Transforming Bangladesh's Participation in Trade and Global Value Chains
This publication highlights how Bangladesh can diversify its participation in trade and global value chains to help promote economic growth. Textiles and textile products dominate Bangladesh's exports, but such concentration poses risks to the economy. This publication explores how the country can build on its recent economic success by unlocking productivity gains from technology adoption, narrowing the digital divide, and expanding its participation in global value chains. It identifies high-potential industries with deeper domestic linkages that offer opportunities to broaden the base of economic growth. It is published jointly with the Islamic Development Bank Institute.
Comparative Studies on Regional and National Economic Development
Forecasting from Multi-Equation Econometric Micromodels
Forecasting from multi-equation models has very rarely been the focus in econometric literature. In response, this book presents a range of methodologies to approach this complex field and offers readers essential information on forecasting from multi-equation econometric micromodels.In the twentieth century, significant interest in econometric macromodels emerged. These multi-equation models are mostly systems of interdependent equations, most often used to describe the national economies of various countries. The book analyzes econometric forecasting procedures and illustrates them with empirical examples that are based on real economic (mostly business-derived) data. The procedure of forecast building from systems of interdependent equations is presented for two categories of econometric models: models with a feedback effect and models with closed-loop links between interdependent variables. The forecasts obtained via this technique are compared with the results derived from reduced-form equations of the respective econometric model. The author also generalizes the rules of the reduced-recursive (helical, iterative) procedure application, against the backdrop of the proposed method of forecast building from reduced-form equations of systems of interdependent equations. Given its scope, the book will appeal not only to PhD students and researchers, but also undergraduate students and academics in general.
Fiscal Policy in the Southern European Union Countries
This book examines public debt hoarding within the Euro Area, which is one of the most complicated challenges regarding modern fiscal policy-making. The author offers an up-to-date analysis of the fiscal situations of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece. The book describes key mechanisms of debt transmission, discusses the potential establishment of fiscal and debt union in the EU, identifies numerous implications, and connects the fiscal positions of the examined countries with the structural flaws of the Euro Area and the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. Moreover, the work presents an estimation of structural budget balances, including a comparison with the estimates of major international institutions such as the IMF, OECD, and European Commission. A separate chapter is devoted to analysing the fiscal policy determinants, using time series since the late 19th century, and the issue of fiscal policy efficiency. Finally, the work provides an overview of debt resolutionoptions. Overall, this book offers eight core chapters intended for the public, professional economists, and policymakers.
Asian Economic Integration in an Era of Global Uncertainty
The Pacific Trade and Development (PAFTAD) conference series has been at the forefront of analysing challenges facing the economies of East Asia and the Pacific since its first meeting in Tokyo in January 1968. The 38th PAFTAD conference met at a key time to consider international economic integration. Earlier in the year, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and the United States elected Donald Trump as their next president on the back of an inward-looking 'America First' promise. Brexit and President Trump represent a growing, and worrying, trend towards protectionism in the North Atlantic countries that have led the process of globalisation since the end of the Second World War. The chapters in the volume describe the state of play in Asian economic integration but, more importantly, look forward to the region's future, and the role it might play in defending the global system that has underwritten its historic rise. Asia has the potential to stand as a bulwark against the dual threats of North Atlantic protectionism and slowing trade growth, but collective leadership will be needed regionally and difficult domestic reforms will be required in each country.
The Paradox of Debt
Wall Street Journal BestsellerUSA Today BestsellerAmazon Bestseller When we talk about debt and its impact on our economy, we almost always mean "government debt." However, this is only a small part of the picture: individuals, private firms, and households owe trillions, and these private debts are vital to understanding the economy. In this iconoclastic book, Richard Vague examines the assets, liabilities, and incomes of the entire country, private and public sector, to reveal its net worth. His holistic analysis shows that the real factor that drives both financial crises and spiraling inequality--but also, paradoxically, economic growth--is ever rising private debt. The paradox is that while debt is essential and our economy relies on it, it also brings instability unless it is periodically deleveraged--and that is very hard to do. It can, however, be carefully managed, and Vague ends the book by showing how to do so in policy areas ranging from trade and housing to financial policy and student debt. Underpinned by pioneering data analysis and the author's lifetime of experience in the financial world, this book is essential for anyone who wants to understand the deep, underlying dynamics of the American economy.
