Monetary-policy

I would love to read this book because I heard it was amazing, BUT Elephant Books sent me the wrong book. Now they will not return my phone calls or numerous emails, and they were done in good taste so I do not understand why they would not return my messages. Just wanted you all to know so you do not get shafted like I did. Have a great day!

This is a nifty book. It givesa wide view of ways that a small business entrepreneur can use the Internet to market successfully. The dot.com craze may be over, but that doesn't mean that the Internet won't continue to be a long-term vital tool in marketing for small business. With this book, any budding or seasoned entrepreneur will gain a learn of get many wokrable strategies.

A great book that reflects the real problems that lead to the economic crisis in December 2001. Today's Argentinian populist politicians should read this book to learn that the Convertibility system was not the cause of the problem but in fact it was the fiscal irresponsability of the provinces, causing fiscal deficits that were imposible to deal with.
If you need to study the Argentina case you should definitly buy this book and learn the truth about it.

I used this book for a business school "Central Banking" class recently. Michael Mussa really knew what he was talking about, and he writes concisely and elegantly.

He analyzed the effects on the Argentinian economy of irresponsbible fiscal and monetary policies. And in the process of doing so, he also convincingly illustrated the intercation between fiscal and monetary policies and its implications in steering the economy in general.

Best book written on Argentinian economy I have ever read. Two-thumbs up!

Clearly the best book on Eurodollar futures and options. The book is a must for anyone involved in fixed income securities.

Having just finished reading the author's treatment of bond futures in the 'Treasury Bond Basis,' I was happy to see that Burghardt was updating some of his material from the early 1990s on Eurodollar futures. The 'Bond Basis' was an excellent and thorough analysis, and 'The Eurodollar Futures and Options Handbook' follows the same trend.

He provides an excellent overview of the institutional details of Eurodollars and their uses. The book is at its strongest when dealing with issues of the convexity bias and also scores high by not neglecting important issues like the stub period. Perhaps my favorite chapter was on callable bonds and the extension/compression risk, which, while a little misplaced in a book on Eurodollars, still provided a very lucid explanation of the relevant issues.

With regard to options, the author touches upon some of the interest strategic combinations using serial and mid-curve options, but I feel that he could've delved a bit deeper in this part of the book. It's the only area in which I felt the book was somewhat lacking.

Having said all that, if you're looking to learn about Eurodollar futures, I can't imagine there's a better book out there. This is an excellent compilation of a number of Burghardt's research from the 1990s together with more recent updates. Even if Eurodollars are not your main area of expertise, this book will still help you to gain a more solid understanding of many of the pertinent topics in fixed income.

While most economists are still puzzled by the most recent foreign exchange and banking crises - such as the ones that took place last year in Argentina and Uruguay - and some of them (like Stiglitz) are proposing reckless and innefective solutions, such as abolishing the IMF and most of the existing international agencies, Jean Tirole presents a more pensive and fruitful explanation of why these crises occur, and sheds new light towards a much more effective solution. His approach is based on a new field of agency theory called Corporate Finance, which deals with the set of institutions that make it credible for the suppliers of funds to recover their investments in an specific firm.

Tirole applies the basic principles of the prudential regulation of banks, that he worked before in collaboration with Mathias Dewatripont (MIT Press, 1994, ISBN: 0262041464), and which contains much of what we have learned through the twentieth century about financial crises. According to this approach, both the international financial and monetary systems would work much better if we had international risk classifying agencies on the one hand, providing information to investors about the liquidity and solvency of debtor countries, and a lender of last resort on the other. The trouble with the IMF is that it tries to perform both functions.

However, what makes external borrowing more complicated than a typical financial arrangement is the presence of a third player, that is the borrower's government which has both the incentives and the means to affect the foreing investor's return by manipulating the exchange rate or the capital mobility. Because the investors' return is affected by the behaviour of two agents, the borrower himself and its government, Tirole calls this a dual agency problem.

Tirole proposes an institutional reform in which the IMF should redefine its original mission, by concentrating in the role of facilitating the country's favourable access to foreign borrowing. This role underlies the (controversial) task of pre-qualification and conditionality. The IMF should also redefine its internal structure if it wants to perform well this new role. Its Board of Governors is too big and too heterogeneous to allow rapid and efficient decisions.

In summary, this book presents and original and groundbreaking approach to financial crises which, as we expected from the beginning, arises more questions than answers. However, we know that the only way to find the appropriate solution to a problem is by formulating the right questions, and this is exactly what Tirole does. I am convinced that if the international agencies follow this approach they will soon find the right way to prevent or to lessen international financial crises, in the same way as central banks and financial regulatory agencies did with domestic banking crises during the last century.

Tirole has written an invaluable book that sheds light to a complex and extremley actual topic. By showing once again his seriousness as an economist (as opposed to others; i.e. Stiglitz), he goes back to first principles to understand the source of problems in international contracts. The application of modern corporate finance to international finance is extraordinary.
Even the first chapters should be obligatory reading to any student of international macro (even in the first macro course). The first one gives a concise history of modern currency crisis -the so called first twenty-first century crisis- while the second one masterfully summarizes the economists views on the subject.
Good economics, great topic, amazing timing.

