This book deals with the economic consequences of monetary integration, which has long been dominated by the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) paradigm. In this model, money is perceived as having developed from a private sector cost minimization process to facilitate transactions. Not surprisingly,...

Contents: 1. Introduction / Gerald Epstein -- Part I Capital flows and financial crises -- 2. Financial crises among emerging and developing economies in the modern era: a brief history and some stylized themes / Elissa Braunstein -- 3. Too good to be true: what the Icelandic crisis revealed...