Monetary economics Books

Book SynopsisEn esta nueva obra el economista y escritor Russell Roberts logra acercarnos al funcionamiento de la economía a través de los conflictos cotidianos del protagonista de su relato. Un relato que no sólo revela el prodigioso mecanismo por el que se establecen los precios y se mueven los engranajes de la economía, sino que además invita al lector a hacerse preguntas sobre la enorme influencia que ello tiene en nuestras vidas.

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Book SynopsisThe aim of this book is to explore the preconditions of a European political economy. The establishment of the monetary union and the European Central Bank constitutes a major step towards greater economic, social and political integration between the Member States of the European Union, and is therefore a momentous event in European history. What do the historically given preconditions of a European political economy mean in practice and theory in terms of future possibilities? With a historical perspective on European monetary integration, from the strains in the dollar-based Bretton Woods order in the 1960s and earlier, the Werner Plan around 1970, and the internal market in the 1980s to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, future prospects of EMU are discussed. The book is based on the reflections of a working group at the European University Institute in Florence in operation from 1999 to 2001. The fifteen chapters are organised in clusters on the historical and conceptual setting, on financial institutions and economic theory, on social practices and legal framework, and on future prospects. Historians, philosophers, economists, political scientists and sociologists contribute to this interdisciplinary attempt to come to terms with both the preconditions and the prospects of EMU.

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Book SynopsisThis study of the Visigothic kingdom's monetary system in southern Gaul and Hispania from the fifth century through the Muslim invasion of Spain fills a major gap in the scholarship of late antiquity. Examining all aspects of the making of currency, it sets minting in relation to questions of state, monarchical power, administration and apparatus, motives for money production, and economy. In the context of the later Roman Empire and its successor states in the West, the minting and currency of the Visigoths reveal shared patterns as well as originality. The analysis brings both economic life and the needs of the state into sharper focus, with significant implications for the study of an essential element in daily life and government. This study combines an appreciation for the surprising level of sophistication in the Visigothic minting system with an accessible approach to a subject which can seem complex and abstruse.Trade Review"Kurt has made an outstanding effort of assembling this large and challenging body of work and placing it in the context of economic and political questions of wider interest. [...] The Visigothic kingdom has been relatively neglected by anyone other than its specialists—due partly to its abrupt historical end and partly to the deficiencies of the sources—but Kurt’s book turns this situation around completely. Although many of his conclusions will be debated, by bringing together a major body of neglected evidence for the actual functioning of a post-Roman successor state, he has put the Visigoths in a central position for any progress in understanding the development of early medieval states from the legacy of late antiquity."- David Yoon, American Numismatic Society, Speculum 96/4 (October 2021) "The monograph is an exemplary work of inter-disciplinary scholarship that draws from the work of previous numismatists and those who are currently active. It is a fine blend of history and archaeology. [...] Institutions are encouraged to make room for this book in their collections to give access to all those interested, academic and novice alike. [...] Andrew Kurt is to be lauded for such a superb work of scholarship that will for sure have an important place in Visigothic numismatics from this point forward."- Alberto Ferreiro, Francia Recensio, Mittelalter - Moyen ge (500–1500), 2021, 1 "Estamos ante una obra que cubre gran parte de las lagunas persistentes hasta el momento en el campo de la numismática visigoda y que, sin duda, se convertirá en una referencia obligada."- Cruces Blázquez Cerrato, Zephyrus: Journal of Prehistory and Archeology 2020, 86 "Kurt’s book is both an important and significant contribution to scholarship on Visigothic fiscal, numismatic and governance issues. [...] Kurt succeeds in mediating the complexities of the historiographical issues and renders these into a tight and well-structured argument based on impressive technical and historical foundations." - Christopher Heath, Al-Mas.q, Vol. 34, Iss. 1Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction I - Pre-Regal Visigothic Coinage The Fifth-century Kingdom in Gaul The Kingdom in Spain, 507-c. 573 II - The King's Coinage: The Beginning and Development of the Regal Coinage (c. 573-c. 720) Transition to a Regal Coinage Regal Coin Types A Trimetallic System? III - The Activities of the Mints From c. 573 to c. 720 The Operation of the Mints The Record of Mint Output The Organization of the Mints Metrological and Metallurgical Standards IV - Why Were Gold Coins Struck in the Visigothic Kingdom? The Late Roman Context Other Reasons for Minting The Addition of Bronze to the Corpus Visigothic Minting in the Context of Contemporary Monetary Systems V - Royal Control of Visigothic Minting The Evidence The Significance of Centralized Monetary Authority VI - Coinage in Spain in the Aftermath of the Islamic Conquest VII - Visigothic Currency in the Early Medieval Economy The Other Side of the Coin Use and Circulation of Currency in the Kingdom Bronze Currency in Spain and its Mediterranean Context Conclusion Appendix I Appendix II Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive book presents a systematic and practically oriented approach to mathematical modeling in finance, particularly in the foreign exchange context. It describes all the relevant aspects of financial engineering, including derivative pricing, in detail. The book is self-contained, with the necessary mathematical, economic, and trading background carefully explained. In addition to the lucid treatment of the standard material, it describes many original results.The book can be used both as a text for students of financial engineering, and as a basic reference for risk managers, traders, and academics.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Foreign Exchange Markets; Mathematical Preliminaries: Elements of Probability Theory; Discrete-Time Stochastic Engines; Continuous-Time Stochastic Engines; Discrete-Time Models: Single-Period Markets; Multi-Period Markets; Continuous-Time Models: Stochastic Dynamics of Forex; European Options: The Group-Theoretical Approach; European Options, the Classical Approach; Deviations from the Black-Scholes Paradigm I: Nonconstant Volatility; American Options; Path-Dependent Options I: Barrier Options: Path-Dependent Options II: Lookback, Asian and other Options; Deviations from the Black-Scholes Paradigm II: Market Frictions; Future Directions of Research and Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisThe Federal Reserve System, created in the early 20th century, is now more than a hundred years old. This book takes the reader through the founding and first century of Federal Reserve monetary policy, and uses the analysis of the past to address the present and future issues of central banking.With its focus on the actual policies, rather than the politics or individuals that determined those policies, this book addresses issues that have plagued monetarists since the onset of the Great Recession. Then, it proceeds to discuss the issues that will affect the efficacy of policy in the future. This section of the book is relevant for all central banks as central bank behavior post the onset of the Great Recession was similar throughout the world.The book presents an analysis of the path of inflation that puzzled the experts. It adds an analysis of central banking's ability or lack thereof to influence market interest rates. Lastly, it explains the current exploding crypto-currency craze, its potential to supplant traditional transactions media, and the future of these so-called currencies.

