This textbook explains the politics of free trade agreements in Japan and South Korea.

Examining free trade agreements in Japan and South Korea since the late 1990s, Choi and Oh analyze the role of institutions, political leaders, sectoral interests, and civil society in placing the two countries on alternate paths of free trade agreements at different points in time. Systematically approaching the politics of free trade agreements from each perspective, they expose the domestic political underpinnings of free trade agreements in a global trade order that is increasingly fraught with conflict.

A valuable textbook for students of international political economy and international trade in East Asia, particularly those focusing on Japan and South Korea. It's also a useful resource for scholars and policymakers looking to better understand trade politics in East Asia.

Stress-test financial models and price credit instruments with confidence and efficiency using the perturbation approach taught in this expert volume

Perturbation Methods in Credit Derivatives: Strategies for Efficient Risk Management offers an incisive examination of a new approach to pricing credit-contingent financial instruments. Author and experienced financial engineer Dr. Colin Turfus has created an approach that allows model validators to perform rapid benchmarking of risk and pricing models while making the most efficient use possible of computing resources.

The book provides innumerable benefits to a wide range of quantitative financial experts attempting to comply with increasingly burdensome regulatory stress-testing requirements, including:

• Replacing time-consuming Monte Carlo simulations with faster, simpler pricing algorithms for front-office quants
• Allowing CVA quants to quantify the impact of counterparty risk, including wrong-way correlation risk, more efficiently
• Developing more efficient algorithms for generating stress scenarios for market risk quants
• Obtaining more intuitive analytic pricing formulae which offer a clearer intuition of the important relationships among market parameters, modelling assumptions and trade/portfolio characteristics for traders

The methods comprehensively taught in Perturbation Methods in Credit Derivatives also apply to CVA/DVA calculations and contingent credit default swap pricing.

Who holds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably be the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds that are often in the media's spotlight. But more and more a new group of sovereign investors, which includes some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, government pension funds, central bank reserve funds, state-owned enterprises, and other sovereign capital-enabled entities, have emerged to become the most influential capital markets players and investment firms, with $30 trillion in assets under management ("super asset owners").

Their ample resources, preference for lower profile, passive investing, their long-time horizon and adherence to sustainability as well as their need to diversify globally and by sector have helped to transform the investment world and, in particular, private markets for digital companies. They have helped create and sustain an environment that has fostered the rise of the likes of Uber, Alibaba, Spotify and other transformative players in the digital economy, while providing their founders and business models the benefit of long-term capital.

Despite this increasingly important impact, sovereign investors remain mostly unknown, often maintaining a low profile in global markets. For the same reason, they're also among the most widely misunderstood, as many view investments made by sovereign investors as purely driven by political aims. The general perception is that most sovereign investors lack transparency and have questionable governance controls, causing an investee nation to fear exposure to risks of unfair competition, data security, corruption, and non-financially or non-economically motivated investments.

The current global tensions around the AI race and tech competition - and now the corona virus pandemic - have exacerbated such misperceptions, spawning controversies around sovereign investors and capital markets, governments, new technologies, cross-border investments, and related laws and regulations. As such, sovereign capital and the global digital economy are undergoing an unprecedented, contentious moment.

In short, the emergence of sovereign funds symbolizes a major shift of the world's economic power. For the first time, investment funds from developing countries are playing with OECD financial giants as equals. Furthermore, their investments into high tech enable them to participate at the cutting-edge of the fourth industrial revolution, challenging traditional innovation powerhouses like the US and Germany. For all stakeholders, from tech unicorns, VC funds, asset managers, financial firms, to policymakers, law firms, academics, and the general public, this is the must-have book to get to know these new venture capitalists and "super asset owners".

This Advanced Introduction provides a comprehensive guide to the vibrant and expanding global production network (GPN) approach. Neil M. Coe deftly explores the antecedents and theoretical underpinnings of GPN analysis, as well as debates and controversies surrounding the approach and its position in wider interdisciplinary discussions. He argues overall that, during a time of profound ongoing challenges within the global economic system, the need for a GPN framework has never been more pressing.

Key features include:

• an up-to-date assessment of current debates in the literature
• an integrated perspective on how GPN thinking can aid understanding of capitalist uneven development
• a wide range of sectoral and geographical examples
• a thorough discussion of connections to cognate debates in the wider social sciences and business and management studies
• identification of future research challenges in the field.

This book explores three particular strategies in the extractives sector for creating shared wealth, increased labour opportunities and positive social, environmental and economic outcomes from corporate projects, namely: state wealth funds (SWF), local content policies (LCP) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Collectively, the chapters explore the associated experiences and challenges in different parts of the world with the view to inform equitable and sustainable development for the communities living adjacent to extractives sites and the wider society and environment. Examples of LCPs, SWFs and CSR practices from 12 jurisdictions with diverse experiences offer usefull insights. The book illuminates challenges and opportunities for sustainable development outcomes of the extractives sector. It reflects the need to take on board the lessons of these global experiences in order to improve outcomes for poverty reduction, inequality reduction and sustainable development.

