Financial Markets and Financial Fragility - 9781848440975

Thirty-two articles and selections from books are presented in facsimile in two volumes, arranged in sections on central banks, recent models, the historical discussion, the current framework, the macroeconomy, macroeconomic theories of financial fragility, and social risks. Sources include the Journal of Financial Stability, Journal of the European Economic Association, and Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, among others. Editor Toporowski (economics, School of Oriental and African Studies, U. of London, UK), provides a lengthy introductory essay detailing the mutable borders of the subject, the rationale for the selections, and the scope of the anthology. She states that readers hoping to find a "comprehensive understanding of financial fragility from reading these texts" will find, instead, "a mess of contradictory definitions, approaches and conclusions," and she makes no apology; her explanation is that the variety of circumstances, cycles, and contexts under consideration naturally causes a confusing array of conclusions that readers must figure out how to navigate and integrate. The anthology is not indexed. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)