Product Description
Two fundamentally different business models of capitalism are operating in the business world today. One is self-destructive and increasingly corrupt. The other is emergent, flourishing, and inspirational. The author explains the differences between the two and reveals the extraordinary results of the more successful model. Profit for Life draws on nearly forty years of research on the empirical connections between stewardship and profitability.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels by Joseph H. Bragdon.......2007-04-08
Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.
Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.
Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels.......2007-01-31
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper
How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.
In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.
The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.
Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500 over the past decade; and their excess performance continues as this review is written. Bragdon expects such premium returns will diminish over time as the more effective methods of the living system model become copied and enter the mainstream. Nevertheless, these results are a strong affirmation of the milieu in which servant leadership normally operates.
Servant leadership, to Bragdon, is all about relationships. He says "relational equity" is the foundation on which companies build financial equity. When companies care about people and the things people care about, Employees become inspired and their inspiration cascades into everything they do, including their relationships with customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
The raison d'etre of these servant-led firms is value creation - value that permeates all relationships. Companies that excel at such value creation pursue a strategy Bragdon calls "living asset stewardship" (LAS). The fundamental premise of LAS is: Profit arises from life, and must therefore serve life if it is to be sustainable.
To understand the strategic value of living asset stewardship, Bragdon makes a critical distinction between living assets (people and Nature) and non-living capital assets (buildings, equipment and financial reserves). We see this in three contexts. First, people are closely bonded to Nature - genetically, physically and spiritually - in ways that capital assets are not. Second, living assets are the source of non-living capital assets. And third, because living assets are inherently creative and emergent, their value grows over time rather than depreciating as capital assets do.
The operating leverage in the learning lab and the 16 Focus Group companies resides in the human heart rather than in mechanistic financial gearing. This is supported by the fact that they generate consistently higher returns on equity while carrying substantially lower debt ratios.
Although traditionally managed companies have been adopting some stewardship practices in the past decade, Bragdon finds their approach differs fundamentally from those in his study. In the mechanistic view of these firms, stewardship is an add-on that is subservient to their drive for profit. By contrast, in companies that have adopted the living system model, LAS is deeply woven into the value creation process - reflecting the fact that they see themselves as "living" and therefore integral to, rather than separate from, Nature and society.
Profit for Life builds on the brilliant work of Arie deGeus, former coordinator of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. DeGeus' classic, The Living Company, noted that long-lived companies had a collective consciousness, were sensitive to their environments, tried to work in harmony with the world around them, and strove to leave a legacy to future generations. Wilson tells us this collective consciousness is an expression of humanity's deep affinity for life, which he calls "biophilia," and that our biophilic instincts have evolved over thousands of generations of natural selection.
In my work as a teacher of servant leadership, I would highlight the paradigm shift Bragdon describes. The mission of leaders in LAS organizations is to serve and grow their people because that is the source of the firm's liveliness and capacity for growth. As Robert K. Greenleaf said: "The first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger and more autonomous." That seminal quote is used twice in the book to describe the power and generative capacity of LAS.
I highly recommend this book and will be using it regularly in our practice.
Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., Business Consultant & Executive coach
in the field of Servant Leadership & growing Learning Organization.
Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc.
An Extraordinary Book: A Must Read.......2006-11-26
I intend to recommend Profit for Life to all my current MBA students. Next fall I am team teaching an MBA core course that combines Operations Management and Managerial Accounting. I intend to make the case that your book should be required reading and part of the course.
I became familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming in 1990 and attended one of his four day seminars a year later. I also began to follow Peter Senge's work and later read Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Tom Johnson's book, Profit Beyond Measure, has been required reading in my Advanced Managerial Accounting elective at the MBA level.
Bragdon's book has brought the ideas, theories, and concepts discussed by these individuals together for me in a way that I could not have imagined. More importantly, he has not only taken their ideas to the next level, but done it in a way that provides a tangible blue print for how to change our current style of command and control management with its focus on profit maximization to a LAS Theory of Management.
