The Japanese Central Banking System Compared With Its European And American Counterparts

This book uniquely explores the role and governance mechanism of central banks by applying new institutional economics (NIE). Simultaneously, the book tests the analytical viability of NIE when applied to an organization that has both public and private characteristics. Special attention is paid to the Bank of Japan (BOJ) based on the author’s 30 years of work experience and “participant observation” there, touching upon discussion of central bank independence. The book argues that central bank independence cannot be defended solely by law, and a mechanism to eliminate requests from politicians needs to be embedded within the governance structure. The book also provides a comparative analysis between the BOJ and central banks in Europe and the USA. In reviewing the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, it suggests possible measures based on behavioral economics and public choice theory. These theory-based analyses provide useful insights when considering matters such as whether a central bank should issue electronic money or the European system of central banks could be established in Asia.

A rare insider’s account of the inner workings of the Japanese economy, and the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy, by a career central banker The Japanese economy, once the envy of the world for its dynamism and growth, lost its shine after a financial bubble burst in early 1990s and slumped further during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. It suffered even more damage in 2011, when a severe earthquake set off the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. However, the Bank of Japan soldiered on to combat low inflation, low growth, and low interest rates, and in many ways it served as a laboratory for actions taken by central banks in other parts of the world. Masaaki Shirakawa, who led the bank as governor from 2008 to 2013, provides a rare insider’s account of the workings of Japanese economic and monetary policy during this period and how it challenged mainstream economic thinking.

Diploma Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1, University of Vienna, language: English, abstract: In the current economic and financial crisis, many western central banks introduced “unconventional” monetary policy measures, commonly referred to as “Quantitative Easing (QE)”. However, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) already applied QE between 2001 and 2006. This lead many commentators to make oversimplifying comparisons between the BoJ’s QE approach (2001-2006) and current implementations of QE by other central banks. In particular, this diploma thesis tries to examine the differences between BoJ-type QE and Fedtype QE. It turns out that both approaches differ fundamentally from each other on various grounds: The primary aim of QE in Japan was fighting deflation, whereas the American central bank addresses mostly strains in the banking system. Concerning the concrete measures, one can say that QE by the BoJ consisted to a good deal of active QE in terms of outright purchases of Japanese government securities (JGBs), whereas the Fed currently follows a somewhat broader approach: Since interbank markets are not functioning as desired, it tries to engage with as many market participants as direct as possible. Therefore the Fed has introduced a much broader range of new instruments than its Japanese counterpart did between 2001 and 2006. As a result, the Fed’s balance sheet expansion was considerably larger than the one in Japan.

An argument that contagion is the most significant risk facing the financial system and that Dodd¬Frank has reduced the government's ability to respond effectively. The Dodd–Frank Act of 2010 was intended to reform financial policies in order to prevent another massive crisis such as the financial meltdown of 2008. Dodd–Frank is largely premised on the diagnosis that connectedness was the major problem in that crisis—that is, that financial institutions were overexposed to one another, resulting in a possible chain reaction of failures. In this book, Hal Scott argues that it is not connectedness but contagion that is the most significant element of systemic risk facing the financial system. Contagion is an indiscriminate run by short-term creditors of financial institutions that can render otherwise solvent institutions insolvent. It poses a serious risk because, as Scott explains, our financial system still depends on approximately $7.4 to $8.2 trillion of runnable and uninsured short-term liabilities, 60 percent of which are held by nonbanks. Scott argues that efforts by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the Treasury to stop the contagion that exploded after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers lessened the economic damage. And yet Congress, spurred by the public's aversion to bailouts, has dramatically weakened the power of the government to respond to contagion, including limitations on the Fed's powers as a lender of last resort. Offering uniquely detailed forensic analyses of the Lehman Brothers and AIG failures, and suggesting alternative regulatory approaches, Scott makes the case that we need to restore and strengthen our weapons for fighting contagion.

What new directions will development take in the next century? A distinguished group of experts on economic development debated this question in late 1996. Their views of the emerging development consensus are presented in Economic and Social Development into the XXI Century. The authors give special attention to developing countries in Latin America and East Asia. Analyzing the growth of certain East Asian economies, they ask what can be emulated: state-engineered industrial policies? an export push? better initial income distribution? fiscal incentives to promote corporate growth? the region's successful land reform efforts, or the commitment to better education? While agreeing that equity is a major determinant of economic success, they differ regarding how to achieve it.

I began serious consideration of the issues and subject matter that comprise this book as a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In need of a dissertation topic and vaguely curious about international monetary economics, I decided to sit in on Leonard Rapping's undergraduate course on international finance. Needless to say, I was soon hooked. Within several months I was teaching my own course on international money and beginning to write an outline of what would become my doctoral dissertation on foreign exchange speculation. Once completed the dissertation thesis became this basis for this book.

News headlines warn of rivalries and competing nations across Asia and the Pacific, even as powerful new cross-border relations form as never before. This book looks behind the Asia-Pacific curtain: at the new forms of social, economic, and political integration taking place through a global capitalism that is rife with contradictions, inequality, and crisis. We are moved beyond traditional conceptualizations of the inter-state system with its nation-state competition as the core organizing principle of world capitalism and the principal institutional framework that shapes the makeup of global social forces. These important studies examine and debate over how there is a growing transnationality of material (economic) relations in the global era, as well as an emerging transnationality of many social and class relations. How does transnational capitalist class fractions, new middle strata, and labor undergird globalization in Asia and Oceania? How have states and institutions become entwined with such processes? This book provides insight into a field of dynamic change.

The fifteenth edition of Introduction to Finance: Markets, Investments, and Financial Management builds upon the successes of its earlier editions while maintaining a fresh and up-to-date coverage of the field of finance. Distinguished authors Ron Melicher and Edgar Norton continue to cover the three major financial areas: institutions and markets, investments, and financial management. Their effective structure equips instructors with maximum flexibility for how the course is taught, and students with an integrated perspective of the different foundations of finance. This survey of the basic knowledge, concepts, and terms of the discipline is appropriate for all students. For those who do not plan to take additional courses in finance, it provides a valuable overview. For those who want to take additional coursework in finance, it provides a solid foundation for their future studies and careers.