Electricity Distribution Networks in the Decentralisation Era
This book explores the changing economics, regulations, and operations of electricity distribution networks. It highlights the central challenges and opportunities caused by the rise of decentralisation paradigm in the power system within this segment of the electricity supply chain. As decarbonisation objectives continue to transform the power sector, the distribution system experiences an increased penetration of energy and flexibility resources that come from a variety of sizes, technologies, and capabilities. This makes traditional approaches to economic, regulation and operation of electricity distribution networks obsolete. This book aims to provide insights into the ways which decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation trends in the electricity sector will eventually shape future of distribution grids. It will be relevant to students, researchers, and policymakers interested in energy economics, the political economy of energy, and the electricity sector.
New Mediums, Better Messages?
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY 3.0 IGO International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. The notion of development influences and is influenced by all aspects of human life. Social science is but one representational option among many for conveying the myriad ways in which development is conceived, encountered, experienced, justified, courted, and/or resisted by different groups at particular times and places. As international development has become more quantitative and economics-centred, there is an enduring sense that what is measured (and thus 'valued' and prioritized) may have become too narrow, that the powers of prediction claimed by some areas of economics and management may have overreached, and that the human dimension is in danger of being lost. Reflecting this concern, New Mediums, Better Messages? contributes to new conversations between science, social science, and the humanities around the roles of different kinds of knowledge, stories, and data play in relation to global development. It brings together a team of multidisciplinary contributors to explore popular representions of development, including music, blogs, and fiction.
Selling the Economic Miracle
Through an examination of election campaign propaganda and various public relations campaigns, reflecting new electioneering techniques borrowed from the United States, this work explores how conservative political and economic groups sought to construct and sell a political meaning of the Social Market Economy and the Economic Miracle in West Germany during the 1950s.The political meaning of economics contributed to conservative electoral success, constructed a new belief in the free market economy within West German society, and provided legitimacy and political stability for the new Federal Republic of Germany.
Taming the Fringe
Offers the first extended study of the payday lending and pawnbroking markets in Britain, and the only one to examine over 160 years of financial results and market dataAnalyses the motivation, content and outcome of critical regulatory episodes that have shaped fringe bankingAdds to our knowledge of fringe banking and the evolving role of financial regulation to protect the working poor
Navigating Nationalism in Global Enterprise
Navigating Nationalism in Global Enterprise analyzes the role of nationalism in global business strategy, showing how multinationals act not just as drivers of globalization but also as sophisticated operators in a world of nations. Using the case study of German companies in colonial and post-colonial India, Christina Lubinski traces how nationalism's influence on business competitive strategies changed over the twentieth century and across major political turning points, such as two world wars and India's transition to independence. She highlights how national imaginings are both relational because they derive from comparisons with other nations, and historical because they mobilize the past to legitimize future aspirations. Lubinski stresses that learning from the past is how multinationals engage strategically with the content of nationalism - i.e., a nation's history, aspirations, and relationships with other nations. In India, German companies' competitiveness was continuously dependent on navigating nationalism and on understanding that nationalism and globalization are inextricably linked.
Stepping Forward
Stepping Forward presents the key issues and challenges involved in facilitating children and young people's participation. The contributors to this book come from a range of backgrounds including NGOs in development, children's agencies, academic institutions and governments, bringing a multi-disciplinary approach to children's participation. The main issues discussed and analysed include: the ethical dilemmas that face professionals in addressing children's participation; the process and methods used in participatory research and planning with children; the inter-relationship between culture and children's participation; considerations for institutions, and the key qualities of a participation programme for children and young people's participation. Essential reading for professionals, agencies and institutions working with and for children, and in development, as well as professionals involved in participatory approaches. This title is part of the Participation in Development series.
Macroeconomic Policy
This book is an applications-oriented text designed for individuals who desire a hands-on approach to analyzing the effects of fiscal and monetary policies. Significantly updated for the fourth edition, the text provides an understanding of the global economy in the wake of the COVID crisis, discussing topics such as pandemic related supply and demand-side shocks, the role of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) in financing COVID rescue plans, the effect of the US, India, Eurozone and China's post-COVID economies on emerging and transitioning economies, and the resurgence of inflation. This edition includes deeper coverage on the issue of budget deficit sustainability and on trade wars, especially in a global context, and revisits the life cycles of speculative asset price (SAP) bubbles, especially in the housing markets and in SPACs. The fourth edition contains several brand-new cases and media articles that are carefully positioned to relate explicitly to theory, and to look aheadto and preempt global macro situations and polices in the years to come. MBA students and Executive MBA students who appreciate the importance of monetary and fiscal analysis will find this text to be right on target. Financial analysts and individual investors who need to strip away economic myths and jargon and systematically examine and understand the effects of macro policies on variables such as inflation, output, employment and interest rates, will also find the book extremely useful.
