Global Imbalances, Financial Crises, and Central Bank Policies

Global Imbalances, Financial Crises, and Central Bank Policies assesses the relationships between global imbalances, financial crises, and central bank policies, with a specific focus on their reserves. The book contains a strictly international perspective with an analysis based on empirical research that enables the reader to develop an analytical model that emphasizes interactions among individual central banks. With this innovative approach, the book develops a new method for defining an optimal demand for reserves. In addition, the book describes implications for financial reforms that might ultimately be more important than its empirical findings.

Table of Contents:
1 Overview 2 Accounting for Official Capital Flows 3 Current Account Imbalances: The Role of Official Capital Flows 4 Determinants of the Public Budget Balance: The Role of Official Capital Flows 5 Reserve Accumulation and Financial Crises: From Individual Protection to Systemic Risk 6 Global Aspects of Central Bank Policies

About the Author :
Andreas Steiner is an economist at the ifo Center for Business Cycle Analysis and Surveys. His papers have been published in the European Economic Review, the Review of International Economics, and the Journal of International Money and Finance, among other titles. He has lectured on International Trade Policy, European Economic Policy, and Economic Policy and Public Finance.

Review :
"This book gives an excellent assessment of the emergence, causes and consequences of balance-of-payments imbalances in a large number of countries. It is a very timely analysis in view of the large imbalances arising from the financial crises of recent years, giving useful advice for the construction of a new and more stable financial world order." --Hans-Werner Sinn, University of Munich and the Ifo Institute for Economic Research "This book provides an insightful, timely, and fresh perspective on the global implications of the large hoarding of international reserves by emerging markets in recent decades, offering an essential analysis of global economics challenges in the twenty first century. Dr. Andreas Steiner’s empirical analysis shows that international reserve accumulation lowers both the current account and the public budget balances of the reserve-currency’s supplier, possibly destabilizing the global system down the road." --Joshua Aizenman, University of Southern California "Global Imbalances, Financial Crises, and Central Bank Policies is a very well-conceived manuscript on the nexus of reserve hoarding and capital flow, and the implications for the global economy. The notion of national benefits against global negative externalities of reserve accumulation will interest both academics and policymakers." --Yin-Wong Cheung, City University of Hong Kong