This book provides a uniquely comprehensive explanation of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and resulting scholarly research in the context of building an agenda for reform. With the clarity provided by almost a decade of hindsight and a careful eye toward planning for prevention, Elson guides readers through both historical fact and scholarly interpretation, highlighting areas where careful critique of and changes in the international financial architecture and the mainstream macroec...

This book explains how the US dollar serves as the primary reserve currency for the international financial system and assesses its prospects for the future. The book provides an analysis of the main factors that have given rise to the global currency power of the dollar and the key benefits that have accrued to both the United States and other countries from this arrangement. It then considers the growing costs that can be associated with the dollar-centered reserve system and the prospec...

This book assesses the impact of globalization on the US economy from the perspective of international trade, finance, and immigration, with a view to eliminating misinformation in the current public debate about the costs and benefits of globalization. The United States has played a key role in the development of economic and financial globalization since the end of World War II and has been the largest force for integration of the global economy. While the US economy as a whole has been ...

Comparing the experience of East Asia and Latin America since the mid-1970s, Elson identifies the key internal factors common to each region which have allowed East Asia to take advantage of the trade, financial, and technological impact of a more globalized economy to support its development, while Latin America has not.

This book deals with the recent problems arising from the growth of financial globalization (i.e. the growing integration of capital markets across national borders), as reflected in the current global financial crisis, and the need to improve what has come to be known as the international financial architecture.

Prominent economists reconsider the fundamentals of economic policy for a post-crisis world.In 2011, the International Monetary Fund invited prominent economists and economic policymakers to consider the brave new world of the post-crisis global economy. The result is a book that captures the state of macroeconomic thinking at a transformational moment.The crisis and the weak recovery that has followed raise fundamental questions concerning macroeconomics a...

There is growing dissatisfaction with the economic policies advocated by the IMF and other international financial institutions - policies that have often resulted in stagnating growth, crises, and recessions for client countries. This book presents an alternative to "Washington Consensus" neo-liberal economic policies by showing that both macro-economic and liberalization policy must be sensitive to the particular circumstances of developing countries. One-size-fits-all policy prescriptio...

Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transp...

Starting in the early 1990s many emerging and developing economies (EDEs) liberalized their capital accounts, allowing greater freedom for international lenders and investors to enter their markets as well as for their residents to borrow and invest in international financial markets. Despite recurrent crises, liberalization has continued and in fact accelerated in the new millennium. Integration has been greatly facilitated by progressively looser monetary policy in the United States, not...

This book explores how the financial system should be regulated and structured to achieve the twin goals of inclusive growth and financial stability, with a focus on African low-income countries (LICs). The subject and content of this book is original in that it attempts to draw on the lessons and radical rethinking on the financial sector in developed and middle income countries, arising in the wake of the international financial crisis. It includes four in- depth country case studies, of...

In the past few years, India has emerged as a global economic power. It is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the leading outsourcing destination, and a favorite of international investors. But even with India’s impressive recent achievements, the country continues to face considerable challenges as it seeks to sustain rapid growth and extend the benefits to all its citizens. Is India entering into a "Golden Age" or experiencing a period of rapid but ultimately unsustainable growth...

This paper explores the Indian adjustment program of 1991/92 and its initial results. The contents include long-term growth trends for output, investment, and macroeconomic condition; education, labor employment, and poverty; growth, accumulation, and productivity; results of India-specific studies; the stabilization and adjustment strategy; the response to the reforms; the impact on unemployment and poverty; the behavior of private investment; fiscal adjustment and reform; recent experience ...