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Book SynopsisIncreased integration of financial markets has led to many tangible economic benefits in Asia and around the world; yet, greater financial globalization has also exposed emerging economies to the vagaries of international capital flows. Harnessing the benefits of financial globalization while mitigating the risks posed by procyclical financial flows is a major preoccupation that has required central bankers in Asia and around the world to extend their focus beyond price and exchange rate stability to include the stability and efficiency of the financial system. This expanded domain of concern for central bankers has brought new, often complex, policy challenges. Since 2014, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, University of Chicago Booth Business School, and National University of Singapore Business School have organised the Asian Monetary Policy Forum (AMPF) annually, bringing together prominent academics, policymakers and private sector economists to deliberate pressing monetary policy issues particularly relevant for Asian countries. The aim is to draw lessons from experience for the benefit of policymakers in the region and beyond. This volume includes selected AMPF speeches and commissioned papers from 2014 to 2020. Based on the latest academic research in economics and finance and written for a more general audience, the chapters cover a range of topics that have assumed central importance in the global monetary and financial system over the past twenty years. These include the efficacy of traditional monetary policy frameworks against the backdrop of synchronised global financial flows, the challenges presented by the US dollar dominance in the international trade and monetary systems, and the optimality of central banks' use of a wider set of policy instruments within an integrated policy framework to attain price and financial stability.Table of ContentsIntroduction to Asian Monetary Policy Forum, 2014–2020: Insights for Central Bankers (Steven J Davis, Edward S Robinson & Bernard Yeung); Getting in All the Cracks or Targeting the Cracks? Securing Financial Stability in the Post-Crisis Era (Ravi Menon); Trilemmas and Tradeoffs (Maurice Obstfeld); Financial Development in Asia: The Role of Policy and Institutions, with Special Reference to China (Barry Eichengreen, George C Pardee and Helen N Pardee ); Currency Wars, Coordination, and Capital Controls (Olivier Blanchard); Systematic Managed Floating (Jeffrey Frankel, James W Harpel); Gauging Procyclicality and Financial Vulnerability in Asia through the BIS Banking and Financial Statistics (Hyun-Song Shin, Stefan Avdjiev & Bat-el Berger); The Dollar Hegemon? Implications for Policy Makers(Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, S K and Angela Chan); Integrated Policy Framework: A Safe Asset Perspective(Markus K Brunnermeier, Edwards S Sanford, Sebastian Merkel & Yuliy Sannikov);

