With the advent of increased capital mobility in the last two decades, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing, developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the late 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economies and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking center; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

The industrialised world has witnessed a dramatic increase in the volume of international capital movements in the forms of borrowing and lending, bond transactions and foreign direct investment. At the same time, many non-OECD countries have embarked on extensive programmes of capital market liberalisation. This volume examines the implications of this increased international capital mobility for both industrialised and developing countries. The contributors look at the effect of developments on economic fluctuations, and on fiscal and monetary policies under alternative exchange rate regimes. They also address the erosion of capital taxation as a source of government revenue, the contribution of mobile capital to development with 'endogenous growth', the role of mobile capital in reducing unemployment where there are large-scale population flows, and the convergence of national growth rates.

The industrialised world has witnessed a dramatic increase in the volume of international capital movements in the forms of borrowing and lending, bond transactions and foreign direct investment. At the same time, many non-OECD countries have embarked on extensive programmes of capital market liberalisation. This volume examines the implications of this increased international capital mobility for both industrialised and developing countries. The contributors look at the effect of developments on economic fluctuations, and on fiscal and monetary policies under alternative exchange rate regimes. They also address the erosion of capital taxation as a source of government revenue, the contribution of mobile capital to development with 'endogenous growth', the role of mobile capital in reducing unemployment where there are large-scale population flows, and the convergence of national growth rates.

With the advent of increased capital mobility, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economics and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking centre; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

During the early 198Os, Israel's inflation rate rose to almost 500% per year - one of the highest inflation rates in the developed world. In 1985, the Israeli government implemented a program that immediately reduced inflation to 15%-20%, where it remained for the rest of the decade. How did the economy deal with these major changes so rapidly and successfully? In these eighteen articles, Leonardo Leiderman discusses why the Israeli plan worked and considers how other countries might benefit from similar policies. Even though standard economic models predict that output will drop and unemployment will rise during disinflation, Israel saw a boom in private consumption and large increases in real wages that lasted for about three years. To understand how the effects of Israeli disinflation policies defied typical expectations, Leiderman investigates how monetary and fiscal policy determined Israel's runaway inflation and how the country brought its economy abruptly under control. He finds that rates of inflation and consumption depend on the public's expectations about future fiscal adjustments and that foreign trade shocks do not inevitably lead to a long term rise in the inflation rate. Although Israel's case was unusual, it was not unique. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico also experienced increases in economic activity after implementing stabilization policies, and Leiderman suggests that Eastern European economies might follow a similar path. His illumination of international trade and domestic policies, past and present, will interest academic economists and policymakers alike.