Macro-Financial Linkages in the Pacific Region

Growth perspectives in emerging market economies are increasingly dependent on international capital flows in recent decades because of their influences on business cycles. In fact, volatile international capital flows has been one of the main concerns for the macroeconomic policy authorities. Focusing on emerging economies in the Pacific region, this book reveals how they are different from those in other regions in terms of international macro-financial linkages to the global capital market and domestic financial development,.The book also discusses how these characteristics have interacted with their macroeconomic policy regimes and their macroeconomic performance throughout the two major international financial crises in the past more than two decades. It suggests facts that have strengthened the resilience of these emerging economies in the Pacific region against the global financial crisis along with the intensified intra-regional economic integration through trade and investment. The book also examines their macroeconomic management focusing on monetary policy regimes and suggests that their factual unorthodox policies with exchange rate management and capital controls have contributed to their resilience against the intrinsic volatility of the international capital market and financial flows.

‘Overall, this book provides a useful overview of the thinking around monetary policy implementation in the post-GFC period from the perspective of economists from the Asian region. In this, it has significant value, as the experiences of 1997–98 in East Asia directly coloured the response and preparedness of policy makers in the region to the 2008–09 crisis. The most useful chapters are the country-specific papers, which provide a coherent overview of the evolution of policy making in the area. […] There is no doubt the book provides a useful stimulate for future research and an excellent background resource that can be recommended to graduate students and researchers wishing to begin to understand the views on policy development during this period in Asia.’ —Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, Volume 30 Issue 2

Akira Kohsaka has been affiliated with School of International Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Japan, since 2011. He received his PhD in Economics at Stanford University in 1984. He had worked for Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo (1975-88), Kyoto University (1988-94) and Osaka University (1994-2011). His major research fields include international economics and development economics. he had also taken on other roles such as President of East Asian Economic Association (2012-), the editor of Asian Economic Journal (2001-2006), and international steering committee member of Pacific Forum for Trade and Development (PAFTAD) (1998-).