Islamic Economics and Finance
Rodney Wilson
Volume 9, Number 1, 2008, pages 177 - 195
This article provides an introduction to key concepts and methods involved in an Islamic approach to business, investment, risk taking and insurance. The prohibition of riba (interest or usury) profoundly influences the way business transactions and investments are made and financial contract ... Read more
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Two Concepts of the Output Gap
Tim Congdon
Volume 9, Number 1, 2008, pages 147 - 175
Two alternative concepts of the output gap, Keynesian and monetarist, can be distinguished. When they use the phrase, economists should make clear which concept is under discussion. The first concept, developed by Okun in the early 1960s, defines the output gap relative to a full employment notion o ... Read more
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Sovereign Wealth Funds
What they are and what’s happening
Stephen Jen
Volume 8, Number 4, 2007, pages 1 - 7
Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), much in the news of late, are a new and growing class of funds that are already large in size, and will likely grow very rapidly in the coming years. How they will operate, both in terms of their portfolio allocation and the way in which the managers of these funds com ... Read more
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What Future for Central Banks?
Howard Davies
Volume 7, Number 4, 2006, pages 57 - 85
Central banks around the world differ in their functions, size, efficiency and status. In this article, Sir Howard Davies, a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, discusses the development of central banking over the last few years, and where it might go in the future. His main focus is the ... Read more
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Gold and Silver as Monetary Metals
An overview
John Cooper
Volume 7, Number 2, 2006, pages 133 - 144
Commodity money systems, based upon gold or silver, provided relative economic stability for centuries. On the other hand, our modern paper money system, based upon unbacked government liabilities, is particularly vulnerable to abuse. The various financial crises during the twentieth century bear wi ... Read more
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Are We Heading for a Dollar Crisis?
Graham Bird
Volume 7, Number 1, 2006, pages 159 - 174
The US balance of payments current account deficit is in excess of 5 per cent of GDP. Is this sustainable? A loss of confidence in the dollar could lead to foreign investors selling dollars and to a sharp dollar devaluation. In principle, there could be a dollar crisis. But how likely is it? This pa ... Read more
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Dollarisation in Theory and Practice
John C. B. Cooper
Volume 5, Number 4, 2004, pages 79 - 89
Dollarisation involves the replacement of a soft domestic currency with a hard
foreign alternative. This paper explains the different forms that dollarisation can
take, its consequences for an economy, and concludes by exploring the
experience of Panama, a country dollarised since 1904. ... Read more
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Monetarism: A Rejoinder
Tim Congdon
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 179 - 197
Tim Congdon responds to the article by Thomas Mayer
and Patrick Minford, ‘Monetarism: A
Retrospective’ that appeared in World Economics, Vol. 5,
No. 2 (April–June), 2004, pp. 147–185.
... Read more
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Monetarism in Retrospect — and Prospect
Andrew G Haldane
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 171 - 178
Andrew Haldane responds to the article by Thomas Mayer
and Patrick Minford, ‘Monetarism: A
Retrospective’ that appeared in World Economics, Vol. 5,
No. 2 (April–June), 2004, pp. 147–185. ... Read more
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Monetarism: A Response
Meghnad Desai
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 165 - 170
Meghnad Desai responds to the article by Thomas Mayer
and Patrick Minford, ‘Monetarism: A
Retrospective’ that appeared in World Economics, Vol. 5,
No. 2 (April–June), 2004, pp. 147–185.
... Read more
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Monetarism Revisited
Allan Meltzer
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 161 - 164
Allan Meltzer responds to the article by Thomas Mayer
and Patrick Minford, ‘Monetarism: A
Retrospective’ that appeared in World Economics, Vol. 5,
No. 2 (April–June), 2004, pp. 147–185.
... Read more
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Monetarism
A retrospective
Thomas Mayer & Patrick Minford
Volume 5, Number 2, 2004, pages 147 - 185
This paper offers a retrospective on the monetarist debate started by Milton
Friedman in the 1950s, discussing both monetarist theory and policy
recommendations. While the inability to find a controllable monetary aggregate
with a velocity that can be accurately predicted has severely damaged the ... Read more
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Is Dollarisation a Viable Option for Latin America?
Graham Bird
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 137 - 147
In the aftermath of the East Asian financial crisis there has been much discussion of exchange rate policy in developing countries. Some observers have suggested that they should opt either for flexible exchange rates or for firmly fixed rates. Adopting the US dollar as legal tender and abandoning t ... Read more
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E-money: Will it Take Off?
Peter Spencer
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 121 - 136
The growth of the Internet and e-commerce raises some interesting questions for those interested in the monetary system. Is a new Internet-based digital
transactions medium likely to evolve and what would the consequences of this
be for taxation, monetary and financial stability? This article revi ... Read more
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On Understanding Money
Martin Shubik
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 95 - 120
Fiat money is a creation of both the state and society. Its value is supported by expectations which are conditioned by the dynamics of trust in government, the socio-economic structure and by outside events such as wars, plagues or political unrest.
The micro-management of a dynamic economy is not ... Read more
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Can Bettors Win?
A perspective on the economics of betting
Leighton Vaughan Williams
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 31 - 48
In this paper, a survey is undertaken of studies that examines the extent to which systematic patterns of behaviour in betting markets can generate above-average
or even abnormal returns, the latter being most conveniently defined for these
purposes as a profit. The paper concludes that although b ... Read more
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From Big Macs to iMacs
What do international price comparisons tell us?
Jonathan Haskel & Holger Wolf
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 167 - 178
The authors review recent international price comparisons to examine the veracity of claims about “rip-off Britain”. They reach three conclusions. First, methodologically, the data requirements for a meaningful price comparison are very demanding and most of the evidence does not meet these standard ... Read more
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