Covid, Brexit and the Anglosphere
With fresh thinking Covid, Brexit and The Anglosphere equips academics, students policymakers and general readers with the tools to drive growth in a post-Pandemic post- Brexit fragmenting world order facing rapidly advancing technical change.
Understanding the Private-Public Divide
Markets are taken as the norm in economics and in much of political and media discourse. But if markets are superior why does the public sector remain so large? Avner Offer provides a distinctive new account of the effective temporal limits on private, public, and social activity. Understanding the Private-Public Divide accounts for the division of labour between business and the public sector, how it changes over time, where the boundaries ought to run, and the harm that follows if they are violated. He explains how finance forces markets to focus on short-term objectives and why business requires special privileges in return for long-term commitment. He shows how a private sector policy bias leads to inequality, insecurity, and corruption. Integrity used to be the norm and it can be achieved again. Only governments can manage uncertainty in the long-term interests of society, as shown by the challenge of climate change.
An Artificial Wicksell--Keynes Macroeconomy
This book presents an agent-based macroeconomic model developed on the Keynesian principle of effective demand and the Wicksellian theory of cumulative process. The main purpose of the book is to demystify inherent forces that revive an economy from a long-run downturn. The model has three types of bounded-rational agents: firm, household, and bank. To highlight the autonomous revival mechanisms, the model is assumed to be completely closed and free from any external influences such as changes in management of aggregate demand or supply/demand shocks. The key finding of the book is that diversity of firms is a crucial element in reviving investment activities. While a production sector is represented by a single firm in a conventional model, this model has introduced a large number of heterogeneous firms that confront diverse constraints both at the firm and aggregate levels. The behaviours of these firms may vary despite being exposed to the same aggregate environment. For example, economic downturns usually precipitate a fall in real wages as a response to decreased aggregate demand. Most firms reduce their employment focusing on the reduction in aggregate demand. However, some firms identify a reduction in real wage as a sign of improving profitability hence they may expand employment. This could result in an increased aggregate demand and benefit other firms with further employment. It could even reverse the trend to an upslope, thereby ultimately achieving full of near full employment. This book details further on: (1) the rigidity of prices and wages in a stable economy (2) the fundamental factors to establish a robust and high-performing economy, with the focus on the importance of a stable and equitable macroeconomic environment.
Nigeria in the Fourth Republic
Nigeria is a bellwether, in an enormous continent, endowed with natural resources and human capital, whose development and greatness have been marred by political instability since gaining home-rule from Britain in 1960. The contemporary political, economic, and social quandaries that have stultified Nigeria's growth project flows from difficulties in cultivating patriotic leaders with pluck to enact efficacious policies that will catapult the country to greater heights developmentally. Nigeria in the Fourth Republic: Confronting the Contemporary Political, Economic, and Social Dilemmas, edited by E. Ike Udogu, examines some of the vital issues responsible for the current political malaise and recommends strategies for exculpating the country from her current political quagmires. The contributors to this book argue, inter alia, for the avoidance of false starts reminiscent of the military interventions that aborted the democracy project and advocates the enactment of effective policies to supersede decision dictated by politics. This volume proposes national healthcare strategies to address the country's healthcare needs and for dialogue to extinguish combustible inter-religious conflicts. The book recommends ways to assuage police highway malfeasance and explains why human rights observance is critical to further national cohesion while creating space for the subalterns to have their voices heard in discourses on how to advance peaceful coexistence.