The Economist
Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C. The Economist records Socrates and Critobulus in a talk about profitable estate management, and a lengthy recollection by Socrates of Ischomachus' discussion of the same topic. INTERLOCUTORS Socrates and Critobulus At Chapter VII. a prior discussion held between Socrates and Ischomachus is introduced: On the life of a "beautiful and good" man. In these chapters (vii.-xxi.) Socrates is represented by the author as repeating for the benefit of Critobulus and the rest certain conversations which he had once held with the beautiful and good Ischomachus on the essentials of economy. It was a tete-a-tete discussion, and in the original Greek the remarks of the two speakers are denoted by such phrases as {ephe o 'Iskhomakhos-ephen egio}-"said (he) Ischomachus," "said I." (Socrates) To save the repetition of expressions tedious in English, I have, whenever it seemed help to do so, ventured to throw parts of the reported conversations into dramatic form, inserting "Isch." "Soc." in the customary way to designate the speakers; but these, it must be borne in mind, are merely "asides" to the reader, who will not forget that Socrates is the narrator throughout-speaking of himself as "I," and of Ischomachus as "he," or by his name.
How Africa Trades
Trade is an essential driver of economic transformation, growth, and prosperity. At a time of global uncertainty and policy fluidity, this comprehensive volume demystifies African trade and trade policy to provide a deeper understanding of how trade impacts the lives of all Africans and the continent's development aspirations.Featuring a wealth of data-driven evaluations of trade negotiations and policy choices, How Africa Trades is an invaluable open access resource for making sense of the continent's major trade challenges, including commodity dependence, competitiveness, and how African countries engage with often unconducive international trade rules that distort global markets. In-depth analysis focuses on intra-African trade initiatives, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), trade between African countries and their major trading partners, and how the short-term shocks of Covid-19 restrictions brought about longer-term changes in informal and formal trade patterns, and sped-up shifts in digital trade.Edited by Professor David Luke, and featuring vital contributions on trade economics, international law and sustainable development, How Africa Trades draws on the research expertise of LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. This volume provides information, expertise and tools for policymakers, stakeholders and scholars with an interest in understanding the dynamics of trade and in making effective policy decisions that centre development and inclusivity for Africa and its people.
Explorations in Economic Anthropology
At a time of rising global economic precarity and social inequality, the field of economic anthropology offers solutions through the study of local and contextualized economic practices. This book is made up of an exciting collection of succinct essays authored by leading scholars primarily from the field of economic anthropology, but also featuring contributions from sociology and history. The chapters engage with debates at the cutting edge of research on the topics of Eurasia, the anthropology of postsocialism and the embeddedness of economic practices.
Rural Enterprise
Originally published in 1991, the focus of the contributions in this book is the relationships between rurality and small-scale production, particularly in Europe.
Debates in Macroeconomics from the Great Depression to the Long Recession
This book assesses major schools of thought in macroeconomic theory between the Great Depression and the Long Recession, focusing on their analysis of cycles, crises and macro-policy. It explores the road from the dominance of Keynesian ideas to those of New Classical Macroeconomics (NCM) toward the end of the millennium. The book covers the early influential work of Knut Wicksell; the economic debates of the 1930s, with core contributions from John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek; the rise of Keynesianism in the 1950s and its decline since the 1970s; the rise of Monetarism in the 1960s; and NCM's subsequent rise to prominence. Finally, the book outlines how macroeconomics has evolved from its birth in the 1930s as a theory separate from microeconomics, resulting in a split between macro- and micro-theories, and ended up with a new hegemonic paradigm based on microfoundations. The ensuing policy thinking witnessed a transformation from "active" macro-policy after the Great Depression to a far more "passive" macro-policy during the last quarter of the twentieth century, which may have contributed to missing the signs of the impending Long Recession of 2008."When the 2008 crisis struck, macroeconomists were caught with models that were theoretically elegant yet inappropriate to the needs of the moment. A broader historical perspective may have prevented the jettisoning of Keynesian models that had proved useful in the past and might have done so again. This highly readable book by Arie Arnon is a wonderful antidote to economists' short time horizon and contributes mightily to restore the profession's "collective memory" of the diversity of ideas within macroeconomics."Professor Dani Rodrik, Harvard Kennedy School
OECD Economic Surveys: Costa Rica 2020
