Covers the history of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), from its founding in Basel in 1930 to the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1973, with a focus on cooperation among the main central banks for the stability and efficiency of the international monetary system.
The authors of a recent textbook on the Economics of Development (P. A. Yotopoulos and J . B. Nugent, 1976) chose as the title of their first chapter 'The Record of Economic Development and Disillusionment with Development Economics'. It is striking that dissatisfaction with this young branch of the tree of economics has become so strong that a textbook treatment of the subject matter takes Disillusionment as its point of departure. True, the Disillusion ment chapter is followed by many other chapters - there is, after all, some thing to be said on development economics that is worth saying - but the wording has changed, and frequently the focus as well, in comparison to the development economics of the 1950s and 'sixties. Dissatisfaction and disillusionment may be interpreted optimistically as an inevitable stage in the coming-of-age process of development economics. Others may say that the search for a new paradigm is the core of the problem. At any rate, there is no room for complacency. It cannot be denied that at least part of the 'early' development theory came into being as a justification ex post of policy measures that, for a variety of reasons, were judged desirable or essen tial.
Central Banks should enjoy a fair degree of autonomy in pursuing price stability to promote long-run growth and prosperity. This volume, edited by Patrick Downes and Reza Vaez-Zadeh, contains the papers presented at the fifth IMF seminar on central banking issues in November 1990. The theme was the interdependence of central bank functions and the role of central bank autonomy.
Global Corporate Finance, sixth edition provides studentswith the practical skills needed to understand global financialproblems and techniques. Retains the user-friendly format of previous editions whileoffering expanded material on corporate finance and governance,international markets, global financial dynamics and strategies,and risk management techniques Each chapter begins with a real-world case study to be explainedby theories and research findings presented throughout thechapter End-of-chapter mini-cases further reinforce students’understanding of the material covered This edition is supported by a comprehensive Study Guide and anInstructor's Manual, available atwww.blackwellpublishing.com/kim.
The military coup that toppled Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973 led to one of the most repressive military dictatorships in Latin American history. Although the coup's full origin remains one of the great mysteries of the Cold War, most assume that powers in Washington were largely to blame, given the long history of U.S. interventionism in Latin America. These assumptions were only strengthened by ongoing suspicions about the Nixon administration's role in a failed campaign to prevent Allende's inauguration in 1970. Providing a comprehensive account of the Nixon administration's efforts to undermine and unseat Allende, the book relies heavily on newly declassified records, addressing several crucial questions regarding U.S. involvement. The author explores several counterfactual scenarios to highlight important turning points and crucial decisions which contributed to the failure of Chilean democracy.
The book tells the story of the World Bank’s involvement in education, for which lending began in 1963. The study considers how the nature of the Bank as a financial institution has shaped its view of development and globalisation, and how education relates to these. The book examines the reasons why the Bank is involved in education, its education policy stances, the nature and impact of its projects and lending programs, and the Bank as an agent of globalisation. Bank work in education is hugely controversial. All around the world, in industrial countries, in transition economies, and in the poorest countries, the Bank continues to be under fire for its policy prescriptions and its modes of operation. From both left and right, the Bank is a major target of discontent. In the popular imagination, the impact of globalisation and the Bank’s shaping of such fields as education in accordance with neo-liberal and market prescriptions are prime sources of unease. At the same time, the Bank is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented. This book is based on the author’s unique access to the Bank—its files, staff and working documents—over nearly 20 years. The work is based on access to thousands of classified Bank documents and on a large number of interviews with past and present Bank officials. Therefore, while critical of many features the Bank, the book will be recognised as an authoritative guide to Bank policy formation in education.
House price bubbles, and their aftermath, have become a focus of macro-economic policy concern in most developed countries. This book elucidates the two-way relationship between house-price fluctuations and economic fundamentals. Housing has many features which make it distinct from other assets, like equity. Real estate is not only an asset but also a durable consumption good for households, providing shelter and other housing services. As a result, a house is often the largest and most important asset of households and therefore accounts for a major share of household wealth. Similarly a large share of bank assets is tied to housing values. House price fluctuations may, therefore, have a major effect on economic activity and the soundness of the financial system. Following an introductory chapter, the book is structured into three parts. The first demonstrates the importance of house prices as determinants or indicators of inflation and economic activity. The second focuses on the inter-relationships between bank credit extension and housing prices, and how bubbles can lead to financial crises. The third discusses resultant public policy issues, such as whether, and how, to include housing prices in a general inflation index, and how to restrain the housing/bank credit cycle.
The Elgar Companion to The World Bank provides a comprehensive review of the past 80 years for this powerful development institution. Using different theoretical approaches from an expert group of scholars as well as practitioners, it presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the World Bank and the wider field of International Relations.
This book contributes to the study of International Organizations (IOs) by providing a sharp focus on how IOs’ "analytic institutions" interact with states over key policy issues. Analytic institutions include the areas, departments, committees, adjudicatory bodies, and others housed by or linked to IOs that develop the cognitive framework for identifying, understanding, and solving policy problems. Analytic institutions make the state "legible" to IOs and are the key means for how IOs "see" their member states, shaping how international political and economic problems are understood. This book investigates why seeing like an IO matters through cases on leading organizations for global economic governance, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and the World Trade Organization. The contributors demonstrate the benefits of studying IOs "from the inside-out" to enrich our understanding of why issues in the international political economy are governed the way they are. This book was published as a special issue of New Political Economy.