Communist Planning versus Rationality
This volume examines concepts of central planning, a cornerstone of political economy in Soviet-type societies. It revolves around the theory of "optimal planning" which promised a profound modernization of Stalinist-style verbal planning. Encouraged by cybernetic dreams in the 1950s and supporting the strategic goals of communist leaders in the Cold War, optimal planners offered the ruling elites a panacea for the recurrent crises of the planned economy. Simultaneously, their planning projects conveyed the pride of rational management and scientific superiority over the West. The authors trace the rise and fall of the research program in the communist era in eight countries of Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union, and China, describing why the mission of optimization was doomed to fail and why the failure was nevertheless very slow. The theorists of optimal planning contributed to the rehabilitation of mathematical culture in economic research in the communist countries, and thus, to a neoclassical turn in economics all over the ex-communist world). However, because they have not rejected optimal planning as "computopia," there is a large space left behind for future generations to experiment with Big Optimal Plans anew--based, at this time, on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Socialism with a Human Face
East Germany's economic history is typically told as a story of the unravelling of an inherently flawed system. Yet, while the system's inefficiency is undeniable, its economic history was much richer than its comparatively poor economic performance suggests. For many who lived there, it was a system that, over its forty years, was capable of achievements and generally functioned at bearable levels. This book combines the insights of behavioural economics with archival research to peel away layers of rhetoric and assumptions about the East German economy and explore aspects of that underlying functionality. Through a series of cases studies that examine the establishment of socialist workplaces, the searches for productivity growth and efficiency, and the emergence of financial crisis, the book considers the system from the perspective of the humans who operated it and made the decisions that made it work. Unencumbered by political preconceptions, it offers a more realistic understanding of East German economic history than that derived from stagnant debates about the clash of systems. The new perspectives and approaches presented demonstrate that, extracted from its Cold War context, East Germany's economic history can be analysed for what it was, rather than for what it symbolised.
Property, Institutions, and Social Stratification in Africa
In this book, Franklin Obeng-Odoom seeks to carefully explain, engage, and systematically question the existing explanations of inequalities within Africa, and between Africa and the rest of the world using insights from the emerging field of stratification economics. Drawing on multiple sources - including archival and historical material and a wide range of survey data - he develops a distinctive approach that combines key concepts in original institutional economics, such as reasonable value, property, and the distribution of wealth, with other insights into Africa's development and underdevelopment. While looking at the Africa-wide situation, Obeng-Odoom also analyzes the experiences of inequalities within specific countries. Comprehensive and engaging, Property, Institutions, and Social Stratification in Africa is a useful resource for teaching and research on Africa and the Global South.
Watershed Contribution for Ecosystem Balance
Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Economy - Environment economics, grade: 4, course: Seminar, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper aims to review the incontribution of the watershed management in ecological servise and contribution. The specific objective this paper is to examined the importance of watersheds and how the diverse ecosystems within these areas provide a range of ecosystem services. Increasing weather variability and climate change are contributing to land and natural/environmental resource degradation by exposing soils to extreme conditions and straining the capacity of existing land management practices to maintain resource quality. Integrating watershed management in managing natural resources management concepts for managing natural resources in a sustainable and environmentally manner will show in encouraging impacts, if it will be applied on a large scale and over a long period. Integrated Watershed management (IWM) implies the judicious use of natural resources such as land, water, biodiversity and overall ecosystem to obtain optimum production and productivity with minimum disturbance to the environment.
Evolutions of Capitalism
This ambitious collection follows the evolution of capitalism from its origins in 13th-century European towns to its 16th-century expansion into Asia, Africa and South America and on to the global capitalism of modern day. Written by distinguished historians and social scientists, the chapters examine capitalism and its critics and the level of variation and convergence in its operation across locations. The authors illuminate the aspects of capitalism that have encouraged, but also limited, social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Covering times, places and topics that have often been overlooked in the existing literature, this important contribution to the field of economic history charts the most comprehensive chronology of capitalism to date.
The Interest Rate Channel of Monetary Policy in Nigeria. An Evaluation
Fostering Resilience Through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
This book focuses on the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia based on various primary and secondary field surveys. In doing so, the book provides a regional comparison of countries in Asia- Pacific, covering issues such as employment generation, formation of gross domestic product (GDP), export development, development constraints, productivity, and investment. To achieve this, the book analyzes the role of partnerships between MSMEs such as large companies, banks and government institutions, and the role of cooperatives. It also includes studies on women's entrepreneurship in Indonesia, and also explores the crisis mitigating measures (CMMs) widely adopted by MSMEs affected by financial crises in the past. Finally, the book also examines the development of financial technology (FinTech), and in particular peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and how this can serve as an alternative source of funding for MSMEs in Indonesia. Aspects of this book would be useful to students, researchers, practitioners, and also those interested in economic-related sustainable development goals (SDGs), given the importance the United Nations (UN) has assigned to MSMEs for taking a lead in employment creation, and poverty eradication.
