Managing Economic Volatility and Crises A Practitioner's Guide Aizenman Pinto

Managing Economic Volatility and CrisesA Practitioner's Guide

This collection explores the phenomenon of economic volatility, which studies show had adverse effects on long-run growth.

Joshua Aizenman (Edited by), Brian Pinto (Edited by)

9780521855242, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 October 2005

614 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm, 1.07 kg

Economic volatility has come into its own after being treated for decades as a secondary phenomenon in the business cycle literature. This evolution has been driven by the recognition that non-linearities, long buried by the economist's penchant for linearity, magnify the negative effects of volatility on long-run growth and inequality, especially in poor countries. This collection organizes empirical and policy results for economists and development policy practitioners into four parts: basic features, including the impact of volatility on growth and poverty; commodity price volatility; the financial sector's dual role as an absorber and amplifier of shocks; and the management and prevention of macroeconomic crises. The latter section includes a cross-country study, case studies on Argentina and Russia, and lessons from the debt default episodes of the 1980s and 1990s.

ContributorsAcknowledgementsForewordOverview Joshua Aizenman and Brian PintoPart I. What Is Volatility and Why Does It Matter?: 1. Volatility: definitions and consequences Holger Wolf2. Volatility and growth Viktoria Hnatkovska and Norman Loayza3. Volatility, income distribution, and poverty Thomas Laursen and Sandeep MahajanPart II. Commodity Prices and Volatility: 4. Agricultural commodity price volatility Jan Dehn, Christopher Gilbert, and Panos Varangis5. Managing oil booms and busts in developing countries Julia Devlin and Michael LewinPart III. Finance and Volatility: 6. Finance and volatility Stijn Claessens7. Evaluating pricing signals from the bond markets John J. Merrick, JrPart IV. Managing Crises: 8. Managing macroeconomic crises: policy lessons Jeffrey Frankel and Shang-Jin Wei9. Lessons from the Russian crisis of 1998 and recovery Brian Pinto, Evsey Gurvich, and Sergei Ulatov10. Argentina's macroeconomic collapse: causes and lessons Luis Servén and Guillermo Perry11. Default episodes in the 1980s and 1990s: what have we learned? Punam Chuhan and Federico SturzeneggerTechnical appendix Viktoria HnatkovskaIndex.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ], Finance & accounting [KF], Political economy [KCP], Macroeconomics [KCB]