Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money

Book Description

Groundbreaking essays on the new global economy from an "expert observer" (Forecast). Saskia Sassen is an internationally recognized expert on globalization whose writings have appeared in journals and magazines worldwide. Now available in paperback, Globalization and Its Discontents is a collection of Sassen's essays dealing with topics such as the "global city," gender and migration (reconceived as the globalization of labor), information technology, and the new dynamics of inequality. Sassen brings together cultural and literary studies, feminist theory, political economics, sociology, and political science, showing how vast the chasm between metropolitan business centers and low-income inner cities has become. Incisive and original, she takes on common political, cultural, and economic misconceptions of globalization and offers a thoughtful, provocative new look at our increasingly global society.

Customer Reviews:

brilliant ideas, mediocre writing.......2005-11-08

This is probably as good an introduction to Sassen's work as any, as she covers most of her major ideas with relative brevity. The title is rather misleading (as is the case of Stiglitz's (later published) work of the same name)--she focuses on the dynamics and effects of globalization and does not discuss organized resistance by social movements to it. Sassen sees three macro-level phenomena at work--the hypermobility of capital, the "unbundling" of state sovereignty, and the rise of global cities. It is the last of these ideas for which she is probably best known. She does not really get into an analysis of the hypermobility of capital here, but many other authors have covered that matter. Her analyses of the unbundling of state sovereignty and the rise of global cities are far more original. Against the background of these macro-phenomena, Sassen also analyzes the rise of the service economy, immigration patterns, and the changing roles of women.

I'm not sure how to fairly summarize Sassen's ideas in a brief review. To hit the high points, she argues that as systems of international law grow, the traditional sovereignty of the state is transformed, with its pieces of it being unbundles and some elements being transferred to international organizations, such as the UN and WTO. There are actually two distinct international law regimes--the human rights regime and the more powerful neoliberal regime, enforced by the likes of the WTO and IMF. This neoliberal regime has enabled the rise of the global economy.

Contrary to all the hype about globalization, the internet, and a "dematerialized" economy though, Sassen argues that the politics of place remain as important ever. This brings her to her analysis of global cities. If we are to have the high speed communications created by the internet, we need a physical infrastructure for it, fiber-optic cables and all that--a seemingly obvious point, but one often overlooked. This infrastructure is not evenly distributed either internationally or nationally. It is in fact concentrated in global cities, most of which are, not coincidentally, in the first world. The three chief global cities are, in fact, New York, London, and Tokyo. These global cities are at the heart of the new service sector that is so important to the global economy. As corporations' operations are more globally decentralized, power--control of these operations--has become more centralized in the global cities, which have the telecommunications infrastructure to do all the necessary coordinating of information.

Much of this coordination is in fact outsourced to specialized corporations providing services to the other corporations, in such fields as accounting, insurance and--the truly dominant force in gloablization--finances. These corporations are staffed by a new professional class, which has moved to the city, abondonning the suburbs, demanding upscale services. The downside of this is the shrinking of the traditional middle-class and the old economy based on mass production, mass consumption, and mass prosprity. Instead what is growing is a poor working class of workers providing personal (as opposed to corporate) services (such as house-cleaning, child care, janitorial services, or retail), often to the professionals who work doing corporate services. Thus there is a growing economic divide in the global cities. A disproportionate number of the people working in the poorly paid personal service sector are women and immigrants.

Sassen notes that, not only is globalization responsible for the rise of the poorly paid service sector, but immigration as well. Contrary to popular myths that the best way to stop immigration is to encourage foreign investment in immigrant-sending countries and create jobs there, Sassen actually argues that this creates more immigration, not less. Current patterns of foreign investment tend to exacerbate poverty, not cure it. And by working for foreign companies, workers gain some familiarity with the cultures of the US, Europe and increasingly Japan. This familiarity makes it easier for them to then immigrate to the first world in search of work. And there are a lot of other ideas I'm leaving out.

So, if I think this book is so brilliant, why am I only giving it four stars? Poor writing. As a previous reviewer noted, all the essays in this book were previously published elsewhere. I don't think this makes this book worthless (and therefore worthy of only one star)--it is convenient to have them gathered all in one place--but it does make the book somewhat disjointed and repetitive. But original works by Sassen, such as /Global City/, have the same problem. The fact is, despite her intellectual brilliance, she is a poor writer. Mind you, she is not like some writers, such as Hegel or Baudrillard, who seem to revel in their own incomprehensibility. She can be understood, but her writing is often something of a slog. She needs a good editor or some writing lessons.