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Book SynopsisThe Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore's central bank and integrated financial regulator. As a central bank, MAS promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth through the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It manages Singapore's exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector through its prudential oversight of all financial institutions in Singapore — banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors and financial market infrastructures. It is also responsible for well-functioning financial markets, sound conduct, and investor education. MAS also works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a dynamic international financial centre. It facilitates the development of infrastructures, adoption of technology, and upgrading of skills in the financial industry.This 50th anniversary compilation provides convenient access to the thinking behind MAS' policies and strategies as they have evolved, through 50 landmark statements by its leaders.

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Book SynopsisFor decades, science and technology (sci-tech) have influenced world trade, world economy, and international finance. However, their specific impacts are seldom known and related empirical studies are rare. Thus, we must quantify and empirically explore how sci-tech influences such areas as mentioned above. The purpose of this book is to explore how sci-tech influences world trade, foreign exchange, and currency internationalization in various ways through first quantifying science & technology. This book empirically explores how major world currencies might change their relative international positions with continuous innovation and diffusion of sci-tech.Currency internationalization is measured by the percentage share of the average daily turnover of a particular currency in the global foreign exchange market over the corresponding overall daily turnover of the global foreign exchange market over the corresponding overall daily turnover of the global foreign exchange market. Sci-tech as a commodity is borderless, yet its inventors and related businesses are bound by the intellectual property laws of their own countries. Patents, especially international patents, are useful representations of sci-tech. They cannot be compared directly because of different criteria of patent regulators worldwide, and thus the quality of patents varies across patent regulators. Based on patent data from annual IP 5 Statistics Reports and charges for the use of IP of major currency issuers released by the WTO, this book quantifies sci-tech internationalization using weighted patent families first, and proceeds to study how sci-tech internationalization affects currency internationalization.

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Book SynopsisThis signature book describes the multiplicity of currencies that have been used in and around the island over the centuries, and how these culminate in the Singapore dollar today. The authors trace the impact, sometimes dramatic, of political and economic events and technological forces shaping these currencies. Singapore has followed its own development path, from the days when, in the first few decades of the colonial settlement, local merchants resisted currency reforms imposed on the island by the East India Company. Greater monetary autonomy was achieved in the second half of the 19th century when Singapore became a Crown colony in its own right. The drive towards self-representation culminated in full internal self-government in 1959, independence from British colonial rule in 1963 as part of the Federation of Malaysia, and the status of a sovereign nation in 1965. The introduction of Singapore's own currency in 1967 was a national milestone. In 1971, Singapore established the Monetary Authority of Singapore with the sovereign power to undertake monetary policy as it deemed most appropriate. Money has evolved from coins minted from precious metals to those struck from baser metals, to notes issued first by commercial banks and later by governments. The journey from commodity-based money to a purely fiat money has unfolded in parallel. The use of money in its electronic and more 'weightless' forms has also become increasingly common. The powerful effects this trend will have on the nature of money and banking are still unfolding. All these issues, and more, are examined in this book, published to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in January 1971.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the problem of the definition of money and investigates the gains that can be achieved by a rigorous use of microeconomic- and aggregation-theoretic foundations in the construction of monetary aggregates. It provides readers with key aspects of monetary economics and macroeconomics, including monetary aggregation, demand systems, flexible functional forms, long-run monetary neutrality, the welfare cost of inflation, and nonlinear chaotic dynamics.This book offers the following conclusions: the simple-sum approach to monetary aggregation and log-linear money demand functions, currently used by central banks, are inappropriate for monetary policy purposes; the choice of monetary aggregation procedure is crucial in evaluating the welfare cost of inflation; the inter-related problems of monetary aggregation and money demand will be successfully investigated in the context of flexible functional forms that satisfy theoretical regularity globally, pointing the way forward to useful and productive research.Table of ContentsThe Theory of Monetary Aggregation; Money, Prices, and Income; Aggregation, Inflation, and Welfare; Chaotic Monetary Dynamics; Monetary Asset Demand Systems; Dynamic Asset Demand Systems; Empirical Comparisons.

