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The distinctive feature of this book is that it goes beyond the typical coverage of traditional international finance textbook, which often focuses on the day-to-day fluctuations of exchange rates. Specifically, this book addresses the underlying dynamics of the current account and capital account. Moreover, it encompasses discussions of extraordinary events, such as currency crises, balance of payments crises, and sovereign debt crises. Finally, it presents essential arguments about globalization. In this way, the book provides a well-balanced and comprehensive coverage of the major issues in international finance. While understanding the day-to-day movements of exchange rates is undoubtedly important, the frequent occurrence of international financial crises in recent years makes these topics essential for policymakers, practitioners, students, and other readers with a strong interest in international finance. The crisis-related topics also represent areas in which academic research has made significant advances in recent decades.
 
Two academic economics researchers jointly authored the book. Both are currently affiliated with the University of Tokyo, but each has prior professional experiences as a practitioner or policymaker. This combination of academic and practical perspectives is another of the book’s strengths. The origin of this book is the annual lectures on international finance by one of the authors (Ueda) at the Graduate School of Economics and the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, as well as in training sessions for junior officials at the Ministry of Finance. The other author (Hattori) transcribed and edited the training session lectures, and subsequently expanded the text, particularly concerning exchange rates and their derivatives, from the viewpoint of financial markets. The two authors then worked together to revise the manuscript repeatedly until its completion.
 
As a result, the book provides a comprehensive explanation of the key theoretical and empirical findings that form the foundation for understanding international finance. It is designed not only for students, but also for professionals in banking, securities markets, and insurance, as well as for policymakers in government and international organizations. At the same time, it incorporates institutional knowledge that is indispensable for real-world applications.
 
In writing the book, we deliberately avoided presenting frontier research in economics in a purely formal or mathematical manner. Instead, we sought to convey the concepts in a way that promotes intuitive understanding. When conducting research on the Japanese economy, readers with sufficient education in Japan generally possess the necessary background knowledge to contextualize the analysis. In contrast, when studying international finance, such prior familiarity cannot be assumed. For this reason, we made a special effort to include and explain the background knowledge and concepts that the authors regard as essential for understanding international finance.
 
Furthermore, the book addresses timely and highly relevant issues in international finance. In recent years, the world has witnessed the global financial crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars and geopolitical instability, challenges in energy and food supplies, surging inflation, and sovereign debt crises in emerging economies. These developments underscore the growing importance of anticipating and preparing for crises in the interconnected global economy. Most recently, the volatility of the yen–dollar exchange rate and the public debate over exchange rate interventions have drawn considerable attention. This book provides concise explanations of such current issues, while also directing readers to key references for further study.
 

(Written by UEDA Kenichi, Professor, Graduate School of Economics, Graduate School of Public Policy / 2025)