Costa Rica's social and economic progress has been remarkable. Over the last 30 years, growth has been steady and GDP per capita has tripled. A strong commitment towards trade openness has been key to attract foreign direct investment and move Costa Rica up in the global value chain. Costa Rica faces substantial challenges to retain achieved successes and to continue converging towards higher living standards. The fiscal situation remains a critical vulnerability. Large deficits and rapidly rising public debt threaten Costa Rica's achievements. The fiscal reform approved in December 2018 was a historic step to restore fiscal sustainability. Boosting growth is also a key priority, as the gap in GDP per capita with advanced economies remains large and unemployment is high. Inequality and informality remain also high. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted Costa Rica, with the global economic slowdown and the necessary containment measures hampering growth prospects and fiscal accounts. Responding successfully to these substantial challenges will hinge on buttressing the fiscal framework and implementing reforms to foster inclusive growth. Further advances on living standards will hinge on raising productivity by setting the right conditions for domestic companies to thrive and maintaining and reinforcing the commitment to foreign direct investment and trade. Maintaining the commitment to preserving natural resources and biodiversity and with the decarbonisation plan will pay off in terms of growth and jobs. SPECIAL FEATURES: REGULATIONS; FINANCIAL INCLUSION
REGROW - "Recruiting the Young Generation Workforce
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION In many EU countries there is a severe shortage of young skilled workers, especially in SMEs, which has a negative impact on their growth prospects and competitiveness. Even countries such as Germany, with its dual vocational training system, which has traditional strengths in attracting young talent, are having increasing difficulties in meeting the shortage of young skilled workers. There is a need of renewing the HR-Management in many SMEs to better attract and integrate young talent and to provide owners and employees with the necessary knowledge and skills. This project has collected best practices and developed a SME centred HR-concept including digital models, as well as various training programmes with different measures for SME managers leading to the implementation of a modern and holistic human resource management. Vocational Training Providers are equipped with the necessary materials and training programs to qualify their staff and SMEs and their employees in their sphere of influence. This publication contains the relevant curricula, application notes and experiences as a result of the project REGROW with the following partners: Hanse-Parlament (DE), Berufsakademie Hamburg (DE), Chamber of Crafts Opole (PL), Chamber of Crafts Poznan(PL), Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EE), IBC International Business College Kolding (DK) and Arbeit und Zukunft e.V. (DE).
Industry and Policy in Independent Ireland, 1922-1972
This book revisits the history of industry and industrial and economic policy in independent Ireland from the birth of the state to the eve of EEC accession. Though there were several manufacturing employers of significance, and smaller firms in operation in almost every major branch of industry, the Irish Free State was predominantly agricultural at its establishment in 1922. Industrial development was high on the nationalist agenda, as would be the case across the entire developing world in the later post-colonial era. Despite decades of protection, and a substantial increase in the size of the manufacturing sector, Ireland remained under-industrialised when it joined the European Economic Community in 1973. Over the previous decade and a half however the foundations of later convergence had been laid. Ireland was an early adopter of what would come to be known as dual-track reform. The policy of attracting outward-oriented foreign direct investment was initiated before substantial trade liberalisation began. By 1972 there had been a significant diversification in export categories and export destinations, and in the nationality of ownership of the leading manufacturing firms. Some of the most successful indigenous companies of the future were also beginning to emerge. In these and other respects the foundations of the economic progress that would be made over the course of EEC membership were already discernible, notwithstanding the post-accession collapse of most protectionist-era businesses. The analysis is supplemented by a unique firm-level database that allows for the identification of the leading manufacturing firms in operation at any stage from the early 1900s through to 1972. The database extends by more than 50 years the period for which estimates of the significance of foreign-owned industry can be provided.
Why Populism?
The rise to power of populists like Donald Trump is usually attributed to the shifting values and policy preferences of voters-the demand side. Why Populism shifts the public debate on populism and examines the other half of the equation-the supply side. Kenny argues that to understand the rise of populism is to understand the cost of different strategies for winning and keeping power. For the aspiring leader, populism-appealing directly to the people through mass communication-can be a quicker, cheaper, and more effective strategy than working through a political party. Probing the long history of populism in the West from its Ancient Greek roots to the present, this highly readable book shows that the 'economic laws of populism are constant.' 'Forget ideology. Forget resentment. Forget racism or sexism.' Populism, the author writes, is the result of a hidden strategic calculus.
The Anatomy of Scottish Capital
Originally published in 1980, this book gives a concrete description of the development of Scottish companies and Scottish capital through the 20th Century, based on empirical study. The study begins with the major companies of 1904-5 and examines their history and subsequent development.
How Ethical Systems Change
Originally published in 1965, this book subjected the economic performance of Scotland to close examination. The progress of the Scottish economy from 1951 to 1960 was assessed in quantitative terms.
