The Limits Of Transparency
Subtitle: Ambiguity And The History Of International Finance (Cornell Studies in Money)
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: February 10, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 235
ISBN-13: 9780801443190
Subjects: International finance; Political economy; Politics/International Relations; International - General; Economics - Theory; Political Science; Business / Economics / Finance; Keynesian economics; International Relations - General; Finance; Economic Conditions; United Nations Monetary and Fi; 20th century; History
First sentence: With these words, the London Times summed up an almost universal belief of the immediate postwar era: whether one lauded or loathed the new financial principles embodied in the Bretton Woods agreement, it was generally agreed that the document was fundamentally ambiguous.
Description: "A decade of crises has reminded us of the fragility of the international financial system. Conventional wisdom holds that uncertainty is the basic problem of financial governance, and attempts to contain ambiguity have dominated recent financial reform efforts. Jacqueline Best, however, contends that ambiguity can play a valuable role in international political and economic stability. The stability of the postwar era depended, Best suggests, on a carefully maintained balance between coherence and ambiguity. In her view, the collapse of the Bretton Woods exchange-rate regime was caused in large part by the increasing rigidity of the system and its corresponding inability to accommodate ambiguity."--Jacket.