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Book SynopsisThis important book comprises insightful papers on lessons learned from some major exchange rate and monetary experiences in Asia, exchange rate crisis management in Asia and choice of exchange rate systems in Asia. Originally published in the Singapore Economic Review, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2007, it deals primarily with the exchange rate systems and policies in the three largest economies in Asia: China, Japan and India. It also contains a paper on Singapore's exchange rate system, whose success could make it a role model for other small open economies. Notable contributors include Ronald McKinnon and John Williamson, among others. The editor is the original designer of China's latest exchange rate system reform.Table of ContentsEditorial Overview: Important Lessons from Some Major Exchange Rate and Monetary Experiences in Asia (P S L Yip); The International Monetary Fund and Exchange Rate Crisis Management (C-Y Lim); The Case for an Intermediate Exchange Rate Regime (J Williamson); Japan's Deflationary Hangover: Wage Stagnation and the Syndrome of the Ever-Weaker Yen (R McKinnon); Managing Flexibility: Japanese Exchange Rate Policy, 1971-2007 (S Takagi); China's Exchange Rate System Reform (P S L Yip); The Fog Encircling the Renminbi Debate (Y-W Cheung et al.); Insulation of India from the East Asian Crisis: An Analysis (P Dua & A Sinha); Singapore's Exchange Rate Policy: Some Implementation Issues (H-K Chow).

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Book SynopsisThe Euro area is an extremely unique and important currency area for two reasons. First, it is the single largest currency area to be created in an industrialized region and is important as a test case for regions contemplating the establishment of new currency areas, such as East Asia and North America. Second, it was established by sovereign states working as peers, which, despite various challenges, peacefully and autonomously decided to create a single currency area.Marking the 10th anniversary of the creation of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Euro, this invaluable book analyzes the monetary policy of the ECB — the guardian of the Euro — by using recently developed econometric methods. The analysis performed in this book marks a substantial contribution toward understanding the significance of the Euro area as well as the future of the Euro from an international perspective.Table of ContentsHistorical Background of the Euro; Demand for Money in the Euro Area; Monetary Policy Rule of the ECB; Term Structure of the Interest Rates in the Euro Area; Are Budget Deficits Sustainable in the Euro Area?; Financial Integration in the Euro Area.

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Book SynopsisSince the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, there has been a deep and abiding desire on the part of Asian policy makers and opinion makers to enhance the region's economic, monetary and financial self-sufficiency — or at least to ring-fence the region against financial instability and give it a louder voice in global financial affairs. There has been progress in these directions, notably in the form of the Chiang Mai Initiative of financial supports and the Asian Bond Market Initiative to build a single Asian financial market. But progress is hindered by disagreements among the principal national governments — Japan, China and South Korea — and resistance to the development of an Asian bloc from both Europe and the United States.This volume considers these issues from a number of different national and analytical perspectives. Scholars from all the relevant regions and countries are represented: Japan, China, Korea, Europe and the United States. While there have been a few previous books and articles concerned with the issue of Asian integration, this is one of the first volumes to successfully draw together top contributors from these different countries and regions to address the issues in a rigorous but relatively accessible way.Table of ContentsEditors' Introduction (D-K Chung & B Eichengreen); Fostering Monetary and Exchange Rate Cooperation in East Asia (B Eichengreen); The Connections between Financial and Monetary Cooperation in East Asia (H-Y Chai & D R Yoon); Financial Integration and Exchange Rate Coordination in East Asia (W Moon & Y Rhee); An Asian Currency Unit for Regional Exchange Rate Policy Coordination (M Kawai); Asian Monetary Unification: Lessons from Europe (P De Grauwe); Managing Foreign Exchange Reserves: The Case of China (Y Yu); The Integration Process in East Asia: Japan's Experience and Policy Agenda (M Itoh).

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive overview, in the form of eight long essays, of the evolution of monetary theory over the three-quarters of century, from the time of Keynes to the present day. The essays are originally based on lecture notes from a graduate course on Advanced Monetary Economics offered at York University, Toronto, written in the style of academic papers. The essays are mathematical in method — but also take a historical perspective, tracing the evolution of monetary thought through the Keynesian model, the monetarist model, new classical model, etc, up to and including the neo-Wickesellian models of the early 21st century. The book will be an essential resource for both graduate and advanced undergraduate students in economics, as well as for individual researchers seeking basic information on the theoretical background of contemporary debates.Table of ContentsVariations on the Theme of the Quantity Theory of Money; Keynes, Samuelson, Hicks, and Keynesian EconomicsA"; The Visible HandA" at the Macroeconomic Level; Long-Run Models of Monetary Growth; Wicksellian and Neo-Wicksellian Monetary Models; Mathematical Optimization and Monetary Economics; Non-Monetary Theories of Economic Growth; Endogenous Money, Economic Growth, Inflation and Income Distribution.