Despite that, this book is definitely worth reading if you want to explore in-depth some important, unorthodox ideas about globalization.

Warning: Contents Older than Globalization.......2002-09-29

What purports to be a book on globalization is actually only peripherally about globalization writ large. Sassen is interested in more specific aspects of globalization: its impact on migration (the huge theme of this book), its place-specificity, and its resultant dispersal of powers that used to belong solely to the nation-state. Her points are good, but you don't need this book to get them, since she's made them all elsewhere and ages ago; in brief, the occasional new insights are not worth it.

Sassen's biggest contribution to the theorization of globalization is her attention to the global city, which she posits as a site of the physical infrastructure that enables the more diffuse projections of the world market. In these cities (like New York, L.A., Tokyo, London, Rio, etc.), high-wage, white-collar workers brush against the low-wage, largely immigrant diasporae that keep the global city running; immigrants form blocs that see a certain degree of enfranchisement and force adjustments in transnational immigration law; and globalization marches on. It's interesting stuff, but it's not new. Sassen's own book on "The Global City" scoops these chapters. And that's pretty much true of the rest of the book.

The two chapters on gender and globalization are much more valuable (and more recent) here, as she starts in on what she calls "the unbundling of sovereignty," the appropriation of political punch from nation-states and the relocation of it into the hands of NGOs and the global market. Unfortunately, while she opens up a great area of inquiry, she doesn't take it very far at all, "since the effort here was not to gain closure but to open up an analytic field." As they stand, these chapters are frustratingly suggestive but ultimately not very thorough or useful. Hopefully she'll revisit the theme later.

The stylistic question is a thorny one; several reviewers have already blasted Sassen for the way she writes. She's certainly not the easiest read, and her incessant neologisms are annoying. ("Operationalizing"? Can we not say, "making operational"?) You can fault her for that. But you can't fault her for writing like a sociologist, and that is largely how she writes. It's dry, there are charts and facts and figures, but the prose is economical and fairly clear (fake words aside!).

By and large, though, this isn't a must-read. If you're really interested, check out her books, "The Global City" and "The Mobility of Labor and Capital." They treat the same subjects, but in more useful detail.

Muddled and Confused.......2002-02-21

This book suffers from the kind of obfuscated language that a growing number of scholars seem to be able to get away with. Don't get me wrong: there are some interesting ideas in here. But their rewards do not outweigh the costs of sifting through the jargon-laden prose. The author should take a basic writing course.

Globalization and Its Disappointments.......2000-11-16

I had much hope for this book. I was expecting a work which would shift debates about globalization in a new direction. What we get, on the other hand, is poorly written, badly argued, and repetitive work that offers very little in the way of substantive theory or analysis.

The book is a collection of essays that Sassen has published elsewhere between 1984 and 1997. Except for the introduction, there is no new material here. Furthermore, in many cases the content of one article is reproduced in another article in the book. Rather than reinforcing important arguments, it seems clear that Sassen is trying to get as much mileage possible out of her work. It doesn't work.

The book contains hundreds of endnotes (in many cases they contain the most important information) which should have been incorporated into the text. Furthermore, she offers no conclusion to her analysis and the last chapter itself is quite unsatisfactory.

In short, this book is poorly written, tedious, and unoriginal.

Actually 4 and a Half.......2000-06-13

An excellent overview of the changing conditions of the Global Cities and a fresh look after her excellent book "Global Cities". Especially liked the essays about the concentration of power and wealth in cities like New York, London or Tokyo amid the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor.

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Bob Woodward called his biography of Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan Maestro for two reasons. First, Greenspan is a musician. He started out as a Julliard-trained jazz sax man. "He wasn't a good improviser," Woodward reports. And while the other guys got stoned all night, Greenspan "read economics and business books and eventually became the band's bookkeeper." He also cultivated powerful pals, like Ayn Rand, whose coterie dubbed the dour young man "The Undertaker."

