The economics of international payments unions and clearing houses : theory and measurement

International payments unions and clearing houses have been employed by 88 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to liberalise regional trade and payments during the past 50 years. Yet, their impact on participating countries has not been well understood. When the republics of the former Soviet Union were deciding on new monetary regimes, many economists proposed a payments union but could not estimate its potential benefits or risks. This book presents the first fully articulated theory of international payments unions and clearing houses in order to answer the questions: When should a country choose to participate in a payments union? What benefits and costs have actually resulted from existing and past clearing houses? When should countries in a clearing house seek to form a payments union? Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Clearing Arrangements in Domestic and International Payments Systems....Pages 11-32 The Structure of Regional Payments Arrangements....Pages 33-51 The Effects of a Clearing Union: A Benchmark Model....Pages 52-81 The Effects of a Payments Union: A Stochastic Analysis....Pages 82-97 The Impact of Payments Unions on Economic Growth....Pages 98-109 Front Matter....Pages 111-111 Measuring Savings of International Reserves....Pages 113-131 Measuring the Effects of RPAs on Trade Creation and Economic Growth....Pages 132-148 Front Matter....Pages 149-149 The European Payments Union and the Western European Recovery, 1945–59....Pages 151-166 Intra-OEEC Trade Liberalization and EPU Reserve Savings....Pages 167-185 The Impact of the EPU on OEEC Regional Trade....Pages 186-205 The Impact of the EPU on Income and Economic Growth....Pages 206-220 Front Matter....Pages 221-221 RPCS Structure, Operations, and Impact....Pages 223-249 The Benefits and Risks of a Latin American Payments Union....Pages 250-263 Conclusions....Pages 264-266 Back Matter....Pages 267-306 The Twentieth Century Posed Great Challenges For British Foreign Policy. How Effectively Did Policymakers Cope With Change And Decline? Were They As Pragmatic As They Claimed? Are There Identifiable Patterns Of Success And Failure? Peter Mangold Seeks To Answer These Questions In This New Thematic Account Of British Foreign Policy Between 1900 And 2000. Issues Covered Include Imperial Overstretch, The Reluctance To Engage Militarily And Politically With Continental Europe, Alliance Management, The Role Of Force, Loss Of Great Power Status, And Britain's Impact On The International System. The Final Chapter Considers Prospects For The Twenty-first Century.--jacket. 1. The Scope Of The Possible -- 2. Ends Beyond Means -- 3. The Limits Of Pragmatism -- 4. Kinds Of Allies -- 5. The Strategic Dimension -- 6. The Sound Barrier -- 7. International Impact -- 8. Patterns And Prognoses -- App. I. Outline Chronology, Main Events Relating To British Foreign Policy, 1900-2000 -- App. Ii. British Foreign Secretaries, 1900-2001. Peter Mangold. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 219-233) And Index. "The twentieth century posed great challenges for British foreign policy. How effectively did policymakers cope with change and decline? Were they as pragmatic as they claimed? Are there identifiable patterns of success and failure?". "Peter Mangold seeks to answer these questions in this new thematic account of British foreign policy between 1900 and 2000. Issues covered include imperial overstretch, the reluctance to engage militarily and politically with continental Europe, alliance management, the role of force, loss of Great Power status, and Britain's impact on the international system. The final chapter considers prospects for the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET. The book provides empirical tools to measure the impact of existing, proposed, or historical payments unions and clearing houses. It analyzes the structure of seven such institutions, and explores in detail the effects of the European Payments Union and the Latin American System of Payments and Credits. Serious students and analysts of economic regionalism, central bank policies, international economic institutions, economic integration among developing countries, and the economic history of postwar Europe will be interested in this ground breaking study of international payments unions and clearing houses A growing interest in political Islam has assumed significant ideological and intellectual dimensions, especially in recent years. Rather than viewing the issue as Islam versus the rest, or tradition against modernity, this volume acknowledges the mutualities without overlooking the tensions. It centers on issues such as the Rushdie affair, conflictive pluralism in South Asia and Islam's links with the Kashmir dispute, the Iranian revolution, civil war in Afghanistan, and western public diplomacy. "This book gives an economic perspective to the analysis of deforestation. Following a survey of different deforestation definitions, theories and empirical evidence, a case-study of Ecuador provides a versatile historical picture of factors influencing forest loss throughout different periods, regions and ecosystems."--BOOK JACKET.