Development of World Trade in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic
This book examines the development of world trade during the COVID-19 pandemic, also taking international trade between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation into account as a case study. Using an advanced method of artificial neural networks, it evaluates a long time series and predicts the development of trade between the two countries. The book further analyzes the specifications of export items on both sides and the dependence of the Czech Republic on Russia in terms of raw materials, which is not sustainable. It discusses the need for a political and business consensus, as well as a long-term investment plan to address this issue. Finally, it sheds light on the Czech companies actively operating in Russia, especially in the engineering, automotive, energy, and food industry. The book predicts the future bilateral trade relations between the two countries and the expected decrease in the demand on the side of Russian customers.The book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of economics and finance in general, macro- and microeconomics, statistics, and trade analytics in particular, as well as professionals and international trade companies interested in a better understanding of world trade developments and the future trade scenarios between the Czech Republic and Russia.
Aid, Trade and Development
This volume presents a broad sweep of modern economic history underpinning aid, trade, development and globalization in the last half century and the salient challenges facing the global community today. The author draws on his long years as an academic and development practitioner to recommend what needs to be done to cope with the backsliding of the fight against global poverty, fractured geopolitics and the threats to the multilateral economic order. The new, revised edition analyses how unilateralism, rising protectionism and the Covid-19 pandemic seriously threaten global sustainable development. It concludes with recommendations on the policy changes needed to make globalization more equitable and development more sustainable. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of economic development and economic history, as well as all those concerned about global inequality and sustainability.
Food in a Planetary Emergency
This book Food in a Planetary Emergency is a timely overview of the current food systems and the required transformations to respond to the challenges of climate change, population pressures, biodiversity loss and use of natural resources, such as soils, water and phosphorus. This book takes a planetary health perspective which explores the links between natural systems and human wellbeing implying that there is need for united actions to achieve important environmental and population health co-benefits.This book outlines that the foundation of planetary health is sustainability. It addresses environment and climate change emergency as a global agenda, however, emphasises the urgency of the sustainability perspective which integrates a wide spectrum of issues that require integrated solutions to offer better prospects for humanity. This book drives this argument further through the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where food is not just SDG2 but transcends all 17 goals.This book tackles the problems of food production and consumption at a global, industry and individual level linking it to topics related to the natural environment, climate change, waste, marketing, new ways of producing food and providing alternative proteins, mitigating non-communicable diseases, flexitarianism and the role of Generation Z in the emerging dietary choices.This book benefits readers with understanding the importance and intricacy of their dietary choices at a point in time when our planet is facing an emergency triggered by long-term dependence on fossil fuels and artificial fertilisers but also by the ways we have provided food. However, this book also delivers the message that safeguarding and sustaining planetary health is possible.
Infrastructure Financing in India
Governments the world over want to spend more on infrastructure (the benchmark for developing countries is 7-8% of GDP per annum) to lay the foundation for sustained and inclusive growth. India is no exception. It realizes that more needs to be spent on infrastructure for the country to regain its position as the fastest growing large economy in the world. While India spent about 7.2% of its GDP on infrastructure during the Eleventh Plan period (2008-12), this number has recently come down to approximately 5%. The backdrop of the book is the ambitious National Infrastructure Plan (NIP); the Task Force report on the NIP was finalized in April 2020. Since infrastructure investment is crucial to faster and inclusive growth, it is timely that the NIP is actioned now, given that the Indian economy contracted to 7.3% in the financial year 2020-21. This book discusses various aspects of infrastructure financing in detail, with a major section devoted to green financing of infrastructure.