The growing movement against neo-liberal policies needs more books like this, one that really examine if their propaganda matches up tough scrutiny. As Vreeland discusses to much of supposed statistical studies showing the harms of IMF policies mearly state "countries in IMF conditionalities do worse in criteria X than countries that do not" which he cmpares to simply saying people who go to a doctor are found to be sicker than those who do not. This book - not the final answer to the question - provides a first good study of the effects of IMF programs. While he dose find that IMF programs do negatively effect growth I believe many who have organized against the IMF will be surprised by how small the difference is. His findings that the programs exacerbate economic inequality are hardly new yet are a nice new addition to the literature. Most interesting - and where this book is a serious and importantant contribution is inhis studies on the what determines a countries participation in the IMF program. Combiming anecdotal evidence, logical anlysis and statistical studies he shows that it is largely determined by desire of the executive branch to have the conditions imposed on their country. To the extent that this is accuarate then the anti-IMF movement might need to rewrite its propaganda of the IMF being about class war of the first world nations against the third world countries to being about class war from the world capitalist against the world's workers.

In this book Vreeland offers a cogent analysis of why governments enter into IMF agreements, and identifies startling effects of the effect of such programs on host country economic performance.

Unlike Stiglitz in "Globalization and Its Discontents," Vreeland takes a quantitative approach in measuring the effects of IMF programs. His work seems less concerned with the empty rhetoric that surrounds the anti-globalization movement that have pre-occupied many IMF crtics, and instead draws heavily upon statstical evidence.

Not the only book published recently about the IMF in academia, but certainly one of the better ones.

The best parts of this book are (a) a very clear description of a number of control methods which can be used in practice; (b) very useful survey of macroeconomic models which can be used in practice. The application on India is very useful for deleopmnent planners and researchers. There are many books on useless methods which in practice can not work, but this book is a very exception. Every methods explained here are original and work in practice.

The book consists of the following chapters: 1. India's Economic Scene and the Behaviours of the Monetary-Financial Instruments; 2. Methods of Optimal Control; 3. Recent Advances in Macroeconomic Policy Analysis ands the Analytical Structure of the Control Model 4. Estimation and Analysis of the Model 5. Analysis of the Result of the Control System.

This book is excellent. It covers a wide variety of topics and areas of interest, including the theory about finance and development, econometric evidence, and institutional issues. It is a great service to the economic profession and to any one interested in what a growing financial system means to the developing world. Unfortunately, it does not cover the important topic of financial crisis, which is clearly relevant to the developing world today; but it offers a solid and broad look at the arguments and issues of financial development in tranquil circumstances.

99

This work, along with Friedberg's book and Hessler's work, make up the three primary basic reference works on United States Currency. The Catalog contains an excellent reference section on National Bank Notes, receiving much more press than in Friedberg's work. The pricing, while out of date, is actually fairly realistic in today's market, unlike the Black Book or even Friedberg's book. A great plus is that this work is cross referenced by Friedberg Numbers, which are the standard cataloging numbers used by all dealers and collectors in the hobby. Well worth the investment!

I'm interesting in catalog of all US paper money. Something o it. Am i find my interesting?

This is indeed an interesting book, the only topic really missing being the debate on competitive banking under 100% reserves versus fractional reserve free banking. Chapters on, among other topics, dynamic inconsistency, monetary rules and competitive supply of fiat-type money-with a lucid critique of the Klein-Hayek model-are absolutely excellent. The math is accessible although at a serious level.

A great book. It is very comprehensive and written in a simple way (regarding the complexity of the themes it deals with). The investigation is very objective, it uses sound theoretical analysis and different mathematical models (which he explains in relatively simple terms), contrasting them with the historical evidence and empirical data. It treats the history and development of money (from commodity money to fiat money), and monetary institutions, doing an exceptional analysis of the gold standard, its costs and benefits. It also analyzes the role of Central Bank's in money and banking, and uses various models used to try to explain the Central Bank's behavior, according to different goals that Central Banks may have. Finally, it discusses alternative monetary proposals from Friedman to Yeager, with its pros and cons. In conclusion, a great book to update and deepen your knowledge about money and banking.

This books is excellent if you want to understand what really happened during the Spanish transition to democracy. It shows how large Spanish banks came to dominate the Spanish economy and how they retained their power even as the political system changed dramatically (first with the civil war, then with the transition of the 70s). It is the only account that I have read about Spain that delves into the real centers of power during that period. My only qualm is that the writing is a bit academic, and some of it requires fairly good knowledge of economic theory.

This amazing book focuses on the relationship between the economic power of Spain's largest financial institutions and the political power of successive Spanish governments. It gives an excellent view of how economic power manages to control the three legal powers of the State in modern European democracies. Definitively a must read!!

This book is a great example of social-science research on the politics of financial reform. Although focused on the Spanish banking sector, it makes comparisons with other European countries, especially France. Easily one of the best political analyses of the power of private banks in emerging economies. Highly recommended for those interested in understanding the forthcoming European Economic and Monetary Union of 1999.