Volume 17 of International Finance Review focusses on a variety of issues relating to the political economy of Chinese finance, including: The pattern of government ownership and control of Chinese firms; The role of government in corporate governance of industrial and financial firms; The interaction of culture, law and institutions in Chinese governance systems; Corporate social responsibility, stakeholders and sustainable growth; The effect of political connections on corporate performance and society; Privatization, IPOs, exchange listing and firm valuation; The role of government in banking and financial markets; Practice of corporate risk management and insurance; Foreign-exchange policy and its effect on firms and markets; Foreign direct and portfolio investments in China; International investments and operations of Chinese firms; Chinese economic relations with the US and other countries.

In some circles, transparency has become a buzzword as organizations face increasing pressure from institutional shareholders and regulators, banks and other stakeholders needing to monitor financial conditions and managerial decisions more closely to protect their interests. The call for corporate transparency has also intensified for banks since the recent global financial crises and as a result of a series of egregious financial scandals. For this volume we have collected 12 original research papers dealing with various issues relating to transparency. This topic spans many disciplines beyond accounting and finance, intersecting economics, law and management, embracing sociology and political science, and offering opportunities for creative interdisciplinary research. We hope this volume is a useful one-stop reference for students and scholars as well as practitioners and policymakers interested in such work.

The edited volume on "The Role of Institutional Investors in a Globalized Environment" will publish original papers that examine various issues concerning the strategies of institutional investors, the role of institutional investors in corporate governance, their impact on local and international capital markets, as well as the emergence of sovereign and other asset management funds and their interactions with micro and macro economic and market environments including the impacts on international economic and market stability.

The deregulation of developed countries' financial markets, the reshaping of the traditional boundaries of commercial and investment banking activities, and the development of banking systems in emerging markets in recent times has seen an evolution of the roles performed by banks. This volume publishes original papers that examine the issues concerning challenges and opportunities for international banks in the rapidly changing global environment. It looks at financial markets and banking, examines the role of banks and lawyers in the global financial crisis, explores post-crisis financial regulation and highlights determinants of international banking. Truly international in coverage, specific articles focus on: bank fragility and the financial crisis with evidence from the U.S. dual banking system; Asia-Pacific perspectives on the financial crisis 2007-2009; bankers and scapegoats; lawyers and the meltdown; perspectives from the developing world on reforming international standards for bank capital requirements; Australian regulators and bank risk managers; the effects of underwriting practices on loan losses; and comparisons of banking efficiency in Europe.

To form a more perfect economic union and to establish a single market financially, economically and politically, 11 European countries founded a common currency and a European Central Bank, and created a new monetary unit, the euro, on 1st January, 1999. On that date, the old national currencies officially became subunits of the euro, much as the nickel and quarter are subunits of the dollar.

Fifteen countries started down the road to monetary union in 1992, when they signed the Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, which outlined a basic structure for the alliance. However, of those 15 countries, only 11 initially joined the European Monetary Union (EMU): three countries opted out, and another did not meet the economic criteria established for membership in the union. The EMU countries decided that the benefits of having one common currency instead of 11 different ones would outweigh the costs, especially given the amount of travel, trade and financial flow that takes place between these countries. This volume considers effects on capital and goods markets of monetary union in general and European Monetary Union (EMU) in particular. The effects of monetary union addressed here broadly fall into three categories -adjustments in goods and labor markets, adjustments in money and capital markets, and institutional adjustments when a group of countries adopt a common currency (and a common monetary policy), but retain quasi- independent fiscal (and other economic) policies. The relation between monetary union and capital market integration is also highlighted.

Hardbound. This edited volume is a collection of original theoretical, empirical, institutional or policy-oriented articles on all dimensions of the Asian financial crisis. A unique feature of this book is its multi-faceted, yet in-depth articles on various dimensions of the Asian financial crisis written by policy-makers and practitioners as well as scholars around the world. It includes financial, structural, cultural, and international dimensions of the Asian financial crisis regarding its causes, consequences, policies, and lessons. As such, it offers an excellent one-stop collection of in-depth research articles on the topic. The book includes nineteen articles on the overview of the crisis, international capital flows and crisis, reform in financial and industrial sectors, and cultural and post-crisis opportunities.

