By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.

Can knowledge of financial policies in developing countries over four decades help the socialist economies of Asia and Eastern Europe become open market economies in the 1990s? In all these countries the loss of fiscal and monetary control has often resulted in high inflation that undermines the liberalization process itself. In the second edition of The Order of Economic Liberalization, Ronald McKinnon builds on his influential work on the liberalization of financial markets in less developed countries and outlines the progression necessary to move from a "repressed" to an open economy. New to this edition are chapters that contrast the gradual Chinese approach to liberalizing domestic and foreign trade with the "big bang" approach followed by some Eastern European countries and republics of the former Soviet Union. Financial control and macroeconomic stability, McKinnon argues, are more critical to a successful transition than is any crash program to privatize state-owned industrial assets and the banking system.

Ten original essays examine the political and institutional factors that influence the initiation and efficiency of preferential credit policies in Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil.

In The New Masters of Capital, Timothy J. Sinclair examines a key aspect of the global economy—the rating agencies. In the global economy, trust is formalized in the daily operations of such firms as Moody's and Standard & Poor's, which continuously monitor the financial health of bond-issuers ranging from private corporations to local and national governments. Their judgments affect unimaginably large sums, approximately $30 trillion in outstanding debt issues, according to a recent Moody's estimate. The difference between an AA and a BB rating may cost millions of dollars in interest payments or determine if a corporation or government can even issue bonds Without bond rating agencies, there would be no standard means to compare risks in the global economy, and international investment would be problematic. Most observers assume that the agencies are neutral and scientific, and that they interpret their role in narrowly economic terms. But these agencies, by their nature, wield extraordinary power and exert massive influence over public policy. Sinclair offers a highly accessible account of these institutions, their origins, and the rating processes they use to judge creditworthiness. Illustrated with a wide range of cases, this book offers a fresh assessment of the role of an often-overlooked institution in the dynamics of modern global capitalism.

Why do stock and housing markets sometimes experience amazing booms followed by massive busts and why is this happening more and more frequently? In order to answer these questions, William Quinn and John D. Turner take us on a riveting ride through the history of financial bubbles, visiting, among other places, Paris and London in 1720, Latin America in the 1820s, Melbourne in the 1880s, New York in the 1920s, Tokyo in the 1980s, Silicon Valley in the 1990s and Shanghai in the 2000s. As they do so, they help us understand why bubbles happen, and why some have catastrophic economic, social and political consequences whilst others have actually benefited society. They reveal that bubbles start when investors and speculators react to new technology or political initiatives, showing that our ability to predict future bubbles will ultimately come down to being able to predict these sparks.

This major new text introduces the analytical tools required to understand and interpret 21st century advanced capitalism and its evolution in the wake of the global financial crisis. Placing Comparative Political Economy in the context of key concepts and theoretical debates in the long-established field of Political Economy, it maps the terrain, substantive focus and evolution of the comparative approach. Furthermore, it connects Comparative Political Economy systematically to the subfield of International Political Economy (IPE), making the case for cross-fertilisation between these closely related fields. Re-invigorating the debate in the wake of the global financial crisis and the dramatic political interventions that followed, this text offers an entirely fresh and holistic review of comparative political economy. Ben Clift, a leading figure in the field, rethinks the supposed boundaries between comparative and international political economy, highlighting the how disciplines complement each other in an era where economic activity is increasingly shaped by political and social influence. Upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates studying Comparative Political Economy or a subject related to Political Economy will find this book essential. As the topics and disciplinary themes covered by this text are broad, students of more general Politics or International Relations courses will also be well served by this text.