The use of the sixteen focus companies from the LAMP INDEX and the author's ability ability to clearly show the distinctions in their style of management from the traditional management models that continue to be taught in almost all business schools, and the success these companies have achieved not just financially, gives those of us hoping to change management education and core business curriculums a new hope.
Thank you for such an outstanding book.
Joseph F. Castellano
Professor, Department of Accounting
University of Dayton Business School
Excellent, highly readable information.......2006-11-18
This is not one of those lightweight business books that repeats its Chapter 1 message over and over. It's chock full of research-based information that anyone involved in the sustainability movement should have. The publisher is Peter Senge's non-profit, so if you're familiar with his excellent work over the years, this would make a great addition to your library. The author's passion for his subject is obvious from page one.
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An author who tries to write an engaging book about the International Monetary Fund faces a daunting task. Who besides devoted readers of The Financial Times would want to read it? With The Chastening, however, Paul Blustein offers a remarkably accessible account of this off-putting institution and its importance to the world economy. "The IMF cultivates its mystique, seeking to appear all-knowing, scientific, and detached. To outsiders, it often comes across as a high priesthood with pretensions of divine powers and insight," he writes. Blustein tears down this façade as he recounts some of the epic struggles of recent years: "As markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often scrambling, floundering, improvising, and striking messy compromises." Through dozens of interviews with IMF insiders, Blustein reveals how the institution really works--and how it often doesn't. There are fast-paced stories of success and failure on these pages, as Blustein describes efforts to bail out faltering economies in Korea, Russia, and elsewhere. Best of all, readers don't need economics degrees to keep pace: anybody who simply wants a primer on global financial systems will be well served by Blustein. --John Miller
Book Description
"Gripping, often frightening...should be read by anyone wanting to understand, from the inside, how the international financial system really works." --The Economist
Lauded by reviewers and scholars alike, Paul Blustein's The Chastening examines the role of the International Monetary Fund in the series of economic crises that rocked the globe in the last decade. Based on hundreds of interviews with officials at the IMF, the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and many foreign governments, The Chastening offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Fund during an extraordinarily turbulent period in modern economic history and at a time when the IMF has become the object of intense political controversy.
While the IMF and its overseers at the Treasury and the Fed have sought to cultivate an image of economic masterminds coolly dispensing effective economic remedies, the reality is that as markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often floundering, improvising, and feuding among themselves. The Chastening casts serious doubt on the IMF's ability to combat of investor panics at a time when massive flows of money traverse borders and oceans.
A readable, compelling account of the deeply flawed workings of the international political system, The Chastening is vital reading for students and scholars of international diplomacy, government, and economic and public policy.
Customer Reviews:
A Primer on Why Third World Debt Is Such a Mess.......2007-01-01
There are many good reasons to bash the IMF but few reasons to do so if you don't know what you're talking about -- this books lets you do both.
I've spent years in social circles that carry on a tragic lament of third world debt to first world countries, a lament I agree with but often find is expressed through oft-repeated anti-globalization mantras with no perception of how hideously complex the situation is.
This book gives you the tools to make cogent criticisms of the IMF while simultaneously learning about the herculean chore the IMF has before it. Blustein describes the mechanics of how financial crises arose in the fateful year of 1997 in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korea, and later in Russia and Brazil. A combination of cookie-cutter shock therapy schemes, out-of-touch IMF officials, incompetent and often corrupt finance ministry officials and Wall Street Bankers converge to make it nearly impossible for countries to escape the wrath of an increasingly volatile group of investors the author appropriately dubs the "Electronic Herd."
The pattern is now a familiar one -- irresponsible fiscal and monetary policy leaves a country exposed to predatory lenders and currency speculators. Investors and debt holders see the country's dwindling hard currency reserves as sign of imminent collapse and begin to sell off every asset they have there, creating a vicious circle of panic. The IMF is called in to make sure the country doesn't go bankrupt by providing loans of hard currency -- but who's being bailed out, the country itself of the lenders that put their money there?
Blustein explains how this dynamic was repeated in each of the countries of the 1997 and 1998 crises, with the IMF response working in everyone's favor in only two cases among a string of dismal failures. He extensively explores the issue of "moral hazard," or the idea that big loan packages to economies in crisis just reinforces irresponsible behavior on the part of both the lenders and the borrowers.
