Description
Book SynopsisEast Asia's Monetary Future is an illuminating and valuable work which uniquely focuses on a long-term monetary view of the region. There are multiple and varied future scenarios which can be applied to this region - an enlarged Singapore-Brunei currency area, a greater China monetary bloc and even a Northeast Asian bloc comprising Japan and Korea.
Leading scholars from East Asia, Europe and the US contribute valuable new insights to the key questions facing the organization and future of the monetary system in East Asia. Central questions discussed and analysed in the book include, amongst others: should the region move towards monetary union? Should countries peg their exchange rates to the US dollar? Is complete dollarization an option for East Asia? The authors argue that, having realized price stability over the last twenty years, in contrast to Latin America and Africa, the next logical step would be the gradual formation of various currency blocs within the region.
This comprehensive discussion of the fundamental issues at stake will ensure the book's appeal to academics and researchers of Asian studies and financial economics. Financial experts working in this area and policymakers will also find much of interest to them within this book.
Trade Review'Now that the economics profession has returned its attention to the structural impediments and deficiencies that may bar economies from high performance we are at risk of forgetting that there is more to political economy than corporate governance, entrepreneurship, financial institutions and the economic culture. The traditional concerns of macroeconomics with exchange rates, interest rates and tax rates retain their importance. This quality volume helps to right the balance with eleven essays analyzing how monetary systems, currency arrangements, the dollar standard, exchange rate policies and related matters all play a part in the economic problems and opportunities in east Asia.' -- Edmund S. Phelps, Columbia University, US
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. East Asia’s Monetary Future: An Introduction Part I: East Asia’s Monetary Future 2. Currency Area Formation and the East Asian Region 3. One Country, Two Monetary Systems: Hong Kong and China 4. The Role of the Yen in East Asia 5. The Dollarization Debate: Is it Over? 6. The East Asian Exchange Rate Dilemma and the World Dollar Standard Part II: East Asia’s Currency Crisis and Monetary Responses 7. Causes of the Currency Crisis: Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand 8. Exchange Rate Policy and the Asian Crisis: Thailand, Indonesia and Korea 9. Inflation Targeting after the Currency Crisis: The Case of Thailand 10. Rethinking Capital Controls: The Case of Malaysia 11. Singapore and Brunei: Lessons for Monetary Clusters within East Asia 12. Costs and Benefits of a Common Currency for the ASEAN Index
