In this gripping book, Dr. Samli makes the case that the US economy is shifting for the worse, tilting towards a finance-driven economy, and argues that investing in innovation will bring us out of the recession and back to a successful, market-driven economy.
How do markets work? This reader introduces the student to the workings of the market, explaining both the reasons for its success and its shortcomings. Throughout, the text encourages a critical approach demonstrating the diversity of market economies. In particular it explores: the social nature of market economies the range of approaches to the study of the market: Marxist, Austrian, Keynesian and institutional economics are discussed as alternatives to the neo-classical mainstream the differences between Anglo-American, European and Asian economic models the historical development of markets globalisation: its extent and its impact the costs and the benefits of markets With chapters by Will Hutton, John Gray and Eric Hobsbawm, this reader provides an excellent introduction.
Successful trading, speculating or simply making informed decisions about financial markets means it is essential to have a firm grasp of economics. Financial market behaviour revolves around economic concepts, however the majority of economic textbooks do not tell the full story.To fully understand the behaviour of financial markets it is essential to have a model that enables new information to be absorbed and analysed with some predictive implications. That model is provided by the business cycle. 'Economics for Financial Markets' takes the reader from the basics of financial market valuation to a more sophisticated understanding of the actions that traders take which ultimately drives the volatility in the financial markets. The author shows traders, investment managers, risk managers and finance professionals how to distil the flow of information and show what needs to be concentrated on, covering topics such as:* Why are financial markets subject to economic fashions?* How has the New Economy changed financial market behaviour? * Does the creation of the euro fundamentally change the behaviour of the currency markets?Shows how to distil the vast amount of information in financial markets and identify what is importantDemonstrates how the "New Economy" had changed financial market behaviourExplains how to follow the behaviour of central banks
Based on the work of Karl "Chip" Case, who is renowned for his scientific contributions to the economics of housing and public policy, this is a must read during a time of restructuring our nation's system of housing finance.
Vito Tanzi offers a truly comprehensive treatment of the economic role of the state in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from a historical and world perspective. The book addresses the fundamental question of what governments should do, or have attempted to do, in economic activities in past and recent periods. It also speculates on what they are likely or may be forced to do in future years. The investigation assembles a large set of statistical information that should prove useful to policy-makers and scholars in the perennial discussion of government's optimal economic roles. It will become an essential reference work on the analytical borders between the market and the state, and on what a reasonable 'exit strategy' from the current fiscal crises should be.
Offering a cross-comparative study of the transition regimes of the countries formerly characterized by Soviet central planning, Pomfret (economics, U. of Adelaide) argues that the imposition of the Washington consensus has been a qualified success across the board. A major theme of the work is whether economists were able to accurately predict the economic behavior and results of the transition economies and whether they were able to learn from discrepancies. His analysis of this is surprisingly positive, although the arguments for the immediate benefits of mass privatization are noted to be deficient (in hindsight for Pomfret). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This new book by two leading economists is a far-reaching analysis of the role and organization of the financial system in the aftermath of the economic crisis. The authors argue that the financial markets, as currently organized, hinder genuine market transactions and therefore harm the economy, along with any chance of sustained recovery. Despite the crisis, the power of the financial markets has continued to grow. Far from being subjected to major restructuring or regulation, they continue to rule largely unchecked - laying down economic policies, deposing governments, disrupting social contracts and reshaping international alliances. The time has come to think through more radical proposals for reform - to save other markets from the overwhelming power of the one market that has come to dominate them all, the financial market. Through a detailed examination of specific measures - from policies aimed at reigning in financial markets to the idea of local currencies that could be used to foster economic development within localities and regions - the authors develop a set of proposals that would help to revitalize markets, free them from the domineering power of finance and re-establish the relationship between creditor and debtor that was severed by the rise of the modern financial system. Building on their very successful work The End of Finance, this new and timely book will appeal to students of economics, politics and sociology as well as to general readers interested in one of the key issues of our time.
In Poland's jump to the Market Economy, Jeffrey Sachs provides an insider's analysis of the political events and economic strategy behind the country's swift transition to capitalism and democracy. The greatest challenges to economic reform, Sachs points out, have been primarily political in nature, rather than social or even economic.Sachs reviews Poland's striking progress since the start of the economic reforms three years ago, which he helped to design. He discusses the gains - more than half of employment and GDP is now in the private sector, exports to Western Europe have more than doubled, and economic growth and confidence are returning - as well as the serious problems that remain - high unemployment, a chronic fiscal deficit, the slow pace of privatization of large industrial enterprises, and the fragility of multiparty coalition governments.Sachs points out that leadership is crucial to economic reform in a newly democratic setting, as is the West's timely economic assistance. In Poland's case, the Zloty Stabilization Fund and the two-stage debt cancellation have been essential to keeping the reform program on track.Poland's example has had a powerful impact on reforms throughout the region, including the former Soviet Union, and has done much to dispel the fear that the citizens themselves, allegedly made lazy by decades of socialism, would reject the competitive rigors of a market economy. Overall, Sachs remains firmly convinced of the potential for successful economic reforms. in Poland and the rest of the region.Jeffrey Sachs is Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University, and has been an economic advisor to more than a dozen countries around the world, including Bolivia, Mongolia, Poland, and Russia.
The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity.Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century.The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.