The Politics of Global Competitiveness
Marx predicted in Capital (1867) that as capitalism became global, patterns of work would be transformed, and workers would need to develop versatility, flexibility, and mobility. This 'general law of social production', as he called it, is now in evidence all around us, in global value chains, 'zero hours' contracts, and contract work organised through digital platforms. It results from competition between capitalists, scientific and technological revolutions in production, and incessant advances in the division of labour as production processes are broken down into ever smaller steps. This book documents the leading roles of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Washington-based World Bank as advocates of these developments. They do not, as generally supposed, simply represent the interests of the advanced economies or the 'West' and their transnational corporations. They promote a single global model of capitalist development, without limits and on a genuinely global scale. It calls upon all states to 'adjust' continually to the structural and social demands of competitiveness, which they see as essential to the global hegemony of capital over labour. The OECD and the World Bank propose policies that give girls and women equal access to education and paid work, reform welfare to 'make work pay', introduce flexible labour contracts that make 'hiring and firing' easier, focus education on skills that boost employability, and draw workers in the developing world from the 'informal' sector into the formal sector, where they can be more productive. This is the politics of global competitiveness.
The Social Context of Economic Change in Britain
Analyses economic growth in Britain under Thatcher in a variety of different social contexts.
Eu Development Cooperation
EU development cooperation policy has ceased to be unique and perhaps has become more symbolic than substantive. This book analyses the external and internal influencing factors which have contributed to the drastic changes to this policy.
Business Ethics
An authoritative and practical guide to business ethics, written in an accessible question-and-answer format In today's turbulent business climate, business ethics are more important than ever. Surveys of employees show that misconduct is on the rise. Cover stories reporting indictments, prosecutions, and penalties imposed for unethical business conduct appear almost daily. Legislatures pass requirements elevating the levels of punishment and their enforcement against corporations and individuals. Organizations face pressure to design and implement effective ethics and compliance programs. As a result, businesses and businesspeople are increasingly worried that their conduct might cross lines that put their wealth and reputations at risk. Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) explains what those lines are, how not to cross them, and what to do when they are crossed. Written for both businesspeople facing real-life dilemmas and students studying ethical questions, this succinct book uniquely surveys materials from moral philosophy, behavioral science, and corporate law, and shares practical advice. Experts J.S. Nelson and Lynn A. Stout cover a wide array of essential topics including the legal status of corporations, major ethical traps in modern business, negotiations, whistleblowing and liability, and best practices. Written in a short question-and-answer style, this resource provides engaging and readable introductions to the basic principles of business ethics, and an invaluable guide for dealing with ethical dilemmas.
Radical Ecological Economics and Accounting to Save the Planet
The solutions and tools generally offered to policy-makers on environmental issues most often emanate from neoclassical economists. This book shows that the tools of these economists are ineffective for the job and must be replaced by methods from the sphere of ecological accounting.
Current Problems of the World Economy and International Trade
Volume 42 of Research in Economic Anthropology focuses on systemic coverage, critical rethinking, and scientific analysis of the current problems facing the world economy and international trade aiming to provide a scientific basis for learning from the COVID-19 pandemic for the global economy and international trade. Current Problems of the World Economy and International Trade begins by reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing crisis for the global economy and international trade. The volume then reveals the prospects for the post-pandemic recovery of the world economy and the crisis management of international trade. Throughout, there are case studies from various countries, in particular the experience of China, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, and the OECD. Current Problems of the World Economy and International Trade reveals the determinants of competitiveness and drivers of economic growth of individual countries provides useful applied advice on post-crisis recovery and the development of the world economy and international trade in the post-pandemic period.
Designing Smart and Resilient Cities for a Post-Pandemic World
Through a series of investigative studies, this book critically discusses and compares different cases, innovations and approaches as to how cities can utilise nascent and future digital technology and new strategies in order to build stronger resilience to better tackle comparable large-scale pandemics and future disruptions.
