During risk-off episodes, the yen is a safe haven currency and on average appreciates against the U.S. dollar. We investigate the proximate causes of yen risk-off appreciations. We find that neither capital inflows nor expectations of the future monetary policy stance can explain the yen’s safe haven behavior. In contrast, we find evidence that changes in market participants’ risk perceptions trigger derivatives trading, which in turn lead to changes in the spot exchange rate without capital flows. Specifically, we find that risk-off episodes coincide with forward hedging and reduced net short positions or a buildup of net long positions in yen. These empirical findings suggest that offshore and complex financial transactions should be part of spillover analyses and that the effectiveness of capital flow management measures or monetary policy coordination to address excessive exchange rate volatility might be limited in certain cases.
Currency Competition and Foreign Exchange Markets by Philipp Hartmann of the European Central Bank is a major theoretical and empirical study of international currencies, which focuses on the role which the Euro will play in the international monetary and financial system along with the US dollar and the Japanese yen. In contrast to much of the existing literature which approaches the subject from a macroeconomic perspective, Philipp Hartmann develops a theoretical model which uses game theory, time series and panel econometrics, and links financial markets analysis with transaction cost economics. The results of Currency Competition and Foreign Exchange Markets are presented with reference to political, historical and institutional considerations, and provide accessible answers to policy-makers, business people and scholars worldwide. The sections on Spread Estimation and Multiple Vehicles with Inter-Dealer Price and Entry Competition will be of particular use for finance professionals.
With its per capita income surpassing US$10,000, China has now drawn up ambitious plans to further lift its income to the level of developed countries. Yet various constraints need to be overcome if China is to build on the achievements of the last 40 years and further boost its growth potential. Besides these constraints, the year 2020 saw human societies hit heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economy caught off guard and dipped into recessions caused by lockdown measures for controlling the spread of the pandemic. Nations around the world have experienced grave loss of human life and lockdown measures have knocked economies from their normal growth trajectories. Even as the pandemic continues to unfold, all signs point to China as being the first major economy to have emerged out of the crisis. But many questions remain. Has the Chinese economy emerged from the pandemic crisis relatively unscathed? What are the long-term prospects for its economy? This year’s Update book, China’s Challenges in Moving towards a High-income Economy, explores the challenges faced by the Chinese economy in the transition towards a high-income economy, including agricultural development, finance and fiscal system reform, RMB internationalisation, trends in urbanisation, as well as topics related to innovation, corporate sector development and market competition. China’s growth experience has been full of exciting changes and important lessons for reform and structural changes, and this year’s China Update is again the way to gain insights into these.
The authors of this book argue that post-war fiscal and monetary policies in the U.S. are prone to more frequent and more destabilizing domestic and international financial crises. So, in the aftermath of the one that erupted in 2008, they propose that now we are sleepwalking into another, which under the prevailing institutional circumstances could develop into a worldwide financial Armageddon. Thinking ahead of such a calamity, this book presents for the first time a model of democratic governance with privately produced money based on the case of Athens in Classical times, and explains why, if it is conceived as a benchmark for reference and adaptation, it may provide an effective way out from the dreadful predicament that state managed fiat money holds for the stability of Western-type democracies and the international financial system. As the U.S. today, Athens at that time reached the apex of its military, economic, political, cultural, and scientific influence in the world. But Athens triumphed through different approaches to democracy and fundamentally different fiscal and monetary policies than the U.S. Thus the readers will have the opportunity to learn about these differences and appreciate the potential they offer for confronting the challenges contemporary democracies face under the leadership of the U.S. The book will find audiences among academics, university students, and researchers across a wide range of fields and subfields, as well as legislators, fiscal and monetary policy makers, and economic and financial consultants.
Providing a valuable resource for secondary school and college students as well as the general public investigating the process of governance in different countries, this book provides a comprehensive comparative summary of how governments are constituted and operated worldwide. Political systems around the world can be a confusing subject. Why does England have both a monarchy and a prime minister? How does a federal republic differ from a federation and a republic? How is China a communist state without a dictator? And how is the United Nations managed? Governments around the World: From Democracies to Theocracies examines the major types of governments around the world, providing accessible descriptive country examples of each variation that allow readers to understand how governments operate and shape societies and cultures. An excellent resource for high school and college students as well as general readers, this compact one-volume reference work covers forms of government that include democracies, republics, communist states, monarchies, transitional governments, and theocracies as well as transnational organizations. Each chapter begins with an overview of that particular government type, identifying the general philosophies, practices, and ruling structures in addition to making comparisons of several key countries that follow that government type. Additionally, the content includes constitutional excerpts that clarify how human rights are conceptualized and articulated throughout the world.