Digital disruption is ubiquitous and has changed both the way businesses operate and the way people live. Disruption caused by innovation affects firms across multiple industries, from financial services to industrial firms, business processes to payment systems, manufacturing to supply chains. Further, scholars hear more and more about artificial intelligence (AI), big data, machine learning, blockchain, and fintech as examples of contemporary manifestations of disruptive technology that will profoundly influence disciplines beyond business and finance, such as law, health care and government. Global extensions of these technologies and innovations challenge the efficacy and boundaries of law. Indeed, disruptive innovations are potentially change the way we consider the future as humans versus some super artificial intelligence. This volume contains fourteen articles split across four parts, exploring the debate around the topics of fintech, AI, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Featuring a cast of global contributors, this is an unmissable volume exploring the most current research on digital innovation in the financial and business worlds.

This edited volume contains original papers examining issues concerning the effects of national and international institutional factors on corporate governance and performance. This volume stresses the relevance of national business systems (including culture, law and politics) alongside industrial and institutional infrastructure to assess the efficacy of corporate governance regimes. Modern governance research redefines the boundaries of the firm to include a wider group of stakeholders beyond stockholders. Newer research indicates that national context is the over-riding element in understanding corporate governance regulation and outcome. In the Anglo-Saxon world, corporate governance is designed to reduce the conflict of interest that exists between owners and managers occasioned by the separation of ownership and control. The divergence in national business systems has led scholars to question whether the rush to adopt US-style regulation internationally is appropriate. The papers in this volume highlight aspects of institutional context in different countries, ranging from traditional corporate governance mechanisms at the firm level, to issues affecting the country level quality of corporate governance, including culture and the role of elites.

The papers in this volume of International Finance Review provide a reflection on the role of international finance -- and its relationship to strategy, economics, political science and public policy -- in examining value creation in multinational enterprise. These are 22 original papers submitted specifically for this volume based on its theme. The papers present a breadth of methodologies, including theoretical, empirical, conceptual, and case study approaches. Several papers offer combinations of these different categories. Among the empirical papers, there are many kinds of data sets analyzed, ranging from macroeconomic data to firm-level financial data to survey data. In addition, the data sets are rigorously analyzed in many different ways.
This volume also takes a broad perspective on multinational enterprise, which allows discussion of traditional areas in the study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) as corporations, but also includes topics related to multinational enterprise as an undertaking, not just as corporation. For example, there is attention to small and medium-sized companies as well as larger MNEs. There are also papers that consider exporting enterprises and the environment of multinational enterprise. With this spirit, the volume covers multinational enterprise from a variety of perspectives, including views from private corporations and government policymakers, and the authors of the papers include both academics and practitioners. Altogether, the papers offer insights into value creation through a variety of lenses.

Japan has always been an "odd man out" from the standpoint of Western norm or Western finance. It is a country that is as developed as any in the West. However, it is also a country that possesses the significant institutional and cultural traits that separate it from the West. An important question in finance is to what extent the basic models of finance, developed with the Western "perfect market" view in mind, can be applied to Japan; or conversely, what critical adjustments must be made to make models amendable to the reality of Japanese finance. This book contains 21 substantive papers that address various aspects of Japanese finance. This is an attempt to bring them together under the same cover so that the commonality and peculiarity of Japanese finance can be more easily discerned across different applications as well as compared across countries. Hence, despite apparent differences in topics, the theme is international and comparative in nature throughout.

The editors of this volume provide a comprehensive and in-depth collection of articles on financial and investment issues in emerging capital markets. The collection offers coverage of all major emerging countries as well as all major topics related to emerging market finance.

By presenting general, conceptual essays as well as technical, specific essays in a coherent framework, the book attempts to broaden the traditional finance and international finance literature to include emerging market countries where markets are more rigid, segmented, or fragmented than developed market countries. Researchers, graduate students, finance professionals, investors, and policy makers will find this volume useful.