Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents a radically different argument for what has caused, and likely will continue to cause, the collapse of emerging market economies. Pettis combines the insights of economic history, economic theory, and finance theory into a comprehensive model for understanding sovereign liability management and the causes of financial crises. He examines recent financial crises in emerging market countries along with the history of international lending since the 1820s to argue that the process of international lending is driven primarily by external events and not by local politics and/or economic policies. He draws out the corporate finance implications of this approach to argue that most of the current analyses of the recent financial crises suffered by Latin America, Asia, and Russia have largely missed the point. He then develops a sovereign finance model, analogous to corporate finance, to understand the capital structure needs of emerging market countries. Using this model, he
Trade ReviewA source of new and enlightening perspectives for a wide range of the subjects of financial analysis and policy making for emerging financial markets. * The Financial Regulator *
A cogent and compelling essay on the dynamics of emerging market crises ... Pettis's book offers invaluable insights into the dynamics of emerging market crises and provides important lessons for emerging market policy makers, investors, rating agencies, international institutions and anyone interested in emerging market finance. Moreover he has succeeded in delivering a punchy and highly readable volume * The Business Economist *
The Volatility Machine provides a welcome departure from the sterile academic debate on the subject of financial crisis. Economists may quibble ... but would be wise not to ignore [Pettis's] insights into how they can exacerbate external risks. * Institutional Investor *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. The Structure of Financial Crises 1: Capital Structure and Policy Collapse: The Financial Crisis of the Late 1990s 2: Market Structure Issues Part II. Global Liquidity and Capital Flows 3: Why Does Ric-Country Capital Flow to Poor Countries? 4: 180 Years of Liquidity Expansion and International Lending 5: The Contraction of International Lending Part III. The Corporate Finance of Crises 6: The Theory of Capital Structure and Financial Risk 7: The Capital Structure Trap 8: Toward a Theory of Sovereign Capital Structure Management 9: Debt Restructurings within a Corporate Finance Framework Part IV. Conclusion 10: Conclusion: The New Financial Architecture Appendix: The Option Characteristics of Sovereign Debt Bibliography Index
