propositions that have been mistreated in the literature including Keynes and the concept of monetary production economy; uncertainty, expectations and money; short and long period; liquidity preference theory as a theory of asset pricing under uncertainty; asset prices and capital accumulation; Keynes's version of the principle of effective demand; and the role of macroeconomic policy. It will be essential reading for all students and scholars of Post-Keynesian economics.

Where does the power of money come from? Why is trust so important in financial operations? How does the swapping of gifts differ from the exchange of commodities? Where does self-interest stop and communal solidarity start in capitalist economies?
These issues and many more are discussed in a rigorous, yet readable, manner in Social Foundations of Markets, Money and Credit. It is shown in particular that capitalist economies are permeated with non-economic characteristics.
This carefully argued book will prove interesting and valuable to students and researchers not only in economics, but also in sociology and anthropology. Well-informed critics of capitalism will also find it a useful read.

Since 2008, the financial sector has been the subject of extensive criticism. Much of this criticism has focused on the morality of the actors involved in the crisis and its extended aftermath. This book analyses the key moral and political philosophical issues of the crisis and relates them to the political economy of finance. It also examines to what extent the financial sector can or should be reformed. This book is unified by the view that the financial sector had been a self-serving and self-regulating elite consumed by greed, speculation and even lawlessness, with little sense of responsibility to the wider society or common good. In light of critical analysis by authors from a variety of backgrounds and persuasions, suggestions for reform and improvement are proposed, in some cases radical reform. By placing the world of finance under a microscope, this book analyses the assumptions that have led from hubris to disgrace as it provides suggestions for an improved society. Rooted in philosophical reflection, this book invites a critical reassessment of finance and its societal role in the 21st century. This book will be of interest to academics, politicians, central bankers and financial regulators who wish to improve the morality of finance.

Although 'doing good' is our innate nature, we often get lost in the complexities and view goodness as a distant dream. Making this dream of goodness a reality is often thwarted by thoughts surrounding sustainability. Thus, all good initiatives require a focus on sustainability and this has become one of greatest and most formidable challenges faced by any social enterprise. The book documents the understanding of the sustainability of one of the most celebrated forms of social enterprise of our times - Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) gained through a mixed-methods research investigation. It attempts to answer pertinent questions such as: What are the determinant and discriminating factors for the sustainability of MFIs in India? How are these factors being managed by the operationally efficient Indian MFIs that remained sustainable at reasonable interest rates before the onset of the crisis and ceilings imposition in Indian microfinance markets? What does the Indian microfinance crisis teach us about sustainability management and mismanagement? In a nutshell, the answers show that sustainability is a strategic issue that needs managerial attention and not a matter to be left to serendipity. At a time when the industry is recovering from the adverse effects of a crisis and when there are still contentions as to whether the rate fixed by the regulator is enough for the sustenance of the MFIs, the findings mentioned in the book revive the lost hope for the Indian microfinance industry. By deciphering the strategies used by efficient and sustainable MFIs and discussing the lessons that the crisis has imparted to the Indian microfinance markets, this book will enable Indian MFIs to march towards efficient and sustainable operations without losing focus on their clients.

This book focuses on the implications of the South African labour market dynamics including labour market reforms and fiscal policy for monetary policy and financial stability. Evidence suggests there are benefits in adopting an approach that coordinates labour market policies and reforms, fiscal policy, price and financial stability. In particular, the benefits of coordinating policies present policymakers with policy options in cases where they are confronted by binding policy trade-offs and dilemmas, such as in cases when there is divergence in price and financial and economic growth outcomes. The empirical insights and policy recommendations are based on different techniques that include the counterfactual and endogenous-exogenous approaches, non-linearities introduced by thresholds and the impact of persistent and transitory shock effects. Themes covered in the book include various aspects of labour market conditions and reforms and their link to inflation and inflation expectations, the impact of the national minimum wage, the interaction between public and private sector wage inflation, economic policy uncertainty and employment, government debt thresholds, sovereign yields and debt ratings downgrades, labour productivity, the impact of inflation regimes on expansionary fiscal and monetary policy multipliers, the increase in government cost of funding on price and financial stability and the link between fiscal policy and credit dynamics.

First published in 1936, this book gives the reader an insight into the tendencies and spirit of the monetary reform movement as a whole, as accomplished or proposed since the First World War. The author marks the consideration of the overall reform as being more important than specifically looking at the actual proposals and measures involved, and the views he attributes to the various monetary reform schools are therefore composite views of the various factions of those schools. As a comparatively recent convert to the idea of monetary reform, at the time of writing, the author offers a balanced view of the subject as he also has extensive experience of the ideas of the orthodox monetary system. However, he does not believe that monetary reform alone can achieve the desired end without considerable economic planning. Indeed, he suggests that the monetary reform movement he discusses desperately needs to adopt a broader perspective and thus, he suggests a compromise.

Study of the impact of Britain's economic and financial crises on currency and monetary policy-making in India between the wars, analysing colonial policies during Anglo-US efforts to reconstruct the international financial system and Britain's struggle to restore the pre-eminence of sterling and the City.

