Competition and Finance A Reinterpretation of Financial and Monetary Economics [Paperback]

Competition and Finance offers a new, unified treatment of the fields of financial and monetary economics. The first part integrates recent developments in agency theory and information economics into a unified financial theory of the firm. A review of recent developments in the economics of banking and then monetary economics leads to a conclusion assessing present-day systems of central banking and proposing financial and monetary reform.Preface - Introduction - Bilateral Financial Contracts - Capital Structure and Corporate Financial Policy - Why Financial Intermediaries Exist - Broker Intermediaries - Mutual-Fund Intermediaries - Bank Intermediaries - The Structure of the Banking Industry - Recent Models of Banking Instability - Media of Exchange and Payment Systems - The Economics of the Unit of Account - The Mechanics of Convertibility - 'Real Bills' Systems - Monometallic, Bimetallic and Related Monetary Standards - Commodity-Basket Monetary Standards - The Construction of the Price Index - 'Tabular Standards' - Price-Level Optimality - Productivity Growth and the Price Level - Financial and Monetary Reform - References - Index