Can get a little tedious at times, and the sequence of events is sometimes hard to follow because so much is being explained at once -- but overall a well written work by a reporter who covered the subject for years.
A Case Study in the Failure of Political Rationalism.......2006-09-26
The Chastening is a ripping, white-knuckle read. This IS the best single book about the IMF, but it is also a lesson in political theory. Like Milton Friedman's "Monetary History of the United States," David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest," and Robert Conquest's "Harvest of Sorrow," this book is a case study in how superempowered and unaccountable bureaucrats tend make natural disasters incalculably worse. It is an object lesson in how policymaking ambitions are frustrated by human fallibility, especially when the policymaker in question fails to account for that fallibility. At every step, the Fund's planners made horrible missteps with smug confidence, thereby prolonging the suffering of untold millions of people. At every step, they were shocked when reality failed to coorespond to theory and their best intentions backfired. In a subtle way, the doctrinaire rationalist approach taken by the Fund during the Asian crisis presages the failure of the remaking of Iraq. The inherent weakness of theory-laden, top-down political and economic planning is a lesson we must apparently learn over and over again. (For those who appreciate this philosophical dimension to the book, I highly recommend James C. Scott's "Seeing Like a State.")
The IMF is the most powerful single human force on the planet and yet it remains totally almost unknown to public at large. Blustein is to be commended for making the Fund transparent and accessible to all educated people.
Entertaining & Imformative.......2006-08-16
Clearly the best book ever written on the IMF & its inner-workings. Great detail on the theater and players within the IMF and those that make policy. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the world economy.
Regarding the crisis that hit the world financial markets the author does an outstanding job in educating the reader on all of the key elements from Nation/States to Hedge Funds.
By taking individual chapters to break down the elements of the distressed finances of Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Thailand & wall street the author takes us on a roller coaster ride of international politics, high finance, intrigue & history.
1997.......2006-01-04
1997, S Korea banking system was on the verge of collaspe, as result of violatile banking practices that had destabled the financial system threating the 11th largest economy of the world and created the possibility of financially crippling long term companies like Hyundia, Samsung, and Daewoo. At the time the IMF began analyzing S Korea's financial condition, S Korea bank reserves stood at $24 billion. IMF's, Neiss had no idea how close the S Korean banks were to default and when Neiss arrived in S. Korea the reserves had already fallen to $9 billion and dropping $1 billion a day. Foreign banks were demanding payment on loans come due and the practice of routinely extending payments month after month was canceled causing a massive amount of money due. The short term debt to foreigner was $20 billion. Foreigners on the currency exchange were dumping the won for the dollar and investors were executing a massive selloff of Korean stocks and bonds. When Neiss arrive S Korea was within a week of default. If S Korea defaulted, the default could cause a long and crippling cutoff of loans and neighboring Asian countries might also fall into default and investment confidence could be shattered globally and the world fall into a global recession. The S Korea economic collaspe affected the US economy; in 1998, the bond market ceased to function as a provider of capital to the world; the fed was forced into sharp cuts in the interest rate, but the fed could not tame the savage beast of the global market. The global market beast was enormous. Foreign investment in the selling and buying of stocks and bonds and other securities had reached $17.3 trillion by 1997.
Neiss envisioned three responses to the crisis: 1. acquire a short term loan from Japan 2) gain permission to pay foreign loans in bonds rather than cash 3) stem the panic by showing the market that S Korea banks had plenty of cash. The IMF bailout infused $55 billion and $21 billion from the IMF. S Korea promised to cut budget amounts, raise interest rates, shutdown ailing financial institutions and close the doors, eliminate government direct bank loans, and allow greater freedom for foreign investors to buy stocks and bonds. The IMF bailout followed by a crash in the currency and economy of S. Korea. Financial credibility damage had occurred. IMF bailouts pattern of crashes after loan approval occurred with Thailand ($17 billion loan), Indonesia ($33 billion loan), Russia (1998 - $22 billion loan), and Brazil ($44 billion bailout loan). IMF bailout meant higher interest rates cooling fast growing economies. When a country fails to meet the target goals of the IMF, the IMF blames the government of the country for failing to meet the conditions of the loan. This tactic imposes censurorship and political influence entangling the IMF with the internal policies of the countries political machinery. 1999-2000, the IMF pronounced the Asia financial crisis over.
