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We believe the papers in this Special Issue provide important insights into critical policy issues and can help guide efforts to strengthen international economic and financial governance.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Map -- Ch 1 Introduction -- What Went Wrong and How It Was Fixed -- Maastricht Criteria and Euro Adoption -- Parallels to the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98 -- Structure of the Book -- Ch 2 Causes and Eruption of the Financial Crisis -- Causes of the Crisis -- Eruption of the Crisis -- Ch 3 Political Economy of Crisis Resolution -- Hungary: Straightforward Crisis Resolution -- Latvia: The Most Complex Stabilization -- Romania: All About Politics -- Lithuania, Estonia, and Bulgaria: Robust Anticrisis Policy without the IMF -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia: No Serious Overheating or Crisis -- Fast Financial Adjustment -- Ch 4 The Exchange Rate Dilemma -- The Baltic Exchange Rate Conundrum -- Why Latvia Did Not Have to Devalue Like Argentina -- Multiple Exchange Rate Options Remain -- Ch 5 The Banking Crisis that Never Materialized -- West European Banks Expand in the East -- The Vienna Initiative -- Ch 6 International Cooperation in Crisis -- International Monetary Fund: Financial Savior -- European Union: The Rookie -- European Central Bank: Voldemort -- The United States: Keeping a Low Profile -- World Bank: The Third Fiddle -- A New Pattern of International Financial Crisis Resolution -- Ch 7 Why Eastern Europe Acted So Responsibly -- Strong Center-Right Tendency in Elections -- Causes of Popular Fiscal Restraint -- Ch 8 Eastern Europe and the Fiscal Crisis in the Eurozone -- The Greek Tragedy -- The Greek Rescue Package of May 2, 2010 -- The South European Rescue Package, May 9-10, 2010 -- East European Lessons Dawn on the Eurozone -- Ch 9 Toward European Convergence -- Outcome of the Crisis in Eastern Europe -- EU Convergence or Divergence? -- The Last Shall Be the First.

The European debt crisis has posed a challenge for many people to understand, both non-Europeans and Europeans alike. Even economists, finance specialists and market commentators are often uncertain of its causes or in the interpretation of events ongoing, or of past events that have taken place that then shaped the current situation. Typically this lack of understanding results from a lack of understanding of how European institutions work, the structure of European politics and the Eurozone, the economics of the financial system, or the relationship of debt markets to current government policies in the EU. The purpose of this book is to describe the causes and outcomes of the European debt crisis (to the date of publication) within the context of three questions most often asked about the debt crisis: (i) what happened? (ii) why did it happen? and (iii) why has the crisis been so difficult for policy-makers to address? The book attempts to answer these questions in a straightforward, scholarly and thoughtful fashion, thereby developing a wider understanding of the crisis in its entirety for the reader. The book is by no means meant to be an exhaustive treatment on any of the issues it discusses. But the approach taken should be useful for those people who wish to better understand the events of the European financial crisis over the past three years but who do not need to acquire an exhaustive background in European institutions, debt markets, history and economic policy-making. For that reason the proposed book would have appeal to undergraduate students in business, economics, politics or interdisciplinary studies looking for an approachable yet detailed overview of the crisis, for graduate classes seeking similar goals and lay-people or professionals interested generally in the topic and/or with a need to acquire a basic understanding of the

"The recent financial crisis has generated many structural changes within the economy. Many issues are ongoing, and the question of how to recover from the crisis, and how to avoid another one, are continually addressed by scholars and practitioners everywhere. Where there is much discussion within academic and practitioner circles, there is not always adequate interaction between these schools of research. This book provides a thorough overview of the recent financial crisis from the perspective of both industry practitioners and academics specialising in the area. The first part provides practitioner insight on the crisis, and explores the causes and effects and of the recession, European public financing, ECB monetary policy and the Euro, the repression of financial markets, and financial stability. Part two focuses on the case of Greece, as a country still heavily impacted by the crisis, which has undergone various unorthodox policies imposed by the IMF, the ECB the EU. The third part provides insight from researchers and academics, covering an array of Economic theories and revealing new economics architectures available for the future. With informed views from both financial industry practitioners and academics, this book discusses current issues and implementable solutions for a faster post-crisis recovery"--