Book Description

ÔRichard Iley and Mervyn Lewis have written an extremely useful book on the global economy since the Western financial crisis. Well-written, well-informed and easily accessible to non-economists, it offers much good sense about many questions, from the future of the renminbi to that of the United States. They wisely urge that, as ChinaÕs rise continues, the United States should engage with China rather than resist it. This is a book full of good judgement that deserves a wide readership.Õ Ð Martin Jacques, author, When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order ÔThe interplay between the macro-economic imbalances, notably in the relationship between the USA and China, and the more micro-economic shortcomings of the WestÕs financial systems, particularly the lax regulation, forms the centre-piece of this excellently written book. In the disputes about the relative culpability of China and the USA for current macro-economic problems, they tend to support the Chinese arguments, and give well-considered arguments for so doing. This book provides an excellent, clear, and at times provocative, assessment of the course of the macro-monetary problems of the world since the Ògreat recessionÓ struck.Õ Ð Charles A.E. Goodhart, London School of Economics, UK This thought-provoking book addresses challenging questions raised in light of the aftermath of the global financial crisis that saw an accelerated rise in the economic growth of China and other emerging market economies, while the US, Japan and Europe have laboured under the great recession. The authors examine global post-crisis reordering in a long-run context, identify five fundamental flaws in global bank business models and document the explosion of gross capital flows. They tackle difficult-to-answer lines of enquiry such as: can zero interest rates and quantitative easing lift the advanced world back to growth, or will they be dragged down by the overhang of debt? Might costs on savers, retirees and distortions to the pattern of global financing render zero rates counter-productive? What issues face the BRICs? Could ÔChina as number oneÕ see the renminbi soon challenge the dollar and the euro as a major international currency? Providing a detailed analysis of the post-crisis world and the issues posed by the rise of China and emerging market economies relative to developed countries, this book will prove a stimulating account for academics, students and researchers in the fields of economics, money, finance and banking, and world trade. Bank and market economists as well as policymakers based in central banks, governments and think-tanks will also find this book to be an invaluable reference tool.