More profoundly, Greenspan is a maestro, a conductor, exquisitely attuned to every instrument in the political and economic orchestra. He rules by consensus, but with a firm hand and notoriously inscrutable words. Marvelously, Woodward relates that Greenspan had to propose twice to his wife, the violinist-turned-TV news star Andrea Mitchell, before she understood: "His verbal obscurity and caution were so ingrained that Mitchell didn't even know that he had asked her to marry him." Woodward gives us the inside story of what Greenspan really thinks and how he outmaneuvered the most ruthless politicians on earth in some of the hairiest times imaginable, from the 1987 stock market crash to the 1994-95 Mexican crisis to the stomach-churning turn of the century. It turns out that for all his awesome knowledge of monetary minutiae, the Fed chief literally relies on "a pain in the pit of my stomach" to make decisions. "At times, he found his body sensed danger before his head," writes Woodward. The Fed chief also adapts Einstein's technique to economics, hunting for discrepancies as keys to deeper theories. Einstein made breakthroughs out of bent light; Greenspan deduced productivity gains that government statisticians had overlooked for years. (The gains appeared when Greenspan made the statisticians calculate productivity by business sector, the way it's done in the real world.)

Woodward's prose is cool and rational, not exuberant. But if you're into economics and politics, you'll find a rich gossip trove here. Who knew Reagan had a draft of a presidential order to shut down Wall Street trading at hand in 1987? Scary! Reading Maestro is better than sitting with Greenspan in his famous tub as he charts your future--it's like being right there inside his head. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

In eight Tuesdays each year, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan convenes a small committee to set the short-term interest rate that can move through the American and world economies like an electric jolt. As much as any, the committee's actions determine the economic well-being of every American. The availability of money for business or consumer loans, mortgages, job creation and overall national economic growth flows from those decisions. Perhaps the last Washington secret is how the Federal Reserve and its enigmatic chairman, Alan Greenspan, operate. In Maestro, Bob Woodward takes you inside the Fed and Greenspan's thinking. We listen to the Fed's internal debates as the American economy is pushed into a historic 10-year expansion while the world economy lurches from financial crisis to financial crisis. Greenspan plays a sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt behind-the-scenes role. He appears in Maestro up close as never before -- alternately nervous and calm, plunging into mathematics one moment and politics the next, skeptical, dispassionate, always struggling -- often alone.

Maestro traces a fascinating intellectual journey as Greenspan, an old-school anti-inflation hawk of the traditional economy, is among the first to realize the potential in the modern, high-productivity new economy -- the foundation of the current American boom. Woodward's account of the Greenspan years is a remarkable portrait of a man who has become the symbol of American economic preeminence.

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Woodward's bestselling "The Agenda" presented a thrilling, intimate portrait of the making of economic policy during President Clinton's first year in office. The author now returns to the economic arena to examine why and how the present boom came to be.

Customer Reviews:

"The nurturing of capital and property ownership.".......2007-09-10

While there are some interesting tidbits throughout, ie Alan Greenspans association with Ayn Rand, the familiar names of the politically entrenched and the precarious state our nations economic machinations, this book was a bit boring. What I did find fascinating was the level of Ivy League ambition in our nations capital and Greenspans savvy manuevering therein.

Maestro Review .......2007-08-19

Among collegiate literature which I have been exposed to, I have found Bob Woodward's Maestro to be one of the most informative and educational. With this simple and easy to understand narrative, I have been taken inside the doors of the Federal Reserve, and have been given a picture of how the FOMC truly operates. I feel more equipped to discuss and express opinion towards the operations of the Fed. Upon the completion of this book, I sat back with a sense of gratification, in my newly acquired, practical understanding of the U.S. economy. Woodward was able to portray Monetary Policy in a sense that really applied to my level of thinking.
With an inside look at the decisions of Alan Greenspan and his role as chairman of the Federal Reserve, I was stuck with a sense of amazement watching this man operate mathematically and politically, still maintaining a sense of pure awareness and concern for the long-term affects of his resolutions. I would definitely recommend this book to any reader in search of a practical and realistic understanding of the economic engine which drives the U.S.