Guidebook to Carbon Neutrality in China
This Open Access publication focuses on China's goal of achieving peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The book is the first to systematically build a framework combining a top-down and bottom-up analysis of this acute topic.What does carbon neutrality mean for economics in China? Might it imply stagflation or is it an opportunity to maximize the potential of green manufacturing?The book offers a comprehensive analysis of how the pursuit of carbon neutrality may influence the development of China's economy, and the country's biggest industries, while foreseeing the likely changes in people's lifestyles.In total, the book constructs a comprehensive path for China's carbon neutrality drive from the perspective of the green premium. This effort lays the foundation for a discussion of the country's emissions reduction plan.The book goes further, calculating the investment required for different sectors to achieve carbon neutrality, andillustrating the roles of carbon pricing and green finance in this undertaking.The book's information comes from a network of primary sources, including experts in the field and noted academics, to depict potential low-carbon roadmaps and green transitions in major industries.Emphasized is green development in sectors that will be critical to civilization, including in technology, energy, manufacturing, transportation, and urban planning, which are backed by in-depth discussions and analyses.Accessible and academically rigorous, the work is anchored in the economics of carbon neutrality, extends to potential policy implications and identifies investment opportunities.This valuable reference will attract readers interested in public policy, economics, finance, and investors who seek to better understand China's prospects in the low-carbon economy of the near future.
Guidebook to Carbon Neutrality in China
This Open Access publication focuses on China's goal of achieving peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The book is the first to systematically build a framework combining a top-down and bottom-up analysis of this acute topic.What does carbon neutrality mean for economics in China? Might it imply stagflation or is it an opportunity to maximize the potential of green manufacturing?The book offers a comprehensive analysis of how the pursuit of carbon neutrality may influence the development of China's economy, and the country's biggest industries, while foreseeing the likely changes in people's lifestyles.In total, the book constructs a comprehensive path for China's carbon neutrality drive from the perspective of the green premium. This effort lays the foundation for a discussion of the country's emissions reduction plan.The book goes further, calculating the investment required for different sectors to achieve carbon neutrality, andillustrating the roles of carbon pricing and green finance in this undertaking.The book's information comes from a network of primary sources, including experts in the field and noted academics, to depict potential low-carbon roadmaps and green transitions in major industries.Emphasized is green development in sectors that will be critical to civilization, including in technology, energy, manufacturing, transportation, and urban planning, which are backed by in-depth discussions and analyses.Accessible and academically rigorous, the work is anchored in the economics of carbon neutrality, extends to potential policy implications and identifies investment opportunities.This valuable reference will attract readers interested in public policy, economics, finance, and investors who seek to better understand China's prospects in the low-carbon economy of the near future.
Money Matters
This book explores the nature of money and banking throughout their history, and applies this to the study of financial crises. The first part of the book covers the evolution of monetary arrangements, money creation and the business of banking since their earliest manifestations to the present day, showing how changes in the business of banking led to a transformation in the money we use. The second part of the book applies the understanding acquired during the first part to the study of financial crises, showing that money is taken out of circulation when bank loans are paid back. This key insight is at the core of the mechanism that explains financial crises, since an economy that sees its money supply diminish is also an economy that cannot generate enough demand for its own goods and services. Financial crises result when bank lending slows down or comes to a halt - while outstanding bank loans are still due for repayment. The mechanism is discussed in detail, and the crucial role of banks highlighted. Adequate policy measures to prevent crises, or to mitigate their effects, are then put forward in light of this mechanism. The book will be of interest to researchers and students of economic and financial history, as well as those working in finance, banking and economics more widely.
Essays in Honour of Fabio Canova
Both parts of Volume 44 of Advances in Econometrics pay tribute to Fabio Canova for his major contributions to economics over the last four decades.
Twelve Figures in Swedish Economics
This book explores the development of economic thought in Sweden through some of the people who shaped it. The book highlights both some of the well-known contributions and some overlooked areas of research. It begins with the origins of the pioneer neoclassical Heckscher-Ohlin theorem and Gunnar Myrdal 's circular, cumulative approach to economic development. Secondly, it focuses on a number of economists related to the Industrial Institute of Economic and Social Research: Ingvar Svennilson, Axel Iveroth, Jan Wallander, Erik H繹繹k, Villy Bergstr繹m and Rolf Henriksson. Finally, it offers portraits of three economists from Lund University: Bo S繹dersten, Ingemar St疇hl and G繹te Hansson. The work of all of them is placed within the context of the contemporary academic and public economic debate. This book aims at providing a perspective on the legacy of the Swedish tradition in economics and will be relevant to students and academics interested in the history of economic thought.
Learning to Compete in African Industry
This book examines the institutional roots of the persistent differences in economic performance of firms, industries and countries in Africa. It draws attention to the role of institutions in supporting technical change and shows how technological progress is central to competitiveness in a global context. The role of initial conditions such as levels of literacy and natural endowment, the structure of industry and resource endowment are also emphasized. With its focus on how institutions shape systems of innovation this book makes a unique contribution to the debate about African development.