In fast growing Asian countries, hot money had poured inot these economies. Hot money could be liquidated with a push of a computer button by commerical banks and brokers. Hot money destabilized the S Korean financial systems and increased the violatility in the system.
Criticism of the IMF are it lacks expertise in banking issues, it closes banks and does not consider whether other banks can cover; it can not create money like the fed. In 2001, IMF war chest totaling $137 billion. IMF limitations to financial assets makes it vulnerable to rescuing failsafe countries that could trigger global financial collaspe. Once an IMF bailout is installed, the role of the IMF is too become the financial planner of the country forcing the country to reduce spending and increase income revenue.
Economists On A Mission.......2005-12-23
In Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz claims that the Asian crisis could not have been achieved by market speculators and corrupt politicians alone: it required the involvement of economists, and more specifically of that breed of economists who populate the corridors of the International Monetary Fund, an institution charged with maintaining financial stability and extending credit to countries facing crises.
Although not a professional economist, Paul Blustein provides a more balanced account. Instead of invoking arcane theories and denouncing other people's incompetence to make his point, he sticks to the facts and reconstructs the story of the Asian crisis as people experienced it on the frontline. His most fascinating pages are when he follows IMF economists on rescue missions, from Bangkok and Jakarta to Seoul and back again. You can almost smell the sweat emanating from those figures uniformly clad in white shirts and dark suits, envision the nights spent working on spreadsheets in air-conditioned hotel rooms, feel the tension that reigns once the team has unearthed some unsavory data, witness the embarrassment of the authorities who are asked to spill open their books and confess their best-kept financial secrets, imagine the relief when things fall into place and the program proposal is ready to go to the executive board for approval.
One should not pity IMF economists. They live in poshy Washington, fly business class, stay in five stars hotels and, although they envy the paychecks of their Wall Street colleagues, manage to lead an international bureaucrat's life with a banker's salary. But one also has to acknowledge their high professional standards, their devotion to their tasks and their sense of discipline that contradicts the adage that economists can never agree with one another (remember Winston Churchill, who remarked that "if you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three opinions.")
Here is how IMF staffers are perceived by their colleagues from the World Bank, a sister institution located right across the street in downtown Washington:
"Economists from the World Bank, who sometimes work in joint missions with the IMF, express awe at the almost military manners in which Fund staffers defer to their superiors. This protocol is in stark contrast to the code of conduct at the World Bank, an institution devoted to long-term development loans, whose economists or irrigation specialists or environmental experts might embark on a lively disagreement right in front of, say, a borrowing country's deputy finance minister. When an IMF mission enters a room to conduct a negotiation, it is often easy to tell who ranks where; one World Banker likens it to "a mother duck leading her baby ducks." The mission chief typically sits in the middle of the table and does most of the talking, allowing immediate subordinates to chime in on issues requiring their specialized expertise; lower-level staffers are likely to remain silent."
Four year after its publication, the book still makes an interesting read. It could have been adorned with a more telling title (the "chastening" refers to the jacket of the hardcover edition which shows the IMF pilloried with a dunce's cap, as well as to the sense of awe when faced with the recurrence of financial crises that should chasten us all of any sense of complacency). It would also have benefited from the inclusion of a few pictures, and especially that famous snapshot that shows IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus standing, arms crossed, looking down at President Suharto as he signed the revised multi-billion bailout package that was to provide a short respite to the country as it spiraled into chaos. A tell-tale picture, indeed.
Book Description
The book sets forth the economic rationale for international financial regulation and what role, if any, international regulation can play in effectively managing systemic risk while providing accountability to all affected nations. The book suggests that a particular type of global governance structure is necessary to have more efficient regulation of the international financial system.