I Can't Believe I LOVED a Book on Greenspan!.......2007-04-10

I read this book wanting to be better informed about how The Fed and Greenspan operate, and wound up being nicely informed and entertained. Understanding how banks, the White House and political appointments co-exist in the field of economics, I never thought I would ever use the phrase "hard-to-put-down" in connection with an economics/banking book but this one really did it for me. It is a genuine page turner and definitely Woodward's most underrated and under-discussed books. (No caller mentioned this work during his 3-hour C-Span interview a few months back.) Get your hands on a copy of this book and prepare for an interesting and enjoyable ride. My one complaint: I wish it were longer. Although this book answered all my "Fed" questions, I wished its time track would continue to the present, or perhaps delve a little deeper into the past. But this minor complaint notwithstanding, the book was an excellent and engaging read.

Maestro.......2006-12-02

First, a brief note about what others have stated about the author and his relationship with the "establishment." Bob Woodward has always gotten close to the sources and heart of the story. It seems Woodward is inside and part of the system much moreso than than simply observing and reporting about it from the outside. In "Maestro," perhaps such conjecture is irrelevant. (Some biographers are more sympathetic to the subject.) If one is on the inside he/she has greater access to corroborated information and gets to know what's really going on behind the scenes.

The downside is that a person can also develop relationships with the people they write about (e.g. become friends, or admiring acquaintances). Insider or not, Woodward is and has been....a part of the establishment. But this isn't necessarily a reason to take anything away from him in this book. Woodward provides lots of details into Greenspan, the FOMC, and daily working of the Fed, as well as the politics and motivations behind individual and institutional actions.

This bio starts with brief glimpses into Greenspan's parents, his upbringing, and school days. It then moves to his young adulthood and formative years. The young Greenspan was 26 when he met philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand. He held many discussions with her and became a part of her inner circle. Then, as now, Greenspan believes in the philosophy of "Logical Positivism," which asserts that "nothing could be known rationally with total certainty."

"Maestro" spends a lot of time on the workings, structure, and politics of the Fed. As for the structure of the Federal Reserve Board, the President appoints board members to the Fed and the Senate confirms them, to a term of 14 years. These lengthy terms are designed to position the board members above politics. The appointments however, are influential and political. The Secretary of Treasury traditionally acts as a liaison between the administration and board members.

The FOMC is the Federal Open Market Committee, (then) chaired by By Greenspan. The FOMC has 12 voting members, seven of which which, are Fed Governors. 5 of are presidents (out of a total of twelve) of the Federal Reserve district banks in the U.S. The FOMC meets every six weeks to discuss and set the the short-term funds rate.

This book also notes how Greenspan's statements are interpreted by the media and the markets that react to them.

Greenspan's famous and carefully crafted ambiguous statements are misinterpreted, oversimplified, and over-reacted to constantly by the 'talking heads' and knee-jerk profit takers and short-termers.

It's become so common in recent years to listen to talking heads Analyze phrases, words, and sentences given by Greenspan (and now Bernanke) when they present reports and testimony. Below is one example of what commonly happens after the Fed Chairman utters his alphabet soup of ambiguity, as in this 1995 comment from Allen Greenspan:

"I don't see any problem that really disturb me" followed by, "As a consequence of the sluggish economic outlook, the probabilities, as some of my colleagues have indicated, of a recession have edged up, as indeed one would expect." This statement was made in 1995 at an international banking conference in Seattle .

Here are two major headlines responses to this statement:

"Greenspan Sees Chance of Recession" --The New York Times.

"Recession Is Unlikely, Greenspan Concludes" --The Washington Post.

Greenspan refers to these responses by the media and talking heads as "Constructive Ambiguity" (p. 147).

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve and board is considered to be the most important position in the governance and overseeing of the U.S. economy. This book makes a mundane topic and institution interesting.

One thing I liked about Greenspan. He believed in an "institutional rule of survival" in Washington: bring the bad news yourself. Look people in the eye, lay out the facts, and be direct (p. 53).

Some people think there is an element of fawning in this biography. Sometimes there seems to be some subtle praise. Aside from this, the media's categorization of Greenspan as a 'rock star' is oversimplified. It seems Woodward liked Greenspan's tenure. A lot of people did.

How to feel your way to the correct interest rate.......2006-05-03

Woodward will give you a feel for how Greenspan feels (this feeling is developed from massive amounts of economic dated and dicussions with other experts) his way along to a decision on interest rates. There is no clear-cut method for getting the interest rates to just the right level. Now that Greenspan is gone and left us with a boom, we have to be concerned that Ben Bernanke will also develop just the right feel. And probably more importantly--may he be just as lucky as Alan Greenspan.