First Published in 2005. The Irish Report is a scarce document, known to comparatively few economists. This reprint of the Report and of portions of the Minutes of Evidence, set against the historical background, will not only be of interest to the student of monetary theory and of monetary history, but also help to give perspective on some present-day problems of monetary and exchange policy, particularly in the countries of the sterling area. The Irish Report was frequently cited in the pamphlet literature of the time, and in Parliamentary debate, and discussed in detail the exchange situation between Ireland and England.

Notwithstanding financial crises, global foreign exchange markets have undergone a tremendous growth during the last two decades. Foreign exchange (FX) is often thought of as a site where economic actors exchange currencies for buying foreign goods or selling goods in foreign countries, but the FX markets are better understood as financial spheres, dominated by speculative actors. A key question is how this huge global speculative sphere has developed, and what maintains it. Thus far, global currency markets have been largely neglected by the new approaches to finance, and until now no study has existed to chart the interplay of their structural evolution and their shape as knowledge spheres. This new book offers a systematic study of FX markets from a knowledge sociological perspective, empirically focussing on analysts within these markets. It makes the argument that market structures are reflected in, and become stabilised by, distinct cultures of financial expertise. These cultures connect the actions and perceptions of loosely coupled, globally distributed market players, and establish shared sets of strategies of how to observe, valuate and invest. This highly original book will be of interest to scholars of economics, sociology and political science, and in particular to all those with an interest in the sociology of finance and the role of finance in the contemporary world.

The financial crisis that started in 2007 is a concern for the world. Some countries are in depression and governments are desperately trying to find solutions. In the absence of thorough debate on the emotions of money, bitter disputes, hatred and 'moralizing' can be misunderstood. New Perspectives on Emotions in Finance carefully considers emotions often left unacknowledged, in order to explain the socially useful versus de-civilising, destructive, nature of money. This book offers an understanding of money that includes the possible civilising sentiments. This interdisciplinary volume examines what is seemingly an uncontrollable, fragile world of finance and explains the 'panics' of traders and 'immoral panics' in banking, 'confidence' of government and commercial decision makers, 'shame' or 'cynicism' of investors and asymmetries of 'impersonal trust' between finance corporations and their many publics. Money is shown to rely on this abstract trust or 'faith', but such motivations are in crisis with 'angry' conflicts over the 'power of disposition'. Restraining influences - on 'uncivilised emotions' and rule breaking - need democratic consensus, due to enduring national differences in economic 'sentiments' even in ostensibly similar countries. Promising ideas for global reform are assessed from these cautionary interpretations. Instead of one 'correct' vision, sociologists in this book argue that corporations and global dependencies are driven by fears and normless sentiments which foster betrayal. This book is not about individuals, but habitus and market crudities. Human 'nature' or 'greed' cannot describe banks, which do not 'feel' because their motivations are not from personal psyches but organisational pressures, and are liable to switch under money's inevitable uncertainties. This more inclusive social science studies emotions as a crucial factor among others, to expand the informed public debate among policy makers, bankers, academics, students and the public.

Money has always represented power. For Aristotle, this power was inseparable from the exercise of justice within a community. This is why issuance of money was the prerogative of the lawful authority (government). Such a view of monetary power was widespread, and includes societies as distant as China. Over the past several centuries, however, private interests increasingly tapped into the exercise of the money power. Through gradual shifts, commercial banks have gained a legally protected right to create money through issuance of debts. The aim of this book is to unravel various layers hiding the real workings of modern money and banking systems and injustices ingrained in them. By asking what money really is, who controls it and for what purpose (why), the book provides insight into understanding of modern money and banking systems, as well as the causes of growing financialization of economies throughout the world, money manias and economic instability. The book also increases the awareness of injustices hidden in the workings of modern money and banking systems and the need for moral underpinnings of such systems. Finally, it suggests a money system which could immensely improve human, economic, and ecological conditions.

Korea was the first non-G7 member and Asian country to host the recent G20 Summit, acting as a bridge between advanced and developing nations. At the G20 Seoul Summit, green growth as well as development and a global financial safety net were on the agenda. Against this backdrop, the aim of this book is to comment on and suggest how to go about setting agendas and shaping further discussions of future summits. The book consists of three major parts: the first part discusses the role of G20 in reforming international monetary system, the status of the IMF since the European sovereign debt crisis, the use of the yuan as the world's reserve currency, and the establishment of a more resilient global financial system. The second part examines trade measures in times of volatile energy prices, the impact of merchandise price volatility on the G20 economies, the EU's pricing policies and the world's price volatility, high oil prices and Russia, and oil markets in South America. The third part reviews G20's financing for green growth, green growth and sustainable development within the G20 framework, and G20's role in addressing climate change and green growth. This book offers an in-depth review of major issues discussed at the recent summits and will be of interest to policy makers.

India's financial sector has undergone significant changes following the start of the economic liberalization in the early 1990s. In addition to providing important information on monetary and financial issues in India, this book also provides examples to analyze a developing economy by using macro-financial data. The book also focuses on three main topics, that is, monetary policy, financial markets and finance-poverty nexus, and provides new insights into these issues by applying some recently developed quantitative techniques.

