More than a century after Hartley Withers’s “The Meaning of Money” and 80 years after Keynes’s “Treatise on Money”, the fundamentals of how banks create money still needs explaining and this book meets that need with clear exposition and expert marshalling of the relevant facts. According to The Bank of England “By far the largest role in creating broad money is played by the banking sector…when banks make loans they create additional deposits for those that have borrowed”, yet this little known fact remains contrary to public perception. Based on detailed research and consultation with experts, including the Bank of England, this book reviews theoretical and historical debates on the nature of money and banking and explains the role of the central bank, the Government and the European Union. Following a sell out first edition and reprint, this second edition includes new sections on Libor and quantitative easing in the UK and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Used as a core text by a growing number of economics departments, this book has been widely praised by students and comes highly recommended by directors of undergraduate studies at leading universities, including Dr Andy Denis at City University “Not only does it present a clear alternative to the standard textbook view of money, but argues it clearly and simply with detailed attention to the actual behaviour and functioning of the banking system” and Emeritus Professor of Economics at University College London, Victoria Chick “Warmly recommended to the simply curious, the socially concerned, students and those who believe themselves experts, alike. Everyone can learn from it” and Professor Emeritus of Banking and Finance, London School of Economics, Charles A E Goodhart “As Richard Werner and his co-authors Josh Ryan Collins, Tony Greenham and Andrew Jackson document…a clear path through the complex thickets of misunderstandings of this important issue. In addition the authors provide many further insights into currently practices of money and banking”. This book is intended for a wide range of audiences, including not only those new to the field but also to policy makers and academics working on the challenges of financial reform and regulation.
Im Jahr 1990 erlebte Japan eine nie gekannte Wirtschaftskrise. Binnen Jahresfrist verlor der Nikkei-Index über 40 Prozent. Die fallenden Börsen schlugen bis auf den Immobilienmarkt durch. Banken sperrten Kredite, Firmen mussten Insolvenz anmelden, Grundstückspreise fielen, bis sie 1996 in den Städten 50 Prozent unter den Höchstwerten vor 1990 lagen. Noch heute spürt Japan die Folgen dieser Krise. Richard A. Werner war über ein Jahrzehnt in Japan und erlebte hautnah das Entstehen dieser Krise und die Versuche, die Rezession zu bekämpfen, mit. In seinem Werk zieht er die Parallelen zwischen der damaligen Situation in Asien und unserer heutigen in Europa. Er zeigt, mit welchen politischen und wirtschaftlichen Strategien, Japan der damaligen Situation Herr zu werden versuchte, welche Fehler gemacht wurden und was erfolgreich war.
Modern mainstream economics is attracting an increasing number of critics of its high degree of abstraction and lack of relevance to economic reality. Economists are calling for a better reflection of the reality of imperfect information, the role of banks and credit markets, the mechanisms of economic growth, the role of institutions and the possibility that markets may not clear. While it is one thing to find flaws in current mainstream economics, it is another to offer an alternative paradigm which, can explain as much as the old, but can also account for the many ‘anomalies’. That is what this book attempts. Since one of the biggest empirical challenges to the ‘old’ paradigm has been raised by the second largest economy in the world – Japan – this book puts the proposed ‘new paradigm’ to the severe test of the Japanese macroeconomic reality.
This eye-opening book offers a disturbing new look at Japan’s post-war economy and the key factors that shaped it. It gives special emphasis to the 1980s and 1990s when Japan’s economy experienced vast swings in activity.
According to the author, the most recent upheaval in the Japanese economy is the result of the policies of a central bank less concerned with stimulating the economy than with its own turf battles and its ideological agenda to change Japan’s economic structure. The book combines new historical research with an in-depth behind-the-scenes account of the bureaucratic competition between Japan’s most important institutions: the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan. Drawing on new economic data and first-hand eyewitness accounts, it reveals little known monetary policy tools at the core of Japan’s business cycle, identifies the key figures behind Japan’s economy, and discusses their agenda. The book also highlights the implications for the rest of the world, and raises important questions about the concentration of power within central banks.