The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU: A Challenge for Governments, Financial Institutions and Firms

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The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU: A Challenge for Governments, Financial Institutions and Firms

Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792379640

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The European Monetary Union (EMU) got under way on 1 January 1999. Since then 11 European countries share a common currency, the Euro, and pursue a common monetary policy managed by the European Central Bank (ECB). After forty years of economic integration, Europe has the wherewithal with which to enter the 21st century. However monetary union has implications for nearly all areas of economic activity and decision-making. Throughout the academic world researchers are fully occupied with the theoretical analysis of the impact of the Euro and the effects of incorporating the new operational framework into their economic models. Businesses and government departments are concerned primarily with the practical implementation of the single currency. For all those who play a part in the economy, it is a question of making the most of the macro and microeconomic opportunities offered by the Euro and minimizing any threats.
The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU describes the economic consequences of the introduction of the EMU and the Euro for governments, financial institutions and firms. The volume,s aims are threefold:

To make a first assessment after about a year=s experience with Economic and Monetary Union;
To examine the impact of EMU and the introduction of the Euro in various areas of economic policy, involving both government and the corporate sector including the banking industry;
To provide an insight into the challenges that the Euro offers for the coming years with respect both to macro-economic policy and the development of the financial markets and with respect to business management.

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Beautiful; economics as it should be written
A thoughtful introduction to mathematical economics
Academic, organized, and extremely concise

Modeling Monetary Economies
Bruce Champ , and Scott Freeman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521789745

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The approach of this text for upper-level undergraduates is to teach monetary economics using the classical paradigm of rational agents in a market setting. By teaching from first principles, the authors aim to instruct students not only in the monetary policies and institutions that exist today in the United States but also in what policies and institutions may or should exist tomorrow and elsewhere. The text builds on a simple, clear monetary model and applies this framework consistently to a wide variety of monetary questions. The authors have added in this second edition new material on speculative attacks on currencies, social security, currency boards, central banking alternatives, the payments system, and the Lucas model of price surprises. Discussions of many topics have been extended, presentations of data greatly expanded, and new exercises added.

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This upper-level undergraduate textbook, now in its second editon, approaches monetary economics using the classical paradigm of rational agents in a market setting. Too often monetary economics has been taught as a collection of facts about existing institutions for students to memorize. By teaching from first principles, the authors aim to instruct students not only in existing monetary policies and institutions but also in what policies and institutions may or should exist in the future. The text builds on a simple, clear monetary model and applies this framework consistently to a wide variety of monetary questions. The authors have added in this second edition new material on speculative attacks on currencies, social security, currency boards, central banking alternatives, the payments system, and the Lucas model of price surprises. Discussions of many topics have been extended, presentations of data greatly expanded, and new exercises added.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful; economics as it should be written.......2004-01-21

Economists have a responsiblity to communicate as simply as possible. Too often complex mathematics are an egotistic tool of the economist that merely frustrates the reader. Champ and Freeman's Modeling Monetary Economies is a wonderful volume that explains tough issues in monetary economics by building upon Wallace and Bryant's overlapping generations (OLG) model.

The OLG framework is a very simple framework that has its limitations, yet it is a powerful explanatory device. Champ and Freeman apply it to the following exercises:
* Introduce money into an economy--any grad student of economics (as I once was) will tell you this is no simple task! We take money for granted, of course, but mathematical models tend to imply that money is unnecessary! Just getting money into an economic model without unreasonable assumptions is itself an accomplishment.

* Inflation--again, not easy to do in other mathematical models of money--and anticipated inflation

* International currency exchange and the indeterminancy of the exchange rate

* Central banking and changes to the money supply

* Banks and lending

* Deficits and the national debt

* The interaction of all of the above

The book also has exercises in it that apply and extend the models introduced in each chapter.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend this book for advanced year undergrads (in mathematical econ programs) and graduate students. It really is a great book that builds a conceptual knowledge of the interaction of the various components of monetary economics. This is useful for understanding more complicated dynamic optimization models. And it provides models that are useful in their own right and relevant as the basis for further (ie., dissertation) research.