Independence from America
Jon Kofas offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking study of 'global integration' after the Second World War. Globalization is perceived to be essentially the process of world economic integration in which the United States has played the key role but in which interests of most Third World countries have been sacrificed. This study's original contribution lies in the author's contention that there have been two 'models' of globalization: the US led 'patron-client model' and the EU initiated 'interdependent integral model'. It will be of particular interest to those studying and researching in the fields of international political economy, foreign policy, development politics, political theory and sociology of development.
The Uzawa-Lucas Endogenous Growth Model
Using state of the art mathematical techniques this book provides a complete characterization of the Uzawa-Lucas growth model. In his path-breaking contribution on the 'Mechanics of Economic Growth' Lucas suggested that human capital is the key variable through which technical change is most likely to occur and (by taking some initial intuitions of Uzawa a step further) proposed a two-sector capital accumulation growth model where human capital is allowed to enter a neo-classical-style production structure in multiplicative terms. In this book Paolo Mattana fully explores the dynamic possibilities of the model from both the market and the centralized perspective. A critical evaluation of the inefficiency in the market economy is also provided.
Transition, Taxation and the State
In economic terms three of the most important and controversial issues of our times are transition, taxation and the role of the state. This book examines the core associated problems of tax payment and collection in the context of transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy and the persistence of the 'soft budget' constraint. While differences between the experiences of transition states vary, the attitude of the state towards the control of the tax discipline, its efficiency and vulnerability to corruption is shown to be a key issue, in particular when political constraints are often more pressing than tax design or economic constraints. Transition, Taxation and the State will prove detailed and enlightening reading for all those concerned with tax administration in transition countries from both economic and political perspectives.
Transition and Development in China
China's transition from a planned economy to a market economy has succeeded in producing more than a decade of phenomenal growth. Whilst similar reforms in countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have seen an initial downturn in production, usually with a significant rise in unemployment, the success of the approach taken by China has been remarkable. However, China embarked upon the process, without a well-designed blueprint at the outset. The resulting piecemeal, partial, incremental, and often experimental approach has proved complicated to implement - requiring a complex melding of politics and economics, internal and foreign affairs, government and market. How the difficult task of balancing the diverse array of often competing concerns has been achieved is the subject of this book, which examines the dismantling of the centrally planned system and the mechanism of institutional change in Chinese transition.
Human Resource Management in Russia
Investigating Human Resource Management issues in Russia, this volume looks at the current state of Human Resource practice within Russian enterprises; its various problems and possible solutions. Following a detailed introduction into the current economic developments taking place in Russia, the book examines the new role of the HR department in Russian enterprises, and the influence of national politics on HR practice. The book also discusses key HRM issues such as recruitment and selection, training and development, payment and compensation, before surveying the various HR problems encountered by multinational companies working in Russia.
Interventions to Reduce Logistic Costs for Trade Competitiveness and Poverty
Logistics are a critical element for country competitiveness and economic performance, including poverty reduction. Most emerging countries such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are focusing on export-led growth strategies and poverty reduction strategies, and their performance is adversely affected by their high logistic costs that range from 10% to 50% of product value. This book illustrates the relevance and impact of logistics on these areas while also offering an effective logistics and infrastructure framework that addresses the full spectrum of the productive chain (upstream, midstream and downstream). It provides a structured agenda for designing and implementing holistic policy interventions (soft and hard components) to reduce logistic costs. Featuring case studies and examples of specific interventions and their impact in many countries, a number of them in Latin America, this book is useful to scholars, academics, practitioners and policy makers interested in the reduction of logistics costs and poverty reduction in the global economy.