Making Economics Public
Economics - macro, micro and mysterious - is integral to everyday life. But despite its importance for personal and collective decision making, it is a discipline often viewed as technical, arcane and inaccessible and thus overlooked in public discourse. This book is a call to arms to bring the discipline of economics more into the public domain. It calls on economists to think about how to make their knowledge of the economics public. And it calls on those who specialise in communicating expert knowledge to help us learn to communicate about economics. The book brings together scholars and practitioners working at the early stages of an emerging field: the public communication of, and public engagement with, economics. Through a series of short essays from academics and practitioners, the book has two key goals: first and foremost, it will make a case for why we need to make economics public and for the importance of having a clear vision of what it means to make economics public. Secondly, it suggests some ways that this can be done featuring contributions from practitioners, including economists, who are engaging audiences in newspapers, museums and beyond. This book is essential reading for those in economics with an interest in making economics public and those already in the many fields dedicated to communicating expert knowledge in public spaces who have an interest in where economics can fit.More information about the book can be found here: https: //www.makingeconomicspublic.org/
Institutions, Goals, Policies and Analytics in Economic Development
The field of Development Economics (DE) has overstretched over time with risks of becoming shallow. There is a need for the compartmentalization of DE that focuses on simplification, oversight, productivity and relevance. This volume is a handbook in development economics with a compartmentalized perspective. It makes use of case study applications, both recent and over the last few decades. Next to 2 introductory chapters that elaborate on the development regions, the book falls in five parts.The first part, consisting of two chapters, displays structural/system changes in the development regions, examines institutions that discourage/promote development, and applies institutional modelling to related case studies of land reform in India and Chile.The second part, consisting of two chapters, takes the courageous step of discussing, measuring and posting the twin development goals of growth with redistribution as the primary development goals, and analysing their trade-offs for major countries in the six development regions. Secondary development goals are important but they correlate with the primary goals, and are considered as conditional.The third part, consisting of eight chapters, contains applications on multi-sector development policies. The applications use the Social Accounting Matrix and related economy wide modelling. They highlight alternative policies to achieve the development goals of growth and redistribution in Pakistan, Indonesia, Korea, UAE, Nepal, Sudan, Suriname and other countries.The fourth part, consisting of six chapters, examines human resource development and policies in the areas of labor market information systems, labor market adjustments, manpower forecasts, earnings profiles, educational plans, and intergenerational mobility, with case studies related to Pakistan, Indonesia, Colombia, Korea, Ethiopia.The fifth and final part, consisting of two chapters, focuses on world development and global governance; in particular the persistent income disparities at the global level in spite of the strengthened positions of the development regions in the world economy, the consequences of shifting dominance for world governance, the evaluation of the G-20, and a proposed more representative world governance. Throughout all chapters special attention is devoted to introducing and applying analytical methods that have proven to be fundamental in development economics.
Paradigms Powering China's Rise: A Historical Perspective
The primary aim of this book is to understand the ground-breaking paradigms and policies that have powered China's remarkable rise: from an agricultural society to an industrial powerhouse and a leading nation -- and that too in a span of merely forty years from 1979 to 2019. The book covers the rise of China up to 2019 and is divided into five parts. The first part takes a strategic view of China's rise, the second part provides a quantitative assessment of China's rise using macroeconomic indicators; the third part provides a historical background of modern China, starting from the unification of China in 221 BC to the rise to power of the Communist Party of China, leading to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The fourth part analyses China's governance as well as its economic system and lastly, part five summarizes China's rise and the paradigms that powered this rise.
International Business and Finance in Japanese Corporations: Recent Harvard-Listed Case Studies and Insights
When the world economy is facing serious difficulties such as now, the management of Japanese corporations is attracting attention from all over the world. In coping with rapid changes in the environment, Japanese management techniques and legal practices continue to change. In the era of internationalization, Japan and foreign countries have followed a path of convergence, despite differing traditions. By following this course, businesses both in Japan and abroad are expected to achieve greater progress in productivity, cost efficiency, and profit maximization, while maintaining good quality control. However, these Japanese stories are only partially known to the world.As one of the very few casebooks written in English on Japanese corporations, this book offers valuable insights into Japan's unique business culture and practices. The seven cases in this book include well-known Japanese corporations such as the Bank of Japan, Toyota, Sumitomo-Mitsui Bank, Saizeriya, and Toshiba. 'The Toshiba Accounting Scandal: How Corporate Governance Failed' and 'Negative Interest Rates: The Bank of Japan Experience' rank as 'BESTSELLERS' in the Top 20 most popular cases at Harvard. These cases illustrate many of the key differences between Japan and the West that exist in the realm of corporate governance and finance. All in all, the book provides relevant and in-depth information on the current state of business in Japan.
Plastic Pollution Solution
The book explains the harm caused by plastics on oceans, lakes, streams, humans and animals. The book proposes solutions to plastic pollution, including legislation in the United States and an international treaty.
Leadership in the Public Services
This book presents a new interpretation of the role of human capital and the state in driving economic development. It places these ideas within broader debates within the history of economic thought to highlight how the nature of economic activity is a collective and coordinated process. Through examining how the welfare state reversed traditional accumulation by relying on human capital growth, the importance of the state within the development process is emphasised, alongside the multifaceted nature of competition. Different forms of public expenditure are then evaluated to identify the most productive forms of public spending and the drivers of long term economic development.This book questions the relationship between profits and rent and proposes a new kind of economic development based around human capital. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in the history of economic thought, the political economy, and labour economics.