Customer Reviews:
A FUNDAMENTAL BOOK ON WORLD ECONOMY.......2006-08-12
THE AUTHORS ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT THE PARLOUS STATE OF THE WORLD FINANCIAL SYSTEM AFTER "FREE CAPITAL" PRIVATIZATION, DEREGULATION, AND THE GOALS AND SHIBBOLETHS OF THE MAJOR GOVERMENTS FOR THE PAST DECADE. THIS IS A TECHNICAL ACCOUNT OF WHY THE STATUS QUO WILL VERY LIKELY PRODUCE DISASTER. DESPITE THE INHIBITED TONE OF THE WRITING, THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL: ECONOMIC DISASTER IS THE MOST PROBABLE OUTCOME OF ALL THE CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE WORLD ECONOMY SINCE 1971 AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE BRETTON WOODS SYSTEM. A VERY IMPORTANT BOOK.
Review in Foreign Affairs:.......2006-02-17
This book finds serious deficiencies with the by now extensive system of committees, organizations, rules, and guidelines that have emerged to govern and manage the international financial system. Concretely, it suggests that the existing framework, based on the supervision of individual financial institutions (especially banks), fails to take adequate account of the negative macroeconomic consequences that may flow from the financial failures of particular institutions. Even worse, emerging rules (such as the Basel II guidelines for minimum bank capital) may actually increase systemic fragility by making financial institutions more homogeneous in their behavior, leading to abrupt disruptions (financial crises) following periods of apparent but fragile stability. In making its central argument, the book offers informative coverage of the International Monetary Fund, the Basel committees on banking, the Asian financial crises, bankruptcy, the legal aspects of the system for settlement of payments, and many other relevant topics.
Average customer rating:
- WOW!!
- A Remarkable Piece of Work
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The Death of Demand: Finding Growth in a Saturated Global Economy (Financial Times Prentice Hall Books)
Tom Osenton
Manufacturer: Financial Times Prentice Hall
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WOW!!.......2004-04-03
This is an incredible--and credible--fact based view of what's really going on in the economy. Mr. Osenton has clearly done his homework, and presents this fresh material in a very insightful and enjoyable read.
The best business book I have read since Peter's "In Search of Excellence" two deacdes ago.
Bravo!
A Remarkable Piece of Work.......2004-03-09
This book is not only a wonderful read and an impressive history of business during the second half of the 20th century, but it presents the most logical understanding as to why corporations, industries - the entire economy - is having such a difficult time growing. The irony that Osenton points out is that we are victims of our own success - pushing for more and more consumption - and getting it! - only to begin to approach levels of saturation. He points out that there are currently more than 32 million more registered vehicles in the United States than there are licensed drivers! Talk about surplus. For the first time ever, someone has explained WHY - beyond the simple explanation of greed - that corporations are cooking their books in order to make the numbers. It's because their respective top lines are lifeless, and they have squeezed every penny, every productivity gain they could out of the corporation. Death of Demand helped me completely understand why employees are paying for earnings growth with their jobs - jobs that are either being cut altogether or sent overseas. What a spectacular analysis of our current economic condition. Bravo!
Book Description
This book traces the evolution of the highly integrated global financial system from 1750 to the present. It examines the corporate form of business organization in the 18th century that saw an explosion of growth in the 19th, which facilitated the international movement of capital. The author also deals with the parallel growth of financial markets and explains how the need to finance public debts paved the way for stock markets as well as outlining the role of private merchant bankers, who originated as international bankers with family-run offices across Europe. He charts the development of banks into public corporations and follows the evolution of modern paper money, explaining the emergence of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. While tracing the development of foreign-exchange markets and the history of trading blocs, the book also examines how economic powers such as Britain and France used access to capital to wield power in less-developed parts of the world. Finally, a history of financial crises is presented, revealing how economic shocks reverberate from one country to another today through the global financial network.
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- great book to understand financial functions
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The Global Financial System
Kenneth A. Froot
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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Asset Pricing: (Revised)
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The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
ASIN: 087584622X |
Book Description
Leading financial scholars present essays examining the performance of the basic financial functions underlying global financial systems: payments, lending and investing, pooling funds, allocating risk, providing information, and dealing with incentive issues--with particular emphasis on how their performance is changing and implications for the future.
