Overview

At almost $2 trillion per day in trades, currency markets vitally link the world together. Yet few people understand how they work and why they are prone to instability and bouts of panic. This book takes the reader behind the scenes on a tour of the places, the machines, the circuitry and the people involved in moving world money. This journey begins as a traveler removes foreign currency from an ATM machine in Istanbul. The author guides us from the periphery of the market into its neural centers in financial hubs such as London and New York. Currency traders, market analysts, money managers and payments systems architects show their workplaces and reveal their day-to-day experiences in this unpredictable and rapidly evolving world. The experts interviewed may use unfamiliar terms, but the logical progression of the chapters and participants' stories told in workplace settings bring abstract concepts down to earth. After completing the tour, the reader will have a clear picture of the geographical and structural organization of global currency markets and the people who run them. This vision of a volatile, evolving structure will provide a useful framework for deciphering the complex causes of yet unforeseen financial events.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert G. Williams
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Zed Books Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.640kg
ISBN:  

9781842776940

ISBN 10:   1842776940
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   30 May 2006
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Encounter with a Moneychanger 1. A Glance at Foreign Exchange at Breakfast 2. A Visit to the Local Bank: What Do Money Changers Buy and Sell? 3. How Do Money Changers Arrange Deals? 4. Who Are the Actors in the World's Biggest Market? 5. Where Deals are Made: Historical Geography of Money Changer Enclaves Why Do Money Changers Cluster Where They Do? Paradox of Clustering in a Computer-linked World 6. Professor Smith Gets FX'd in Tokyo: Could He Have Profited from a Currency Forecast? 7. Inside the Trading Room: Philosophies behind Trading Strategies Vision No. 1: It's All Supply and Demand Vision No. 2 : It's All Fundamentals Vision No. 3: It's All Technical 8. Behind the Fish Tank: What Causes Rates to Change? 9. How Currencies are Delivered: Snapshot of an Evolving System A Visit with a Payments Systems Expert Appendix to Chapter 9: Diagrammatic Notes on Currency Delivery Channels 10. The Big Apple: Electronic Dollar Deliveries through CHIPS 11. Time to Settle Up: CHIPS Closes the International Dollar Day at the New York Fed 4:30-5:00 pm CHIPS Upgrades to Real Time Final Settlement 2001 Finally, a Delivery System Safe from Foreign Exchange Settlement Risk: Continuous Linked Settlement Bank begins in 2002 Lessons of September 11, 2001 for Global Payments 12. In the City of London after the Russian Default: Anatomy of Currency Storms of the 1990s? 13. The Euro in its Infancy Prologue The Potential of the Euro as a World Currency The Euro-Revolution in Stocks and Bonds The Transition of the Real Economy to Euro 14. Doubts about the Euro and the new Central Bank A European Central Banker Waits on the Sidelines Doubts about TARGET, the Official Euro Payments System Reflections on the Future of the World Monetary System Wrap-up Session with Walter Blass Update Appendix: Euro Developments after the 1999 London Interviews 15. Testing the Dollar's Hegemony: Will the Adjustments be Smooth? Source of the Dollar Doubts: How long will Foreigners Finance US Overspending? Dollar Testing Episodes and the Evolution of Market Stories Episode 1: Spring and Summer 2002 Episode 2: The Buildup to War Episode 3: Fall of 2003 Episode 4: 2004 Presidential Elections and their Aftermath Relief for the Dollar: Spring and Summer 2005 A Smooth or Turbulent Adjustment: Greenspan vs Volcker The Run on the Dollar in the Late 1970s The Political Economy of Sterling's Decline as Global Currency Long-run Lessons for the Dollar's Loss of Hegemony A Hopeful Conclusion

Reviews

'This is a nontechnical exploration into the mechanics of the foreign exchange market, which Williams nicely motivates by starting with an ordinary retail transaction--an ATM withdrawal of local currency in a foreign country--and tracing it through the wholesale foreign exchange markets to show what actually happens. In doing so, the author provides an intuitive way to explore the most important and arguably the most efficient market in the world, which makes international trade, investment, and financial transfers possible. The discussion is up-to-date, and the use of dialogue makes the book very accessible...Highly recommended' - Choice Magazine

CHOICE. 44-3974 HG3851 This is a nontechnical exploration into the mechanics of the foreign exchange market, which Williams (Guilford College) nicely motivates by starting with an ordinary retail transaction--an ATM withdrawal of local currency in a foreign country--and tracing it through the wholesale foreign exchange markets to show what actually happens. In doing so, the author provides an intuitive way to explore the most important and arguably the most efficient market in the world, which makes international trade, investment, and financial transfers possible. Individual chapters deal with the nature of spot and forward foreign exchange transactions; how deals get arranged, consummated, and settled; who the major players are; the nature of trading strategies; the sources of exchange rate volatility; the sources of market shocks; and the comparative roles of the euro and the dollar. The discussion is up-to-date, and the use of dialogue makes the book very accessible to the intelligent but uninformed reader. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; all levels of undergraduates. --- Ingo Walter, Seymour Milstein Professor of Finance, Corporate Governance and Ethics at the Stern School of Business, New York University 'This is a nontechnical exploration into the mechanics of the foreign exchange market, which Williams nicely motivates by starting with an ordinary retail transaction--an ATM withdrawal of local currency in a foreign country--and tracing it through the wholesale foreign exchange markets to show what actually happens. In doing so, the author provides an intuitive way to explore the most important and arguably the most efficient market in the world, which makes international trade, investment, and financial transfers possible. The discussion is up-to-date, and the use of dialogue makes the book very accessible...Highly recommended' - Choice Magazine ***** A fine introduction to currency markets for students and the interested general reader, Amazon.com 'Currency trade is made accessible through the recounting of a series of personal experiences of the author, and professional encounters ranging from bank managers to backroom traders...endeavours to bring abstract concepts of currency exchange down to earth and portray in simple terms the geographical and structural organisations of global currency.' - Oxfam Reviews of Journals 'Ambitious and informative...a colourful history of international finance.' - Tribune, November 2006

This is a nontechnical exploration into the mechanics of the foreign exchange market, which Williams (Guilford College) nicely motivates by starting with an ordinary retail transaction--an ATM withdrawal of local currency in a foreign country--and tracing it through the wholesale foreign exchange markets to show what actually happens. In doing so, the author provides an intuitive way to explore the most important and arguably the most efficient market in the world, which makes international trade, investment, and financial transfers possible. Individual chapters deal with the nature of spot and forward foreign exchange transactions; how deals get arranged, consummated, and settled; who the major players are; the nature of trading strategies; the sources of exchange rate volatility; the sources of market shocks; and the comparative roles of the euro and the dollar. The discussion is up-to-date, and the use of dialogue makes the book very accessible to the intelligent but uninformed reader. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; all levels of undergraduates. Ingo Walter, Seymour Milstein Professor of Finance, Corporate Governance and Ethics at the Stern School of Business, New York University 'Currency trade is made accessible through the recounting of a series of personal experiences of the author, and professional encounters ranging from bank managers to backroom traders...endeavours to bring abstract concepts of currency exchange down to earth and portray in simple terms the geographical and structural organisations of global currency.' Oxfam Reviews of Journals 'Ambitious and informative...a colourful history of international finance.' Tribune, November 2006

Author Information

Robert G. Williams is Voehringer Professor of Economics at Guilford College. Originally a Central Americanist scholar, he turned his attention to world currency markets in 1995.His previous books include States and Social Evolution - Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America (UNC Press 1994).

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