Financial Econometrics
Financial econometrics is a great success story in economics. Econometrics uses data and statistical inference methods, together with structural and descriptive modeling, to address rigorous economic problems. Its development within the world of finance is quite recent and has been paralleled by a fast expansion of financial markets and an increasing variety and complexity of financial products. This has fueled the demand for people with advanced econometrics skills. For professionals and advanced graduate students pursuing greater expertise in econometric modeling, this is a superb guide to the field's frontier. With the goal of providing information that is absolutely up-to-date--essential in today's rapidly evolving financial environment--Gourieroux and Jasiak focus on methods related to foregoing research and those modeling techniques that seem relevant to future advances. They present a balanced synthesis of financial theory and statistical methodology. Recognizing that any model is necessarily a simplified image of reality and that econometric methods must be adapted and applied on a case-by-case basis, the authors employ a wide variety of data sampled at frequencies ranging from intraday to monthly. These data comprise time series representing both the European and North American markets for stocks, bonds, and foreign currencies. Practitioners are encouraged to keep a critical eye and are armed with graphical diagnostics to eradicate misspecification errors. This authoritative, state-of-the-art reference text is ideal for upper-level graduate students, researchers, and professionals seeking to update their skills and gain greater facility in using econometric models. All will benefit from the emphasis on practical aspects of financial modeling and statistical inference. Doctoral candidates will appreciate the inclusion of detailed mathematical derivations of the deeper results as well as the more advanced problems concerning high-frequency data and risk control. By establishing a link between practical questions and the answers provided by financial and statistical theory, the book also addresses the needs of applied researchers employed by financial institutions.
An Introduction to Energy Diplomacy
This book discusses the basic and cutting-edge theories in the area of energy diplomacy in the global context, focusing on topics such as international dialogues on energy, government-directed partnerships, international energy games, the activities of international agencies, and public energy diplomacy. It also analyzes in detail the relationship between global energy diplomacy and international energy, while at the same time identifying the major problems of China's energy diplomacy to provide a framework for the country's energy diplomacy strategy-an essential component of China's overall diplomatic strategy.
Distressed Us Industries in the Era of Globalization
This book presents analyses of several distressed industries in the United States, including the steel, footwear, textile and apparel, paper and publishing, and automobile industries. In particular, it focuses on the influence of the new era of globalization on these industries, as the authors argue that the transition to their current distressed states was triggered by the structural changes that resulted from globalization. While the inevitability of the negative impact of globalization may lead some to neglect research of distressed industries, these industries continue to survive and productively contribute to the economic base of the United States. Their stories are about the changing structure, conduct, and performance of the industrial United States.
Foundations for a Humanitarian Economy
The modern global economy and discipline of economics place mathematical calculation above human concern. However, a re-reading of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy can positively highlight the contrast in values and spirit of the early medieval European world with our own scientific age.
Facing the Era of Great Transformation
​This book collects essays from Chinese economic sage who was the mastermind of the reform and opening and persistent champion of market-driven development. In the essays, he outlines his vision of the systemic reform needed for today's China, from rule of law to completion of the market system and reform of state-owned enterprises. Dr. Wu's thoughts are always of interest, but at this pivotal moment of Chinese economic recalibration, his views will be of more value than ever, to scholars, economists, journalists, and those in civil society.
Understanding Institutions
A groundbreaking new synthesis and theory of social institutions Understanding Institutions proposes a new unified theory of social institutions that combines the best insights of philosophers and social scientists who have written on this topic. Francesco Guala presents a theory that combines the features of three influential views of institutions: as equilibria of strategic games, as regulative rules, and as constitutive rules. Guala explains key institutions like money, private property, and marriage, and develops a much-needed unification of equilibrium- and rules-based approaches. Although he uses game theory concepts, the theory is presented in a simple, clear style that is accessible to a wide audience of scholars working in different fields. Outlining and discussing various implications of the unified theory, Guala addresses venerable issues such as reflexivity, realism, Verstehen, and fallibilism in the social sciences. He also critically analyses the theory of "looping effects" and "interactive kinds" defended by Ian Hacking, and asks whether it is possible to draw a demarcation between social and natural science using the criteria of causal and ontological dependence. Focusing on current debates about the definition of marriage, Guala shows how these abstract philosophical issues have important practical and political consequences. Moving beyond specific cases to general models and principles, Understanding Institutions offers new perspectives on what institutions are, how they work, and what they can do for us.
The Political Economy of the European Constitution
The enlargement process, the creation of the Monetary Union and the need to promote further the political and economic integration of Europe have ignited an intense debate at the European level among researchers and policy-makers. Examining the effects that political, legal, and regulatory institutions have on economic development, this book provides new contributions on the political economy of the European constitution. It covers many issues including social protection, fiscal reform and regional policies that are on the table of European policy makers. Furthermore, it provides ideas and analysis of such issues as the problem of voting reform, the centralization and decentralization of the policy process and the allocation of new policy prerogatives at the EU level which are crucial for the design of a new European constitution.