Customer Reviews:
great book to understand financial functions.......2000-04-21
I read the Japanese version of this book. This is one of the best finalce books I've ever read. This book helped me to understand much better the future of financial businesses. It is especially good in explaining: what is the rationale for financial intermediaries to exist, how capital markets evolved, why corporations hedge by themselves, and how asymmetric information affects financial instruments.
Average customer rating:
- What makes financial liberalization tough?
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Global Capital and National Politics: Reforming Mexico's Financial System
Timothy P. Kessler
Manufacturer: Praeger Paperback
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ASIN: 0275965694 |
Book Description
Kessler shows how political considerations distorted the liberalization process in Mexico, leading to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy. Although market reform is promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations. The research examines four periods: the populist administrations of Echeverria and Lopez Portillo, during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of de la Madrid, who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas, who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration, whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process. Kessler also provides a comparison of financial collapse in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.
Customer Reviews:
What makes financial liberalization tough?.......2000-10-22
This book offers a timely and compelling explanation that will allow the reader to understand why Mexico, a country that became the darling of the international financial community after following orthodox liberalization policies, ended up in 1995 with the most dramatic recession in its modern history and cuased the Tequila Effect, which threatened the stability of the world's financial system.
The author shows how political considerations played a key role in the direction of the liberalization process of Mexico's financial system. The author argues that liberalization led to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy, which contributed to Mexico's 1995 deep recession and the consequent bank bailout. The author argues that although market reform has been promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations.
The book examines four periods: the populist administrations of Presidents Luis Echeverria (1970-1976) and José Lopez Portillo (1976-1982), during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of Miguel de la Madrid's adminsitration (1982-1988), who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas (1988-1994), who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration (1994-2000), whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process.
The author also offers a comparative perspective of financial liberalization in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, which also underwent financial crisis in the late 90s, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. By providing a comparative analysis the author derives some lessons from financial liberalization in developing countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.
The book should be read by those interested in development and economic policy reform as well as those following policy making processes. This book is certainly a contribution to understanding a period of profound changes in Mexico's history and its process of economic reforms.
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Financial Crises and Recession in the Global Economy
Roy E. Allen
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1840646322 |
Book Description
This timely and authoritative book, now in paperback, explains the rise and fall of economies in Asia, Central America and Europe since 1980 and discusses these crises in the context of continuing economic globalization.
This updated and fully revised edition includes a detailed account of the Mexican crisis of 1994-95, the Japanese crisis which has worsened in the late 1990s and the Asian crisis which emerged in 1997. Professor Allen discusses the impact of new uses and forms of money, and new financial flows such as electronic monies and offshore financial markets. These processes explain how the US economy has benefited from 'money-mercantilism' at the expense of other regions of the world. The author then provides a thorough taxonomy of the common patterns of recent currency crises. He formalizes a 'new political economy of money' which goes further than the conventional literature in explaining these patterns.
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Pharmaceutical Price Regulation: National Policies Versus Global Interests
Patricia Danzon
Manufacturer: AEI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy
ASIN: 0844739820 |
Book Description
The author examines the effect of existing foreign regulation on U.S. firms, the major producers of innovative drugs.
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Global Finance: New Thinking on Regulating Speculative Capital Markets
Walden Bello
Manufacturer: Zed Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire (American Empire Project)
ASIN: 1856497925 |
Book Description
In this book, leading thinkers confront what is to be done about the clearly unstable world economic system. They examine a raft of different ideas and approaches, including: how do we renew the process of governance of the global economy?; can the IMF be reformed?; do we need a new World Financial Authority?; is there a case for capital controls?; what effective measures are needed to relieve the most deeply indebted countries? These questions are set in the context of understanding what has happened under the aegis of neo-liberalist economic thinking and policy. Fundamental questions are raised about recasting economic institutions and strategies on the basis of democratically controlled, environmentally compatible alternative lines.
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