The Limits of Transparency: Ambiguity and the History of International Finance

Author:   Jacqueline Best
Publisher:   Cornell University Press
Edition:   Annotated edition
ISBN:  

9780801473777


Pages:   234
Publication Date:   05 February 2007
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
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The Limits of Transparency: Ambiguity and the History of International Finance


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Overview

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.This is a novel argument in an area much discussed by economists and political scientists. Their debate has focused on uncertainty as a technical problem and transparency as the solution. Although such policies are presented as technical, Best demonstrates that they are also political, have cultural consequences, and may prove counterproductive. Rather than assume that transparency is the ultimate goal, Best argues, we must recognize that ambiguity is pervasive, substantive, and potentially constructive. To read this book is to comprehend more deeply the ways in which politics is fundamental to economic theory and practice and to understand why the economy requires political leadership in order to flourish.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jacqueline Best
Publisher:   Cornell University Press
Imprint:   Cornell University Press
Edition:   Annotated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780801473777


ISBN 10:   0801473772
Pages:   234
Publication Date:   05 February 2007
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

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The Limits of Transparency demonstrates that many of the puzzles confronting us regarding the politics of money and finance can be unlocked if we move from a narrowly rationalist understanding of political economy to one also informed by constructivist insights. This book demonstrates that constructivism, done well, can be a model of theoretical clarity, empirically grounded, and can produce practical policy recommendations. -Kathleen R. McNamara, Perspectives on Politics, December 2005


Author Information

Jacqueline Best is Associate Professor of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa.

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