In Capitalism, Anwar Shaikh demonstrates that most of the central propositions of economic analysis can be derived without any reference to hyperrationality, optimization, perfect competition, perfect information, representative agents or so-called rational expectations. These include the laws of demand and supply, the determination of wage and profit rates, technological change, relative prices, interest rates, bond and equity prices, exchange rates, terms and balance of trade, growth, unemployment, inflation, and long booms culminating in recurrent general crises.
FXstreet.Com’s 2013 Best Book Award! The Sensible Guide to Forex: Safer, Smarter Ways to Survive and Prosper from the Start is written for the risk averse, mainstream retail investor or trader seeking a more effective way to tap forex markets to improve returns and hedge currency risk. As the most widely held currencies are being devalued, they're taking your portfolio down with them—unless you're prepared. For traders, the book focuses on reducing the high risk, complexity, and time demands normally associated with forex trading. For long-term investors, it concentrates on how to hedge currency risk by diversifying portfolios into the strongest currencies for lower risk and higher capital gains and income. The usual forex materials don't provide practical answers for most retail traders or longer term investors. Virtually all forex trading materials focus on time-consuming, high-leverage, high-risk methods at which most traders fail. Materials about long-term investing in foreign assets rarely take into account the prospects of the related currency. A falling currency can turn an otherwise good investment into a bad one. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on planning and executing only low risk, high potential yield trades or investments and avoiding serious losses at all costs. Packed with richly illustrated examples every step of the way and including additional appendices and references to online resources, the book is the ultimate guide to forex for retail traders and investors seeking to tap forex markets for better currency diversification and income. Provides traders with safer, smarter, less complex and time-consuming ways to trade forex with higher odds of success. These include the use of such increasingly popular new instruments like forex binary options and social trading accounts that mimic expert traders. Shows investors how to identify the currencies most likely to hold or increase their value, and provides a wealth of ideas about how to apply that knowledge to a long-term, low-maintenance portfolio for both income and capital appreciation. Helps anyone seeking an asset class with low correlation to other markets by explaining how the very nature of forex markets means that regardless of market conditions there's always a playable trend somewhere, regardless of what other asset markets are doing, and how to find and exploit it for a short-term trade or a long-term investment in a currency pair, stock, bond, or other asset The Sensible Guide to Forex is only book that teaches mainstream risk averse investors and traders how to build a portfolio that’s diversified by currency exposure as well as by asset class and sector, via a variety of safer, simpler methods to suit different needs, risk tolerances, and levels of expertise. Written by Cliff Wachtel, a 30+ year financial market writer, advisor, and analyst, The Sensible Guide to Forex offers practical solutions to the above dilemmas faced by every serious, prudent investor. A must own for any informed investor-but don’t take out word for it - see advanced reviews at: http://thesensibleguidetoforex.com/review/
Markets and Conflict: Economics of War and Peace explores the causes, impacts, and linkages of contemporary geopolitics, markets, and conflict along with their economic impacts on all stakeholders. It compiles the most current research and insights about market behaviours during conflicts of different types and severity, detailing how markets actually respond and what readers can do to implement a proactive early-response strategy. Today's international "order" is one characterized by instability and pervasive danger. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, escalating tension over the status of Taiwan, frozen and active civil wars across dozens of countries, and continued turmoil in the Middle East, including in Syria, Yemen, and Israel, are only some examples of ongoing or potential conflicts. Major and minor armed conflicts flare up or threaten to do so on a continual basis. Market responses to this instability are often irrational and shortsighted. Fear induces volatility in markets, based on panicked efforts to protect individual interests. Markets and Conflict: Economics of War and Peace presents a comprehensive understanding of conflict and market dynamics to enable market participants to make informed judgments. Additionally, it provides lessons related to macro-level dynamics useful to governments and policy analysts. - Compiles and analyzes extant literature on how confl ict and markets interact - Offers strategies to ease or prevent the effects of confl ict - Utilizes a well-structured, clearly written, comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach - Presents self-contained chapters each with conceptual overviews and defi nitions
An expert in the field of international investment furnishes an updated guide to the lucrative but complex world of foreign currency exchange markets for investors of all levels that covers such topics as different types of currency, market forces, emerging technologies, and more.
