Money Credit And Crises

While paramount to the modern economy, understanding how the banking system works has been usually cast aside from overall economic education. Even in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, which has underlined the vital importance of banking in the economy, the workings of the sector remain a black box. To this end, this book provides a comprehensive and easy to read review of the banking sector, covering all issues related to commercial and investment banking and providing experienced as well as non-expert readers the opportunity to expand their knowledge on these topics. After going through the book, readers have the opportunity to gain a deeper knowledge regarding the commercial and investment functions of the banking sector and the ability to evaluate the potential outcome of policy actions.

In a series of disarmingly simple arguments financial market analyst George Cooper challenges the core principles of today's economic orthodoxy and explains how we have created an economy that is inherently unstable and crisis prone. With great skill, he examines the very foundations of today's economic philosophy and adds a compelling analysis of the forces behind economic crisis. His goal is nothing less than preventing the seemingly endless procession of damaging boom-bust cycles, unsustainable economic bubbles, crippling credit crunches, and debilitating inflation. His direct, conscientious, and honest approach will captivate any reader and is an invaluable aid in understanding today's economy.

In a series of disarmingly simple arguments financial market analyst George Cooper challenges the core principles of today's economic orthodoxy and explains how we have created an economy that is inherently unstable and crisis prone. With great skill, he examines the very foundations of today's economic philosophy and adds a compelling analysis of the forces behind economic crisis. His goal is nothing less than preventing the seemingly endless procession of damaging boom-bust cycles, unsustainable economic bubbles, crippling credit crunches, and debilitating inflation. His direct, conscientious, and honest approach will captivate any reader and is an invaluable aid in understanding today's economy.

This book offers a fresh and uniquely sociological perspective on money and credit. As basic economic institutions, money and credit are easy to overlook when they work well. When they malfunction, as they did in the new millennium’s global financial crisis, their importance becomes obvious and demands further investigation. Bruce Carruthers and Laura Ariovich examine the social dimensions of money and credit at both the individual and corporate levels, from the development of personal credit and a consumer society, to the role of government in the creation of money. In clear prose, they illustrate how the overall future of the economy is governed by the financial system and the flow of capital into, and out of, firms operating in particular industrial sectors, as well as the social meanings money itself acquires and the ways people distinguish between “dirty” and “clean” money. This accessible and engaging book will be essential reading for upper-level students of economic sociology, and those interested in how the bills, coins and plastic in our pockets shape the world we live in.

This volume chronicles the evolution of modern financial markets against the backdrop of some of the finance world's most infamous crises. Financial periods are intricately and historically examined, simplifying the financial instruments and techniques so that even the non-financial reader can identify the pattern that Morris uncovers in the lead up to a crisis.

Based on the recent subprime crisis, the authors analyze the mechanisms of a financial market crisis. In order to highlight the basic transmission mechanisms and drivers of a financial market crisis they discuss the relevant players & strategies, explain the principles of the financial instruments that were involved in the crisis and analyze how bubbles emerge, how they burst and what the economic impact might be. The authors address the following key questions: * Why do financial markets run into crises over and over again? * Where do risks for financial crises come from? * Who are the players in the game? * Which instruments and strategies can drive a crisis? * What are the transmission mechanisms onto other markets and the real economy? * When is it all finally over? * How to best weather the storm? Hence, in the prologue the authors highlight the basic framework for a financial crisis based on the subprime crisis. Here, they will also introduce the important topics and drivers of the crisis, i.e. the relevant players (banks, investment banks, hedge funds, real money investors, regulators and rating agencies), the involved instruments (ABS/RMBS, CDOs, SIV, leveraged loans, Leveraged Super Senior tranches, etc.), the strategies which caused the crisis or were affected by the meltdown (leveraged exposure to highly correlated risks), and risks that were underestimated (investors ignored the market risk that was involved with the leveraged bets). In the subsequent chapter -- which is split into three parts -- they will explain these important topics in more detail and highlight the infection and transmission mechanisms. As an example, they introduce the business and investment concepts of investment banks and hedge funds and how they were involved in the crisis. Moreover, they explain how structured credit products (such as ABS, CDOs and SIVs) work and how they were used in order to implement leveraged bets in the markets. Finally, they highlight how a financial crisis evolves and why certain financial institutions failed. In the epilogue, they conclude how markets manage a crisis and why the crisis may also be healthy for the stability of financial markets.

Money and Finance After the Crisis provides a critical multi-disciplinary perspective on the post-crisis financial world in all its complexity, dynamism and unpredictability. Contributions illuminate the diversity of ways in which money and finance continue to shape global political economy and society. A multidisciplinary collection of essays that study the geographies of money and finance that have unfolded in the wake of the financial crisis Contributions discuss a wide range of contemporary social formations, including the complexities of modern debt-driven financial markets Chapters critically explore proliferating forms and spaces of financial power, from the realms of orthodox finance capital to biodiversity conservation Contributions demonstrate the centrality of money and finance to contemporary capitalism and its political and cultural economies