Tug of War: Today's Global Currency Crisis - Hardcover

Paul Emil Erdman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312158998 ISBN 13: 9780312158996

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996

Synopsis

In recent years, the value of the U.S. dollar has fluctuated wildly. Japanese investors have lost billions in U.S. markets, causing an almost unprecedented run on the dollar. The leaders of the world currency markets were forced to band together to push up the value of the U.S. dollar. Tug of War: Why You Should Care About the Global Currency Crisis is the riveting story of this flow of money around the globe and what it means for us today.In 1991, the Mexican government tied the value of the peso to the dollar. As the peso slid and almost vanished, the fortunes of the dollar waned. Investors around the world, especially the Japanese, lost confidence in the dollar, creating a soaring yen and dragging down the value of the dollar even more. Subsequent events in the world currency markets pulled the dollar in even more directions: rogue traders lost billions on bad deals; the European Union began determining the value of its own currency; Japanese banks admitted enormous, previously concealed, losses. The tug of war continued. Paul Erdman, as well-known for his ability to predict financial markets as for his ability to write a suspenseful story, clearly explains the tangled basis and continuing strength of the currency crisis, gives his predictions about the future, and offers advice to market masters on the direction they should pursue. Significantly updated for this paperback edition, Tug of War, as compelling as any novel, is certain to be one of the most important financial books of this or any other year. Readers will not want to be left out when Erdman predicts the winner in this economic battle.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Erdman is the bestselling author of Paul Erdman’s Money Book, The Silver Bears, Zero Coupon, and The Swiss Account.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Though best known in recent years as the author of fiscal entertainments (Zero Coupon, 1993, etc.), the Canadian-born Erdman is a bona fide economist and former Swiss banker. If not invariably prophetic, his periodic observations on the Global Village's monetary systems are always worth attention for their lucid explications of a complex subject. The semi-sensational subtitle accurately reflects Erdman's focus on the long-range implications of the recent run on the US dollar, precipitated largely by the collapse of the Mexican peso and accompanied by a sharp rise in the value of the Japanese yen. Having outlined the major events of what he dubs the currency crisis of 1995, the author sorts through the conflicting claims as to who or what was to blame, subsequently ticking off winners (US exporters) and losers (mainly Japanese investors who had acquired American assets at inflated prices). Moving on to an after-the-fall audit of money markets, Erdman assesses the roles played by so- called speculators (commercial banks as well as hedge funds) and trade blocs (the EU, NAFTA, et al.). Offered as well are worst-case scenarios for an appreciably more competitive but debt-burdened US and a recession-ridden, deflation-afflicted Japan. That, however, is unlikely to happen, according to Erdman. He reminds us that Japan's much-vaunted economy is but one-half to three-fifths the size of America's in terms of purchase power parity, and notes as well that America retains comparative advantages in entrepreneurship, availability of venture capital, and minimal regulatory constraints. Erdman suggests that America (in partnership with a more open, less mercantile Japan) will provide the responsible leadership that ensures a prosperous tomorrow for the wider world. An accessible interpretive briefing on currency exchange rates and why they matter to a host of constituencies ranging from policy makers to consumers. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312158998
• ISBN 13: 9780312158996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220