Table of Contents

1. Reaching for bazooka; 2. Preferences, power and predictions; 3. The Argentine tango; 4. The Federal Reserve goes political; 5. A Greek tragedy; 6. Managing markets in turbulent times.

Promotional Information

Explores how central bankers and finance ministers can compensate for political turmoil and manage market behaviour.

About the Author

George E. Shambaugh, IV is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Government in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. His authored books include States, Firms, and Power: Successful Sanctions in United States Foreign Policy (1999), and, as co-author, The Art of Policymaking: Tools, Techniques, and Processes in the Modern Executive Branch (2nd edition, 2016).

Reviews

'In this fascinating tour de force taking us from Argentina to the United States and to Europe, George Schambaugh describes and analyses with the dexterity of a spy thriller novelist the 'behind the scenes' of the 'dangerous liasions' linking officials and technocrats with senior politicians in the shaping of economic policies in times of domestic and international crises. Those technocrats are actually oracles, heroes, and villains in the domestic and international scene that shapes the international political economy of the last thirty years.' Arie M. Kacowicz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

'Technocrats in national central banks and treasury departments often play key roles as economic policy makers in economic crises. We hear a great deal about them when they have major effects on policy, but not when they don't. But when will they be effective? In Oracles, Heroes, or Villains Prof. Shambaugh creates what he calls a risk intervention curve that helps to answer this question. He argues that effective technocrats are far more political than their reputation suggests, and that their ability to manage risk depends on a combination of this political effectiveness and economic conditions. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in monetary and financial policy-making in times of economic crisis.' J. Samuel Barkin, University of Massachusetts Boston

'Well written and scrupulously researched and documented …' M. H. Lesser, Choice