Foreign Exchange Derivatives - Essay Example

Since mny derivtives involve cross-border trding, the derivtives mrket hs led to incresed interntionl finncil frgility nd the ttendnt need for greter suprntionl governnce of derivtives. To explore these themes, I will use monetry theory of production provided by institutionlist economic theory. From the outset, institutionlist nlyses of the economic process hve incorported the impct of monetry phenomen on the production of goods nd services. Thorstein Veblen distinguished between pecuniry nd industril employments, Wesley Mitchell between mking goods nd mking money, nd John R.

Commons between rel nd finncil vlues. Wht ll sought to cpture ws dilecticl reltionship between money nd mteril flows. s Dudley Dillrd put it, under mrket cpitlism "the production of goods nd services by which we live is byproduct of the expecttion of businessmen to 'mke money'" [Dillrd 1987, 1623]. In institutionl nlysis, money is described s hving functions beyond tht of medium of exchnge. Money is core component of economizing behvior under mrket cpitlism becuse it serves s the numerire by which gin my be clculted in quntittive terms, n element essentil to wht Mx Weber clled cpitl ccounting, or Kpitlrechnung.

Perhps the most importnt function of money in the mrket economy rises from wht Dillrd [1987, 1625] termed its chrcteristic s specil form of property. key feture of the use of property is the power to hold or withhold. Moneyholders hve the power to grnt or withhold ccess to their money cpitl, nd it is this bility tht provides one of the mens through which monetry flows my disrupt the production process nd thereby socil provisioning. Hymn Minsky's [1986] finncil instbility hypothesis furthers the nlysis of the dilecticl reltionship between the rel nd finncil sectors.

For firm to purchse physicl cpitl ssets it must often issue debt. Unlike its fixed debt obligtions, the firm's expected income flow is subject to uncertinty. Income flow depends on the level of ggregte demnd in the economy, fll in ggregte demnd being likely to cuse decline in the firm's sles nd income from which it services its debt. Should ggregte demnd fll fr enough, the firm my fce insolvency nd the instbility cn spred throughout the finncil system. It is Minsky's contention tht incresed dependence on corporte debt s mens of finncing investment in physicl cpitl hs incresed the possibility of substntil defltionry pressures should there be mjor downturn in economic ctivity.

To dte, the extensive intervention of the welfre stte hs prevented recurrences of the mssive defltion experienced during the Gret Depression. Fiscl policy hs mintined dequte levels of ggregte demnd while, s the result of monetry policy, firms hve been ble to refinnce their debt, rther thn liquidte rel cpitl ssets tht hve lost vlue through defltion. Hence, s Dillrd noted [1987, 1644], n irony identified by Minsky's nlysis is tht while privte sector debt hs been destbilizing, the growth of public sector debt hs hd stbilizing effect on the rel sector of modern economies.

The monetry theory of production my be extended to n nlysis of the interntionl economy. Ntionl centrl bnks hve used their lender of lst resort cpcities to provide short-term liquidity to bnks involved in interntionl finncil mrkets. The Finncil Derivtives Mrket Finncil derivtives re finncil contrcts