Mario I. Blejer - Böcker

Following Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public Finance, this is the second volume of essays in honour of Vito Tanzi. It focuses on the importance of fiscal policy on the wholesale economic reforms that are sweeping the advanced, less developed and formally communist countries. Issues analyzed include:* the role of fiscal and budgetary policies in the process of reform* the impact of privatization on the exchequer and the dilemmas for social policy in times of fiscal austerity* the paradox of post-socialism and post-dirigisme that an efficient and harmonic move to a decontrolled, liberal market economy involves active state intervention* the methodological aspects relating to the proper assessment of fiscal policy mechanisms.This collection of essays contributes to the understanding of the channels and transmissions mechanisms of fiscal policies in the context of major economic reforms.

The essays in this volume explore the special type of policies that were needed in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in order to reduce inflation and to stop the fall in output that followed the collapse of Communism. The book contains a number of general studies that discuss the type of reforms needed and how they condition policies and analyse the aggregate relationship between reducing inflation, implementing structural reforms, and renewing the process of growth. It includes a number of country studies (on the Baltics, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Ukraine) about their stabilization experiences. Thus the emerging picture is one of renewal of growth in those countries that proceeded early and with the determination to implement market-oriented reforms and to stabilize their macroeconomy, and of gradual and slow stabilization of output in those countries that entered the process only very recently.

With the advent of increased capital mobility, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economics and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking centre; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

While policy makers need to be focused on achieving and sustaining basic macroeconomic stability in the transition of economies from a socialist to a market orientation, financial institutions and reforms play a particularly crucial role in this transformation. The essays in this collection offer overviews of issues in banking sector reform and capital markets as well as specific perspectives on the financial sectors in changing economies of Central and Eastern Europe, China and Israel. The editors and contributors explore the questions of how much focus needs to be given to macroeconomic stabilization vis-...-vis the dynamics of the financial sector, what may be appropriate time frames for dealing with immediate and longer-term financial problems, and how trends toward economic globalization interact with financial development in transition countries. Original versions of the essays were presented at the Second Dubrovnik Conference on Transition Economies organized by the National Bank of Croatia in June 1996.

With the advent of increased capital mobility, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economics and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking centre; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

The essays in this volume explore the special type of policies that were needed in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in order to reduce inflation and to stop the fall in output that followed the collapse of Communism. The book contains a number of general studies that discuss the type of reforms needed and how they condition policies and analyse the aggregate relationship between reducing inflation, implementing structural reforms, and renewing the process of growth. It includes a number of country studies (on the Baltics, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Ukraine) about their stabilization experiences. Thus the emerging picture is one of renewal of growth in those countries that proceeded early and with the determination to implement market-oriented reforms and to stabilize their macroeconomy, and of gradual and slow stabilization of output in those countries that entered the process only very recently.

While policy makers need to be focused on achieving and sustaining basic macroeconomic stability in the transition of economies from a socialist to a market orientation, financial institutions and reforms play a particularly crucial role in this transformation. The essays in this collection offer overviews of issues in banking sector reform and capital markets as well as specific perspectives on the financial sectors in changing economies of Central and Eastern Europe, China and Israel. The editors and contributors explore the questions of how much focus needs to be given to macroeconomic stabilization vis-...-vis the dynamics of the financial sector, what may be appropriate time frames for dealing with immediate and longer-term financial problems, and how trends toward economic globalization interact with financial development in transition countries. Original versions of the essays were presented at the Second Dubrovnik Conference on Transition Economies organized by the National Bank of Croatia in June 1996.

The polemic about the proper role of monetary policies and the appropriate functions of central banks has received renewed stimulus from a number of events. In Europe, the creation of a supranational central bank has been realized. In the United States and other industrial as well as emerging countries, the attributes and functions of central banks have been the subject of lengthy debates. Professional interest has also been centred on the issues of exchange regimes and the proper targeting for monetary policy. The various papers in this collection deal with this broad set of monetary and central banking issues, and draw implications of high relevance for post-socialist transition economies. These implications, however, are also important for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The major subjects covered are classified within the following five categories: 1) The definitions, meaning, and results of central bank independence. 2) Goals and objectives of central bank operations. 3) Central banks and financial sector soundness. 4) Capital mobility, currency crises, and the role of capital controls.5) The implications of European Monetary Unification for transition economies. This book collects the contributions of experts in monetary and central banking theory and presents the results of original research geared to understanding the implications of general economic theory for emerging and transitional economies. The significant and very rapid changes in the nature of good monetary transmission mechanisms require the adaptation of traditional theories to new realities. Such need is most pressing in transitional and emerging countries which lack experience and depth in their financial markets. In this study the particular requirements of these economies are integrated into the main macroeconomic monetary theories. The volume also includes analyses of a number of current issues such as capital flows, currency crises, currency boards, and the implications of European Monetary Union for transition economies.

the adaptation of the institutional settings of monetary policy to deal with an emerging market economy had to be carried out in the midst of an unprecedented stabilization effort and, therefore, was particularly urgent and complicated. In many of the transition countries, the transformation effort implied not just changes in procedures but the establishment of a central bank from scratch, a process that involved an important effort, precisely at a time when the whole system was in serious turmoil. While the process of reforms is not yet completed in all the transition countries, an immense amount of progress has been achieved, and many of the transition countries face today monetary and central banking conditions that are close to those of Western economies. In this volume, we collect a number of important contributions that discuss the most burning aspects of the current debates on central banking and monetary policy and draw implications for the postsocialist transition economies. The various papers included in the volume deal with a broad set of related issues, which are highly relevant not just for transition economies but for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The subjects covered in the book are divided into seven major categories (Sections II to VIII), some of which overlap.

the adaptation of the institutional settings of monetary policy to deal with an emerging market economy had to be carried out in the midst of an unprecedented stabilization effort and, therefore, was particularly urgent and complicated. In many of the transition countries, the transformation effort implied not just changes in procedures but the establishment of a central bank from scratch, a process that involved an important effort, precisely at a time when the whole system was in serious turmoil. While the process of reforms is not yet completed in all the transition countries, an immense amount of progress has been achieved, and many of the transition countries face today monetary and central banking conditions that are close to those of Western economies. In this volume, we collect a number of important contributions that discuss the most burning aspects of the current debates on central banking and monetary policy and draw implications for the postsocialist transition economies. The various papers included in the volume deal with a broad set of related issues, which are highly relevant not just for transition economies but for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The subjects covered in the book are divided into seven major categories (Sections II to VIII), some of which overlap.