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses the topical issue of whether the current environment in the US and other major countries, where quantitative easing is used to boost the economy, is conducive to the emergence of hyperinflation. This is a controversial and highly debated issue. Using both economics and history, the author challenges the view that quantitative easing will not lead to hyperinflation and argues that hyperinflation, or at least high inflation, is likely to appear eventually.The book examines all the propositions put forward for and against the eventuality of hyperinflation in the US, using illustrations based on actual and simulated data. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the current fiscal position of the US government, particularly the levels of external debt and unfunded liabilities, will not be rectified without resorting to inflationary financing. The book would be useful not only for policy makers and economists but also for non-specialist observers.Table of ContentsThe Concept and Measurement of Inflation; The Causes and Consequences of Inflation; The Phenomenon of Hyperinflation; The History of Fiat Currency and Hyperinflation; Hyperinflationary Episodes since the 1970s; The Current State of Affairs: Heading Towards Hyperinflation?; Concluding Thoughts.

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Book SynopsisIndia's financial sector has undergone significant changes following the start of the economic liberalization in the early 1990s. In addition to providing important information on monetary and financial issues in India, this book also provides examples to analyze a developing economy by using macro-financial data. The book also focuses on three main topics, that is, monetary policy, financial markets and finance-poverty nexus, and provides new insights into these issues by applying some recently developed quantitative techniques.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Monetary Policy in India: Past, Present and Future: Money Demand Stability and Monetary Targeting; Multiple Indicator Approach as the Present Policy Framework; Has the Taylor-Rule Worked in India?: The Applicability of Inflation Targeting; Financial Market in India: Stock Market: Causal Relationship between Stock Returns and FIIs Investment; Commodity Market: Market Efficiency of Commodity Futures; Foreign Exchange Market: What Explains Exchange Rage Fluctuations?; Central Bank Intervention and Exchange Rate Movements; Finance Development and Poverty Alleviation in India: Financial Deepening and Poverty Alleviation; Financial Permeation and Poverty Alleviation; Concluding Remarks.

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Book SynopsisRMB: Towards Internationalization takes an in-depth look at the exchange rate regime of China's currency, the RMB, including the arrangements, related policies and management, and corresponding policy recommendations. This is the first book to apply the theories of fictitious economy, complexity science and the principles of international finance to analyze the RMB exchange rate regime. For readers interested in China's economy in general and RMB internationalization in particular, this book provides an entirely new analytical framework on the history and evolution of RMB exchange regime and on its future development.Table of ContentsRMB Internalization is an Irreversible Trend; Exchange Rate Problem in View of Fictitious Economy; The Choice of Exchange Rate System Arrangement: Theoretical Analysis; The Choice of Exchange Rate System Arrangement: Case Studies; The Evolution of RMB Exchange Rate Regime Arrangement; The Setting of the RMB Central Exchange Rate; Capital Account Liberalization; Approaches to Achieve RMB Internationalization;

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that only by reforming the international monetary system can we prevent financial crises in the future and the internationalization of the Renminbi, China's national currency, will be an important step in the process.Just as the old saying goes, 'An old building needs to be demolished before a new one can be erected in its place,' there will be no construction without destruction. The commencement of the dismantling of the old monetary system is also the beginning of the construction of the new one. Contrary to Western rhetoric, which portrays China as part of the cause of the recent financial crisis, the author contends that China is actually a victim of the current unjust international economic and monetary system. To address the imbalance and break the dollar-dominated international monetary system, the author calls for the internationalization of the Renminbi and diversification of the international monetary system.Written by one of the foremost financial practitioners in China, this book is thought-provoking and provides a unique Chinese perspective on how the international monetary system should be reformed, what the future system should look like and the role China should play in the process. It is a required reading for anyone interested in understanding China's own vision in its rise in the global political, economic and financial systems.Table of ContentsEvolution of the International Monetary System: The Gold Standard; The Gold-exchange Standard; The Bretton Woods System; Patterns in the Evolution of the International Monetary System; The Current International Monetary System: Characteristics of the Current International Monetary System; Appraisal of the Current International Monetary System; Sustainability of the Current International Monetary System - An Analysis; Global Financial Crisis and the International Monetary System: Causes, Development and Impact of the Global Financial Crisis; Global Financial Crisis' Impact on the International Monetary System; Adjust Global Economic Imbalance and Reform the International Monetary System; Reform of the Current International Monetary System: Proposals for Reforming the International Monetary System; Realistic Choice for Reforming the International Monetary System; China and Current International Monetary System Reform; Regional Currency Cooperation: Regional Currency Cooperation Theory; European Currency Cooperation; East Asian Currency Cooperation; China and East Asian Currency Cooperation; Internationalization of the Renminbi: Currency Internationalization; Internationalization of Major Currencies; Current State of the Internationalization of the Renminbi; Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Internationalization of the Renminbi; Pathway Towards Internationalizing the Renminbi;