A thoughtful introduction to mathematical economics.......2001-11-07

This book is an example of how mathematics is intelligently used in economics, and the understanding of the latter is thereby enhanced. Only basic algebra is used, yet the authors are able to make non-trivial explanation about economic phenomena, from why money must exist to inflation to payment system. The text is mathematical and abstract, but as I read it, my frame of mind remains firmly that of an economist, and not of a mathematician (which is as it should be). The text is carefully written, flowing and anticipative of difficulties that a reader may have.

This is not an introductory text to economics, and I reject the idea that those with strong mathematical background should be introduced to economics in a different way from others. Any beginner, mathematical or not, should read Samuelson and the like first.

Academic, organized, and extremely concise.......2000-04-28

This book is a very good introduction to quantative monetary theories. Readers with science or engineering background can especially benefit from authors' concise mathematical expressions. It gives a clear and academic view about fundamental theories, so don't expect to see a lot of economical data or "stories".

Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures)

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Learn current Banking Reality & What the Future Holds

Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures)
Joseph E. Stiglitz , and Bruce Greenwald
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521008050

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Expanding upon the literature of new institutional economics, the first part of this study stresses the significance of imperfections in information, bankruptcy and banks. The second part examines the policy implications of the new paradigm emphasizing loanable fund demand and supply, and demonstrates its relevance to our understanding of two recent historical episodes--the East Asian financial crisis and the 1991 U.S. recession and subsequent recovery and boom.

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Customer Reviews:

Learn current Banking Reality & What the Future Holds.......2005-04-24

First off I am not a not an economist. Bought this book because I am very interested in how current monetary system works and what the future holds. This book fortunatly covers both topics; in great detail. The book goes over the advantages and disadvantages of the current way, how banks lend to grow the economy. It then goes over how that is being transformed and what we can expect in the future. The book is not as dry as most hard-core academic books, it is readible. My goal is to have a broad understanding of how the financial system of our world works, and this book did a great job of helping me understand. It does have a few advanced mathematical equations, I do not know how to solve them but they were very well explained...so at least I do understand what the equations are for. Great book it might be worth it to look for more books in the Raffaele Mattioli Lecture series.

International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics

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International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics
Giancarlo Gandolfo
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ASIN: 3540417303

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This book deals with the financial side of international economics and covers all aspects of international finance. "Prof. Gandolfo has written what will be a classic in international finance. His erudition, expository and technical skills are combined to fulfil the needs of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and staff members in international economic organisations. The literary part is clear, and the underlying intuition of the arguments is stressed. This is followed by a mathematical analysis, which uses the state of the art techniques. In this manner the reader can go from the intuition-literary argument to the formal derivations and proofs. There are many books and articles by exponents of alternative points of view. I know of no other book that provides the scope, balance, objectivity and rigor of the book." (Professor Jerome L. Stein, Brown University)

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics

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Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics
Geoff Tily
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 1403996288
Release Date: 2007-03-20

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This book argues that Keynesian economists have betrayed Keynes's theory and policy conclusions. Keynesian economics has not merely led to an easily dismissed justification for 'Keynesian' policies, but the world has been grossly misled about just what those policies are. Keynesians have focused attention exclusively on policies for dealing with effects of economic failure as they arise, whereas in contrast, Keynes was concerned with the cause and then the prevention of economic failure. While these effects can be addressed with fiscal policy, the cause and prevention was a matter for monetary policy. Keynes's legacy is that of national and international policy measures that permit the necessary control over the financial system.

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Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies.......2006-06-29

