Description
Book SynopsisAn updated look at what Fischer Black''s ideas on business cycles and equilibrium mean today
Throughout his career, Fischer Black described a view of business fluctuations based on the idea that a well-developed economy will be continually in equilibrium. In the essays that constitute this book, which is one of only two books Black ever wrote, he explores this idea thoroughly and reaches some surprising conclusions.
With the newfound popularity of quantitative finance and risk management, the work of Fischer Black has garnered much attention. Business Cycles and Equilibrium-with its theory that economic and financial markets are in a continual equilibrium-is one of his books that still rings true today, given the current economic crisis. This Updated Edition clearly presents Black''s classic theory on business cycles and the concept of equilibrium, and contains a new introduction by the person who knows Black best: Perry Mehrling, author of Fischer Black and
Table of Contents
Foreword v
Introduction xxi
Chapter 1: Banking and Interest Rates in a World Without Money: The Effects of Uncontrolled Banking 1
Chapter 2: Active and Passive Monetary Policy in a Neoclassical Model 23
Chapter 3: Rational Economic Behavior and the Balance of Payments 43
Chapter 4: Uniqueness of the Price Level in Monetary Growth Models with Rational Expectations 65
Chapter 5: Purchasing Power Parity in an Equilibrium Model 81
Chapter 6: Ups and Downs in Human Capital and Business 85
Chapter 7: How Passive Monetary Policy Might Work 91
Chapter 8: What a Non-Monetarist Thinks 99
Chapter 9: Global Monetarism in a World of National Currencies 107
Chapter 10: The ABCs of Business Cycles 117
Chapter 11: A Gold Standard with Double Feedback and Near Zero Reserves 129
Chapter 12: The Trouble with Econometric Models 135
Chapter 13: General Equilibrium and Business Cycles 153
Chapter 14: Noise 169
Index 191