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Book SynopsisSince the 2008 global financial crisis, the debate on the reform of the international monetary system (IMS) has gained new momentum. It questioned the desirability of the current system's excessive reliance on the US dollar despite the fact that the US financial system has proven to be less than perfect, and US monetary policy stance has not been in tune with the business cycle of the rest of the world. However, attempts to reform the IMF or strengthen regional safety nets have not produced material results. With the challenges in the euro area persisting, the dollar is very likely to stay as the main reserve currency for the foreseeable future.Against this background, this book prescribes concrete steps on how to shape an alternative monetary system that will be a win-win solution to all without having to strike an international agreement on a new global governance structure. It proposes to use the RMB — already in motion to become an international currency — to become the third pillar without the need for China to open its capital account prematurely.For policy makers, this book will help them rethink how they can approach the problems facing the IMS. For the general readers, it will offer them a comprehensive view on what the international monetary system is about, what the problems are, and how these problems can be addressed. In particular, it will equip them with a better sense of what currencies they will need to carry when traveling around the world, or in what currencies they should hold their wealth in the coming decades.Table of ContentsOverview; Issues and Challenges of International Monetary Reform; East Asia Perception of the Global Safety Net, IMF; Use of National Currencies for Trade Settlement in East Asia: A Proposal; Shaping the Future of the IMS: Regionalization of Selected Asian Currencies; Conclusion;

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Book SynopsisThe aftermath of the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 saw its influence spread around the world, including Europe. The European crisis turned out to be longer, deeper and more resilient than anticipated. An unexpected consequence was the increasingly divergent economic and financial situation of two main groups of countries within the Eurozone, which includes the countries that adopt the euro as their common currency. The divergence was caused by a number of factors, fundamentally stemming from the dissimilar economic and financial situation of its member countries and from the incomplete institutional architecture and the monetary and fiscal policies in the Eurozone.One Currency, Two Europes: Towards a Dual Eurozone seeks to explore these factors which give rise to the Eurozone's asymmetric composition and the growing difficulties and ineffectiveness that policies meet. It presents evidence to show how the presently incomplete institutional architecture of the Eurozone is the main reason for the extreme detrimental effects of the international crisis and austerity policies, along with the asymmetric economic situation and the insufficient mutual trust demonstrated by the vulnerable as well as resilient countries.Other than presenting a complete overview and analysis of the events that unfolded in the Eurozone as a result of the financial crisis that first emerged in the US, this book also suggests possible solutions which could help to reunify the Eurozone, and make the common currency sustainable and beneficial for all member countries. One Currency, Two Europes will be useful for policymakers who want to learn from the Eurozone's experience with the financial crisis and the importance of complete institutional architectures and inter-country economic convergence. It will also serve as a reference to students and researchers who would like more in-depth analysis of the crisis and the Eurozone's fiscal, monetary and institutional past, present, and future.Table of ContentsAcronyms; Preface and Acknowledgments; Introduction: Prolegomena to the International Crisis; The Facts: The Crisis and the Eurozone: The World Economy and Europe; The International Crisis and Its Origin; Financial Causes and Real Sources of the European Crisis; Institutions and Policies: The Internal Economic Asymmetry of the Eurozone; Convergence and Divergence in the Eurozone; The Eurozone as a Quasi-Optimum Currency Area; A Detour on the Working of the EU: The Asymmetric and Incomplete Build-Up of the Union; Outcomes and Ways Out: Policies and their Frames; The Crisis and the Incomplete Institutional Architecture; Internal Contagion and the Eurozone Economies; Policies Under the Blow of the Crisis; Conclusions: An Uneasy Match; Bibliography; Index;

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