The Great Inflation

The Great Inflation

Author: Michael D. Bordo

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-06-28

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0226066959

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Controlling inflation is among the most important objectives of economic policy. By maintaining price stability, policy makers are able to reduce uncertainty, improve price-monitoring mechanisms, and facilitate more efficient planning and allocation of resources, thereby raising productivity. This volume focuses on understanding the causes of the Great Inflation of the 1970s and ’80s, which saw rising inflation in many nations, and which propelled interest rates across the developing world into the double digits. In the decades since, the immediate cause of the period’s rise in inflation has been the subject of considerable debate. Among the areas of contention are the role of monetary policy in driving inflation and the implications this had both for policy design and for evaluating the performance of those who set the policy. Here, contributors map monetary policy from the 1960s to the present, shedding light on the ways in which the lessons of the Great Inflation were absorbed and applied to today’s global and increasingly complex economic environment.


Failure by Design

Failure by Design

Author: Josh Bivens

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2011-02-15

Total Pages: 121

ISBN-13: 0801461138

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Failure by Design, the Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens takes a step back from the acclaimed State of Working America series, building on its wealth of data to relate a compelling narrative of the U.S. economy’s struggle to emerge from the Great Recession of 2008. Bivens explains the causes and impact on working Americans of the most catastrophic economic policy failure since the 1920s. As outlined clearly here, economic growth since the late 1970s has been slow and inequitably distributed, largely as a result of poor policy choices. These choices only got worse in the 2000s, leading to an anemic economic expansion. What growth we did see in the economy was fueled by staggering increases in private-sector debt and a housing bubble that artificially inflated wealth by trillions of dollars. As had been predicted, the bursting of the housing bubble had disastrous consequences for the broader economy, spurring a financial crisis and a rise in joblessness that dwarfed those resulting from any recession since the Great Depression. The fallout from the Great Recession makes it near certain that there will be yet another lost decade of income growth for typical families, whose incomes had not been boosted by the previous decade’s sluggish and localized economic expansion. In its broad narrative of how the economy has failed to deliver for most Americans over much of the past three decades, Failure by Design also offers compelling graphic evidence on jobs, incomes, wages, and other measures of economic well-being most relevant to low- and middle-income workers. Josh Bivens tracks these trends carefully, giving a lesson in economic history that is readable yet rigorous in its analysis. Intended as both a stand-alone volume and a companion to the new State of Working America website that presents all of the data underlying this cogent analysis, Failure by Design will become required reading as a road map to the economic problems that confront working Americans.


Domestic Budgets in a United Europe

Domestic Budgets in a United Europe

Author: Mark Hallerberg

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780801442711

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Under European Monetary Union, member states lose the ability to steer their economies by manipulating monetary policy. Domestic Budgets in a United Europe, which explains the content, evolution, and effectiveness of fiscal institutions, will be the definitive account of European budget reform in the late twentieth century.Mark Hallerberg examines the making of budgets in EU countries from 1973 to 2000 and explores why those countries introduced fiscal rules when they did. In 1993, when the fiscal-policy criteria for monetary union were first announced, only Luxembourg and the Republic of Ireland would have qualified. In 1997, only Greece failed. Various explanations have been advanced for this rapid turnaround, including luck (a favorable economic climate reduced pressures on local budgets), accounting tricks, and the increasing pressures caused by international capital mobility. Underlying these various explanations is a basic skepticism about whether countries in the European Union actively worked to reform their national budgeting procedures. In rich case studies, Hallerberg shows that the member-states did indeed reform their budget institutions. Many of them, he finds, had started that process long before the formal signing of the Maastricht Treaty of 1991, making domestic changes that allowed them to qualify individually under EMU criteria.


The New Knowledge Economy in Europe

The New Knowledge Economy in Europe

Author: Maria João Rodrigues

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2002-05-28

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9781781950425

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Knowledge is fast becoming a main source of wealth, but it can also be a source of inequalities. This work addresses whether it is possible to hasten the transition towards a knowledge-based economy and enhance competitiveness with increased employment and improved social cohesion across Europe.


Growth and Economic Development

Growth and Economic Development

Author: P. Arestis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1847204082

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

. . . this volume is a very good and important addition to economic growth and development. On the basis of authority, the selection is well-balanced. . . This book should be a mandatory textbook for graduate students in development economics, and essential reading for all policy-makers. Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, Progress in Development Studies This valuable and engaging new book bears eloquent testimony to A.P. Thirlwall s substantial contribution to economics over the last 40 years. The volume does not attempt to provide a comprehensive review of such a prolific figure, but rather demonstrates the considerable influence that his work on economic theory has had on his contemporaries, and the profession as a whole. From his early pioneering research in regional and labour economics to his more recent exploration of growth and development economics, leading experts in the field bear witness to the significant role he has played in the evolution of the discipline. In addressing some of the most pivotal aspects of his career, the contributors cover a range of topics including Thirlwall s Law , the application of Keynesian macroeconomic approaches, the General Theory within open economies, the connection between short-run cycles and long-run growth, endogenous growth theory, the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as broader development issues and problems. In championing Thirlwall s challenging work, this volume provides a lively and comprehensive account of some of the most important areas of economics today. This book will prove an essential read for academics and policy makers alike who are interested in trade, growth and development economics.


The Economics of the Third Way

The Economics of the Third Way

Author: Philip Arestis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9781843762836

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Providing an acute assessment and comprehensive interpretation of the "third way", whilst neither endorsing nor dismissing its validity, this book should be widely read by policymakers, political scientists and those with an interest in economic policy and economic analysis.


The Eurogroup

The Eurogroup

Author: Uwe Puetter

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2013-07-19

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9781847792297

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is the first study on the work of the Eurogroup - monthly informal meetings between euro area finance ministers, the Commission and the European Central Bank. Puetter convincingly demonstrates how this small, secretive circle of senior decision-makers shapes European economic governance through a routinised informal policy dialogue. Although the role of the Eurogroup has been contested since before the group's creation, its actual operation has never been subject to systematic evaluation. This book opens the doors of the meeting room and shows how an understanding of the interplay of formal provisions and informal processes is pivotal to the analysis of euro area governance. The book advances the conceptual understanding of informal negotiations among senior European and national decision-makers, and provides a unique in-depth analysis of historical episodes of policy coordination. As other areas of European decision-making rely increasingly on informal, voluntary policy coordination amongst member states, the Eurogroup model can be seen as a template for other policy areas.


Greece

Greece

Author: Theodore Pelagidis

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2014-06-13

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 0815725779

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Two Greek economic analysts explain the Greek financial crisis—from beginning to end. The first section of Greece: From Exit to Recovery? explores the lead up to to Greece’s adoption of the euro. Authors Theodore Pelagidis and Michael Mitsopoulos believe that the ensuing challenges were foreseeable. In fact, the authors posit that it was Greece’s difficultly in dealing with those challenges that sparked the euro crisis. Section II analyzes discrete sectors of the economy, paying special attention to labor and finance—and the mistakes creditors made in focusing on reducing Greek incomes—rather than increasing competitiveness on non-labor costs. Section III investigates why Greek companies spend relatively little on research and development.? The authors’ analysis indicates that policy decisions largely determine R&D performance in the private sector, and they advance a number of specific policy proposals to improve the situation.


Who’s to Blame for Greece?

Who’s to Blame for Greece?

Author: Theodore Pelagidis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-29

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1137549203

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Greece's economy symbolizes in many ways the Eurozone's economic problems and divergent interests as it amasses most of the economic disadvantages characterizing the Eurozone's economy itself. This book presents the economic and political challenges to Greece and the EU member states.