Tily has written a very good book examining the policies laid down by Keynes to help prevent the occurrences of recessions and depressions in the first place.Keynes relies on his generalized quantity theory of money as laid out in chapter 21 of the General Theory,although this is overlooked by Tily.Keynes's generalized general theory is expressed by the condition w/p=mpl/e,where e=Mdp/pdM as defined by Keynes on p.305 of the GT.If e=1,then w/p=mpl and you have a full employment equilibrium in the aggregate labor market,where w is the money wage ,p is the expected price level,and mpl is the marginal product of labor derived from an aggregated neoclassical production function(see p.283 and p.285 of the GT).If e <1,then you have a set of multiple unemployment equilibriums.Keynes's monetary policy prescription is to require that the interest rate be fixed at a low rate.This prescription goes back to the policies of the Thomistic scholastic philosophers and Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations(see WN,1776,pp.338-340).In fact,Smith's and Keynes's policy prescriptions are identical(GT,p.352).They require that the unsatisfied fringe of borrowers must consist of currency speculators,leveraged buyout artists,and stock market speculators(projectors) using margin account loans to leverage their stock holdings.Credit would have to be skewed away from these individuals by policy actions of the central bank.Keynes's policy is thus one of permanent easy money where all bank loans are made to individuals who intend to use it to attain or rent productive capital goods,build houses, construct factories,etc.Tily does not emphasize sufficiently Keynes's warning that the forces of banking and finance will oppose such a policy,making it practically impossible to implement.The policy is correct in theory,but is not practical to actually implement.This is where the promulgation of Bismarck's social welfare state or a negative income tax system comes into play.The deleterious impacts of a speculator-casino " crony capitalism " can be mitigated by such policies.

The Strategy and Consistency of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 19241933 (Studies in Macroeconomic History)

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The Strategy and Consistency of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 19241933 (Studies in Macroeconomic History)
David C. Wheelock
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Today, most scholars agree that mismanaged monetary policy contributed to the length and severity of the Great Depression. There is little agreement, however, about the causes of the Federal Reserve's mistakes. Some argue that leadership and other organizational changes prior to the depression caused a distinct change in policy strategy that lessened the Fed's responsiveness to economic conditions, while others contend that there was no change in the Fed's behavior, and that errors during the depression are traceable to previous policies. This book examines the policy strategy developed by the Federal Reserve during the 1920s and considers whether its continued use could explain the Fed's failure to respond vigorously to the depression. It also studies the effects on policy of the institutional changes occurring prior to the depression. While these changes enhanced the authority of officials who opposed open-market purchases and also caused some upward bias in discount rates, Wheelock concludes that monetary policy during the depression was in fact largely a continuation of the previous policy. The apparent contrast in Fed responsiveness to economic conditions between the 1920s and early 1930s resulted from the consistent use of a procyclical policy strategy that caused the Fed to respond more vigorously to minor recessions than to severe depressions.

Positive Political Economy: Theory and Evidence

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Positive Political Economy: Theory and Evidence

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521572150

Book Description

Positive Political Economy investigates how observed differences in institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic and political systems. It also examines how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences and strategies. This volume tackles both monetary and real topics in an integrated way, and represents the first coherent empirical investigation of positive models of political economy.

The Theory of Monetary Aggregation (Contributions to Economic Analysis)

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The Theory of Monetary Aggregation (Contributions to Economic Analysis)

Manufacturer: North Holland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0444501193

Book Description

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in index number and aggregation theory, since the two previously divergent fields have been successfully unified. The underlying aggregator functions which are weakly separable subfunctions of utility and production functions, are the building blocks of economic theory, and the derivation of index numbers based upon their ability to track those building blocks is now called the "economic theory of index numbers."

William Barnett, the coeditor of this volume, introduced modern economic index number theory into monetary economics. His merger of economic index number theory, with monetary theory was based upon the use of Diewert's approach to producing "superlative" nonparametric approximations to the theoretically exact aggregator functions. This book comprises a focussed and unified collection of Barnett's most important publications in this area.

The papers in the book have been organized into logical sections, with unifying introductions and overviews. The result is a systematic development of the state of the art in monetary and financial aggregation theory. The sections cover the origin of the user cost price of monetary services. Exact aggregation of monetary assets on the demand side for consumers and firms, and on the supply side for financial intermediaries, general equilibrium of all economic agents' demands and supplies, dynamic solution of the exact system, and extension to monetary aggregation under risk. The extension of index number theory to the case of risk is completely general, and can be applied to tracking any exact economic aggregator under risk. In all cases, the criterion used for evaluation is the tracking ability of the approximation to the exact aggregator function of economic theory.

Many of the empirical and policy puzzles in monetary economics disappear when simple sum monetary aggregates are replaced by index numbers that are coherent with theory. Simple sum monetary aggregates became incoherent with theory, when monetary assets began paying interest and therefore could no longer be viewed as perfect substitutes.

This is a useful tool to those associated with economics departments within universities, business schools, central banks and federal governments, financial institutions including underwriters, bankers and stockbrokers.

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