A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the mortgage-securitization industry, which explains the complex roots of the 2008 financial crisis.

More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis plunged the world economy into recession, we still lack an adequate explanation for why it happened. Existing accounts identify a number of culprits-financial instruments, traders, regulators, capital flows-yet fail to grasp how the various puzzle pieces came together. The key, Neil Fligstein argues, is the convergence of major US banks on an identical business model: extracting money from the securitization of mortgages. But how, and why, did this convergence come about?

The Banks Did It carefully takes the reader through the development of a banking industry dependent on mortgage securitization. Fligstein documents how banks, with help from the government, created the market for mortgage securities. The largest banks-Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and Washington Mutual-soon came to participate in every aspect of this market. Each firm originated mortgages, issued mortgage-backed securities, sold those securities, and, in many cases, acted as their own best customers by purchasing the same securities. Entirely reliant on the throughput of mortgages, these firms were unable to alter course even when it became clear that the market had turned on them in the mid-2000s.

With the structural features of the banking industry in view, the rest of the story falls into place. Fligstein explains how the crisis was produced, where it spread, why regulators missed the warning signs, and how banks' dependence on mortgage securitization resulted in predatory lending and securities fraud. An illuminating account of the transformation of the American financial system, The Banks Did It offers important lessons for anyone with a stake in avoiding the next crisis.

Drawing on the whole of Plato's published work, this book explores Plato's insights into the core philosophical concerns of stability, hegemony, justice and balance. It situates Plato's economics in the context of fourth century Athens. It argues that the transition from oligarchy to democracy in the wake of the disastrous war with Sparta had reinforced the attraction of justice, moderation and the middle way to a political philosopher who wanted to reverse the decay in popular standards of right and wrong.

Analytical but accessible, this book is crucial reading for students and scholars of economic and social thought. Researchers and practitioners interested in social and public policy will also benefit from this book's comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach.

This book investigates how development institutions created and promoted marketized development financial instruments to increase the speed and scope of assistance by leveraging private financial markets for development objectives. To attract private investors, donor governments agreed to bear the risk in these new instruments in order to mobilize investment during times of political crisis. In particular, this book contends that Germany's KfW played an outsized role in the development of these new financial instruments, particularly in microfinance banks and structured funds, as KfW's unique institutional attributes and strong political support from the German government at critical junctures fostered financial innovation. Using over 70 interviews and a cache of newly released archival materials, this books documents how KfW and other development institutions created and promoted these marketized development financial instruments, and how they have become a pillar of modern development policy.

Featuring contributions from authors with diverse methodological and ideological backgrounds, Financial Education and Risk Literacy offers a rich and multifaceted debate. Chapters explore theory and empirical evidence, utilising investigations of programmes deployed and the outcomes of experiments. This book also complements the emerging literature by studying how individuals perceive and process information when making financial decisions.

Economics students and scholars, in particular those studying behavioural economics, will appreciate the forward-looking agenda of this book. Its insights into how policymakers can benefit from a behavioural approach will also help regulators in the financial education sector.

Target balances are the largest single item in some of the balance sheets of the Eurosystem's national central banks (NCBs), and yet very little is known about them by the general public and even by economists. This book shows that Target balances measure overdraft credits between the NCBs that resemble ordinary fiscal credit and which have grown disproportionately, exceeding one billion euros. There is, however, no parliamentary legitimation for the Target balances. The book sheds light on the economic significance of the balances, questions their limitlessness, and addresses controversial views that have been expressed regarding them. It uses the Target statistics to analyze the course of the euro crisis and the ECB's policy reactions from the time of the Lehman bankruptcy up to the outbreak of the Corona crisis. It analyses the credit risks involved for the Eurosystem and concludes with a reform proposal.

Reflecting the diverse and profound changes triggered by the latest wave of economic globalization, this book highlights various governance responses at national, regional and global levels. The topics covered are wide-ranging and include economic history and development, European integration, exchange rate arrangements, industrial and labor economics, international cooperation and multilateralism, and public choice.

The book is divided into three parts: The first part, which contains contributions by Barry Eichengreen and Marc Flandreau, is devoted to economic history. The second part examines open economy macroeconomics with a focus on Europe, including contributions by Jurgen von Hagen and Paul Krugman. The third part presents contributions to international political economy, and related interdisciplinary topics.

The implementation of the circular economy will entail a major transformation from a resource-destroying, linear economy to a circular one that operates within the planet's regenerative boundaries. This book presents an interim assessment of the implementation of a circular economy in the EU. It reveals what achievements have been made in various EU institutions, but which are scarcely perceived by the public; which basic scientific principles can be applied in this context; and what NGOs are demanding beyond this progress. It provides convincing arguments for abandoning the "hamster wheel" of material-based satisfaction of our needs, and shows that the primacy of the economy stands in the way of a good life for all. Given its focus, it will appeal to everyone interested in an ecologically sustainable economic system.

The clearest and most up-to-date account of the achievements-and setbacks-of the European Union since 1945.

