World Scientific Publishing Company Limits Of Fiscal, Monetary, And Trade Policies, The: International Comparisons And Solutions

University of North Caronlina, Chapel Hilll Sixteen countries across the world — including the United States and many European nations — have fallen into economic crises since the late 1990s. In The Limits of Fiscal, Monetary, and Trade Policies: International Comparisons and Solutions, Jonathan E Leightner convincingly argues that the fundamental cause of the global malaise is a surplus of savings. He provides compelling evidence (via statistical estimates) that fiscal, monetary, and trade policies cannot solve the resulting problems since their effectiveness has plummeted. Leightner also shows that the solution to the current global economic woes is a “consumption driven growth model” (which China advocates but has yet to fully implement) because when there is insufficient consumption, excess savings will remain idle, seek a return from rent or deception, or fund speculative bubbles. From the Back Cover With many countries facing high unemployment rates, uncertain futures, and inadequate incomes, nobody can deny the dire state which the global economy is currently in. Basic economic policies and institutions are now being questioned more than ever since the Great Depression. In The Limits of Fiscal, Monetary, and Trade Policies, Jonathan E Leightner puts forth the argument that the fundamental cause of the current worldwide economic crisis is a surplus in savings. Through the use of Reiterative Truncated Projected Least Squares (RTPLS, a statistical technique that captures the influence of omitted variables), Leightner estimates and observes the declining effectiveness of fiscal, monetary, and trade policies in America, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, China, and Russia. From European austerity measures to Chinese consumption-driven growth, Leightner discusses the attempts made by the governments of these countries to address the crisis in detail as well. With such international comparisons, this book provides compelling evidence that the solution to current global economic woes lies in a redistribution of income that will increase consumption and, thereby, provide a reason to productively invest the current global surplus in savings.