Monetary Economics and Sequential Trade is an insightful introduction to the advanced topics in monetary economics. Accessible to students who have mastered the diagrammatic tools of economics, it discusses real issues with a variety of modeling alternatives, allowing for a direct comparison of the implications of the different models. The exposition is clear and logical, providing a solid foundation in monetary theory and the techniques of economic modeling. The text is rooted in the author's years of teaching and research, and will be highly suitable for monetary economics courses in both the upper-level undergraduate and graduate levels.

The euro area's framework for monetary policy implementation was introduced in 1999. Eleven years on, this volume examines the theoretical and historical underpinnings of the framework, how it has fared in practice, and what challenges it is likely to face in the future. The technology serving the implementation of monetary policy has historically been the exclusive preserve of a narrow group of specialists but the recent global financial crisis brought the issue into the public eye, as the supply of base money exploded while inflation risked turning into deflation. This book addresses all the aspects of monetary policy implementation, with particular emphasis on the European Central Bank and the euro, allowing a more informed assessment of a neglected, but important, aspect of economic life, and a better understanding of the exceptional developments brought about by the financial crisis. Written by the leading money market operators at the European Central Bank who were involved in creating and implementing the framework, and who are still managing monetary policy implementation at the Bank today, this book provides a rare insider account of how the framework has evolved, how it works in practice, and the challenges of monetary policy implementation going forward.

The imbalance between China s currency, the RMB, and those of other countries is widely regarded as a major problem for the world economy. There was a reform of China s exchange rate mechanism in 2005, following which the RMB appreciated 17% against the US dollar, but many people argue that further reform is still needed. This book reports on a major research project undertaken following the 2005 reform to assess the impact on China s economy. It considers the impact in a number of areas of the economy, including export-oriented companies, the banking industry, international trade, international capital flows, and China s macroeconomic policy. It concludes that the policies pursued so far have been correct, and that further reform, both to the exchange rate, and to the system overall, would be desirable, but that any reform should be gradual and incremental, preserving economic stability, and integrating changes with reform in other parts of the economy."

In this volume an international team of distinguished monetary historians examine the historical experience of exchange rate behaviour under different monetary regimes. The main focus is on metallic standards and fixed exchange rates, such as the gold standard. With its combination of thematic overviews and case studies of the key countries and periods, the book greatly enhances our understanding of past monetary systems.

To complement current work on the British domestic economy in the post-war period it is necessary to examine external economic policy. Whilst considerable work has been done on Britain's relations with Europe and with America, the complexities of the sterling area have remained obscure. This volume makes a significant contribution to unravelling the strands of British external economic policy in the post-war period.

First published in 1978, The Valuation of Social Cost is concerned both with the idea, and with the practical problems, of placing monetary values on 'intangible', non-marketed goods, such as pollution, noise nuisance, personal injury, or the loss of home, neighbours or recreational benefit. A diverse range of contributors critically assess both the theoretical issues and the practical attempts made by economists and others to 'monetise' items which cannot be bought or sold. Each section contains a comprehensive literature review and a detailed critical appraisal. Despite being written in the late 70s, this book discusses issues which retain significant importance today.

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

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

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

New York Times Bestseller New York Times reporter and "Corner Office" columnist David Gelles reveals legendary GE CEO Jack Welch to be the root of all that's wrong with capitalism today and offers advice on how we might right those wrongs. In 1981, Jack Welch took over General Electric and quickly rose to fame as the first celebrity CEO. He golfed with presidents, mingled with movie stars, and was idolized for growing GE into the most valuable company in the world. But Welch's achievements didn't stem from some greater intelligence or business prowess. Rather, they were the result of a sustained effort to push GE's stock price ever higher, often at the expense of workers, consumers, and innovation. In this captivating, revelatory book, David Gelles argues that Welch single-handedly ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day. Gelles chronicles Welch's campaign to vaporize hundreds of thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profits, eviscerating the country's manufacturing base, and destabilizing the middle class. Welch's obsession with downsizing-he eliminated 10% of employees every year-fundamentally altered GE and inspired generations of imitators who have employed his strategies at other companies around the globe. In his day, Welch was corporate America's leading proponent of mergers and acquisitions, using deals to gobble up competitors and giving rise to an economy that is more concentrated and less dynamic. And Welch pioneered the dark arts of "financialization," transforming GE from an admired industrial manufacturer into what was effectively an unregulated bank. The finance business was hugely profitable in the short term and helped Welch keep GE's stock price ticking up. But ultimately, financialization undermined GE and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies. Gelles shows how Welch's celebrated emphasis on increasing shareholder value by any means necessary (layoffs, outsourcing, offshoring, acquisitions, and buybacks, to name but a few tactics) became the norm in American business generally. He demonstrates how that approach has led to the greatest socioeconomic inequality since the Great Depression and harmed many of the very companies that have embraced it. And he shows how a generation of Welch acolytes radically transformed companies like Boeing, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, and more. Finally, Gelles chronicles the change that is now afoot in corporate America, highlighting companies and leaders who have abandoned Welchism and are proving that it is still possible to excel in the business world without destroying livelihoods, gutting communities, and spurning regulation.