What impact do random events have on individuals? How do they adapt to living in an uncertain, stochastic environment? Risk and Uncertainty in Economics pays tribute to the significant contribution made by James L. Ford to our understanding of these questions.In keeping with Professor Ford's own research interests, the essays in this volume include relevant, up-to-date research on a wide range of issues. Contributions by Michael Driscoll, Marcus Miller, David Peel and Somnath Sen consider the macroeconomic impact of risk and uncertainty. Colin Dodds, Atul Dar, Andrew Mullineux, Mansoob Murshed and David Dickinson evaluate various implications of risk and uncertainty for financial markets. John Hey, the late George Shackle, Prasanta Pattanaik and Richard Barrett contribute papers on decision making under risk and uncertainty, while Peter Phillips presents some new statistical results on the Dirichlet distribution. This book will be of interest to all economists who want to understand the importance of analysing the impact of risk and uncertainty in economics.

Potential new entrants to the European Union from Central and Eastern European countries face many challenges to achieve financial convergence with the existing EU nations. Using detailed case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and analysis of cross country data from these regions, Financial and Monetary Integration in the New Europe looks at the key issues for applicant countries as they negotiate the terms of their membership in the European Union.Of major concern to these countries is the financial sector and its implications for economic growth and the conduct of macroeconomic policy. The book examines, in particular, monetary and exchange rate policies, banking regulation and financial market efficiency. The overall impact of building a market driven financial system on economic development is also explored. This volume illustrates that overall, transition countries have made great strides in transformation to market economies and that most have experienced significant economic growth. However, there is still some institution building to be completed and outstanding policy issues to be resolved. Financial and Monetary Integration in the New Europe will be of great interest to EU and CEE policymakers and will prove useful reading to those concerned with EU expansion and CEE economic development.