The global financial crisis in 2008 brought central banking to the centre stage, prompting questions about the role of national central banks and - in Europe - of the multi-country European Central Bank. What can central banks do, and what are their limitations? How have they performed? Currency, Credit and Crisis seeks to provide a coherent perspective on the functions of a central bank in a small country by assessing the way in which Ireland's financial crisis from 2010 to 2013 was handl...

Having stagnated for decades in the shadow of the UK, the Irish economy's performance improved after it joined the European Union (EEC) in 1973. This Element shows how the challenge of EU membership gave focus and direction to Irish economic policy. No longer dependent on low value-added agricultural exports to Britain, within the EU Ireland became a hub for multinational corporations in IT and pharmaceutical products. This export success required and facilitated a strengthening of educati...

The world’s central banks have confronted crisis after crisis in recent years—both before and since the global financial crisis. Yet many of these events seem to take central banks by surprise, obliging them to improvise. In this important study, Patrick Honohan, former governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, calls on central banks to make preparation for crisis management a core activity. They should be ready to deal with the unexpected. Departing from the rather sedate mode of operation...

Faced with a systemic financial sector crisis, policymakers need to make difficult choices under pressure. Based on the experience of many countries in recent years, few have been able to achieve a speedy, lasting and low-cost resolution. This volume considers the strengths and weaknesses of the various policy options, covering both microeconomic (including recapitalization of banks, bank closures, subsidies for distressed borrowers, capital adequacy rules and corporate governance and bank...

In the aftermath of the Financial Crisis, many commonly held beliefs have emerged to explain its cause. Conventional wisdom blames Wall Street and the mortgage industry for using low down payments, teaser rates, and other predatory tactics to seduce unsuspecting home owners into assuming mortgages they couldn't afford. It blames average Americans for borrowing recklessly and spending too much. And it blames the tax policies and deregulatory environment of the Reagan and Bush administration...

The #1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerDid Wall Street cause the mess we are in? Should Washington place stronger regulations on the entire financial industry? Can we lower unemployment rates by controlling the free market?The answer is NO.Not only is free market capitalism good for the economy, says industry expert John Allison, it is our only hope for recovery. As the nation’s longest-serving CEO of a to...

From how the current crisis happened to the role of banks to how money works, this book addresses complex ideas in an easy to understand Q&A format with lively prose. With examples throughout from personal finance issues such as how to negotiate the best price for a car, and should you buy a warranty for a new computer, to big picture questions that affect our national and global economy such as: What is deflation and inflation? How does monetary policy really work? How does a corporation ...

The fifth installment of the Fisher Investments On series is a comprehensive guide to understanding and analyzing investment opportunities within emerging markets. Growing in relative importance in recent years, emerging markets offer dynamic and unique opportunities. Fisher Investments on Emerging Markets can benefit both new and seasoned investors, covering everything from regional basics to country-specific insights to practical investing tactics, including common pitf...

The financial crisis that began in 2007 in the United States swept the world, producing substantial bank failures and forcing unprecedented state aid for the crippled global financial system. Bringing together three leading financial economists to provide an international perspective, Balancing the Banks draws critical lessons from the causes of the crisis and proposes important regulatory reforms, including sound guidelines for the ways in which distressed banks might be dealt wi...

How I Predicted the GlobalEconomic Crisis*:The Most Amazing BookYou'll Never Read* and the dot.com collapse, the housing crash, the banking crisis, the stock market plunge, the length and depth of the current recession, the bankrupting of Fannie and Freddie, Europe's debt problems, the muni-bond meltdown, a doubling of gold prices and the even bigger world economic crisis yet to comeAn introduction to the common sense economics ofJohn R. Talbott

Despite their passion and fury, contemporary Americans are remarkably clueless about how their tax system works. But with heated debates over taxation now roiling Congress and the nation, an understanding of our tax system is of vital importance. Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know®, by preeminent tax scholars Leonard E. Burman and Joel Slemrod, offers a clear, concise explanation of how our tax system works, how it affects people and businesses, and how it might be impr...

The macroeconomic experience of emerging and developing economies has tended to be quite different from that of industrial countries. Compared to industrial countries, emerging and developing economies have tended to be much more unstable, with more severe boom/bust cycles, episodes of high inflation and a variety of financial crises. This textbook describes how the standard macroeconomic models that are used in industrial countries can be modified to help understand this experience and ho...