Europe has been transformed since the Second World War. No longer a checkerboard of entirely sovereign states, the continent has become the largest single-market area in the world, with most of its members ceding certain economic and political powers to the central government of the European Union. This shift is the product of world-historical change, but the process is not well understood. The changes came in fits and starts. There was no single blueprint for reform; rather, the EU is the result of endless political turmoil and dazzling bureaucratic gymnastics. As Brexit demonstrates, there are occasional steps backward, too. Cutting through the complexity, Richard Pomfret presents a uniquely clear and comprehensive analysis of an incredible achievement in economic cooperation.

The Economic Integration of Europe follows all the major steps in the creation of the single market since the postwar establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. Pomfret identifies four stages of development: the creation of a customs union, the deepening of economic union with the Single Market, the years of monetary union and eastward expansion, and, finally, problems of consolidation. Throughout, he details the economic benefits, costs, and controversies associated with each step in the evolution of the EU. What lies ahead? Pomfret concludes that, for all its problems, Europe has grown more prosperous from integration and is likely to increase its power on the global stage.

This book explores the part that electric vehicles can play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Further, it explains the impact of public support, technological advances, lower costs and better battery performance in making electric vehicles a viable alternative.

The book begins by analyzing the international context of electric vehicles and how they are being developed in different countries, and by offering a forecast of the electricity demand they may create. It then discusses technological innovations in electric vehicle recharging systems. The book is concerned not only with the economic potential of electric vehicles, but also with environmental aspects; consequently, it examines the raw materials supply chain and performs a lifecycle assessment. The book concludes with a chapter on alternative energies in transport, which may also help to facilitate the energy transition.

Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students, policymakers and industry professionals interested in the energy transition and transport.

With a focus on Asian traditions, this book examines varieties of thought and self-transformative practice that do not fit neatly on one side or another of the standard Western division between philosophy and religion.

It contains chapters by experts on Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu and Jain philosophies, as well as ancient Greek philosophy and recent contemplative and spiritual movements. The volume also problematizes the notion of a Western philosophical canon distinguished by rationality in contrast to a religious Eastern "other". These original essays creatively lay the groundwork needed to rethink dominant historical and conceptual categories from a wider perspective to arrive at a deeper, more plural and global understanding of the diverse nature of both philosophy and religion.

The volume will be of keen interest to scholars and students in the Philosophy of Religion, Asian and Comparative Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Is natural gas the 'bridge' to our low-carbon future? In power generation, industrial processes, parts of the transportation sector, and for domestic use, natural gas still has the potential to play a greater role in various energy transition pathways around the world. But such a future is by no means certain.

In this book, Michael Bradshaw and Tim Boersma offer a sober and balanced assessment of the place of natural gas in the global energy mix today, and the uncertainties that cloud our understanding of what that role may look like in the future. They argue that natural gas has become prominent in recent decades, spurred by two revolutions: the first has been the rise of unconventional natural gas production, and the second the coming of age of the market for liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, a third revolution is required to secure natural gas' long-term role in various energy transition pathways, as countries are increasingly pushing to address air quality concerns and curtail greenhouse gas emissions. This revolution has to take place as politicians, citizens, investors and shareholders are becoming increasingly vocal about the need to improve the environmental footprint of the fuel, while simultaneously, and perhaps paradoxically, demand for it continues to grow, in a world where geopolitical challenges seem to be mounting.

Reimagining our global economy so it becomes more sustainable and prosperous for all

Our global economic system is broken. But we can replace the current picture of global upheaval, unsustainability, and uncertainty with one of an economy that works for all people, and the planet. First, we must eliminate rising income inequality within societies where productivity and wage growth has slowed. Second, we must reduce the dampening effect of monopoly market power wielded by large corporations on innovation and productivity gains. And finally, the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources that is corroding the environment and affecting the lives of many for the worse must end.

The debate over the causes of the broken economy-laissez-faire government, poorly managed globalization, the rise of technology in favor of the few, or yet another reason-is wide open. Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet argues convincingly that if we don't start with recognizing the true shape of our problems, our current system will continue to fail us. To help us see our challenges more clearly, Schwab-the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum-looks for the real causes of our system's shortcomings, and for solutions in best practices from around the world in places as diverse as China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore. And in doing so, Schwab finds emerging examples of new ways of doing things that provide grounds for hope, including:

• Individual agency: how countries and policies can make a difference against large external forces
• A clearly defined social contract: agreement on shared values and goals allows government, business, and individuals to produce the most optimal outcomes
• Planning for future generations: short-sighted presentism harms our shared future, and that of those yet to be born
• Better measures of economic success: move beyond a myopic focus on GDP to more complete, human-scaled measures of societal flourishing

By accurately describing our real situation, Stakeholder Capitalism is able to pinpoint achievable ways to deal with our problems. Chapter by chapter, Professor Schwab shows us that there are ways for everyone at all levels of society to reshape the broken pieces of the global economy and-country by country, company by company, and citizen by citizen-glue them back together in a way that benefits us all.