The Spirit of Green
From a Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in environmental economics, an innovative account of how and why "green thinking" could cure many of the world's most serious problems--from global warming to pandemics Solving the world's biggest problems--from climate catastrophe and pandemics to wildfires and corporate malfeasance--requires, more than anything else, coming up with new ways to manage the powerful interactions that surround us. For carbon emissions and other environmental damage, this means ensuring that those responsible pay their full costs rather than continuing to pass them along to others, including future generations. In The Spirit of Green, Nobel Prize-winning economist William Nordhaus describes a new way of green thinking that would help us overcome our biggest challenges without sacrificing economic prosperity, in large part by accounting for the spillover costs of economic collisions. In a discussion that ranges from the history of the environmental movement to the Green New Deal, Nordhaus explains how the spirit of green thinking provides a compelling and hopeful new perspective on modern life. At the heart of green thinking is a recognition that the globalized world is shaped not by isolated individuals but rather by innumerable interactions inside and outside the economy. He shows how rethinking economic efficiency, sustainability, politics, profits, taxes, individual ethics, corporate social responsibility, finance, and more would improve the effectiveness and equity of our society. And he offers specific solutions--on how to price carbon, how to pursue low-carbon technologies, how to design an efficient tax system, and how to foster international cooperation through climate clubs. The result is a groundbreaking new vision of how we can have our environment and our economy too.
Public Banks
Public banks are banks located within the public sphere of a state. They are pervasive, with more than 900 institutions worldwide, and powerful, with tens of trillions in assets. Public banks are neither essentially good nor bad. Rather, they are dynamic institutions, made and remade by contentious social forces. As the first single-authored book on public banks, this timely intervention examines how these institutions can confront the crisis of climate finance and catalyse a green and just transition. The author explores six case studies across the globe, demonstrating that public banks have acquired the representative structures, financial capacity, institutional knowledge, collaborative networks, and geographical reach to tackle decarbonisation, definancialisation, and democratisation. These institutions are not without contradictions, torn as they are between contending public and private interests in class-divided society. Ultimately, social forces and struggles shape how and if public banks serve the public good.
Nature’s Frontiers
The great expansion of economic activity since the end of World War II has caused an unprecedented rise in living standards, but it has also caused rapid changes in earth systems. Nearly all types of natural capital--the world's stock of resources and services provided by nature--are in decline. Clean air, abundant and clean water, fertile soils, productive fisheries, dense forests, and healthy oceans are critical for healthy lives and healthy economies. Mounting pressures, however, suggest that the trend of declining natural capital may cast a long shadow into the future. Nature's Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital presents a novel approach to address these foundational challenges of sustainability. A methodology combining innovative science, new data sources, and cutting-edge biophysical and economic models builds sustainable resource efficiency frontiers to assess how countries can sustainably use their natural capital more efficiently. The analysis provides recommendations on how countries can better use their natural capital to achieve their economic and environ mental goals. The report indicates that significant efficiency gaps exist in nearly every country. Closing these gaps can address many of the world's pressing economic and environmental problems--economic productivity, health, food and water security, and climate change. Although the approach outlined in this report will entail demanding policy reforms, the costs of inaction will be far higher.
Regime Changes and Socio-Economic History of Rural Myanmar, 1986-2019
This is the first book to depict the transformation and steadiness of Myanmar's rural socio-economy from within the villages based on my own detailed research, in relation with the regime changes from Burmese Way to Socialism to military junta and to democratization from 1986 to 2019.The main subject of the transformation is "de-agrarianisation" including land use and holdings, household incomes, non-, migrations, power structure, village landscape, etc. And the principal theme of the steadiness is the "absence of village collective" which is the core of rural Myanmar, in contrast to village communities like Japan. This is the reason why Myanmar villagers have lived surprisingly bright, free and independent despite the oppressive political economy under the socialism and the military junta, and have not collectively participated in so-called community development.This book is the result of research conducted by visiting more than200 villages and interviewing more than 10,000 people by myself in Myanmar language.
Transformation, Agency and the Economy
This book outlines the contours of economics grounded in real-world phenomena and experiences by outlining the foundations of a Grounded Economics. This book provides a consistent framework to grasp the economy as an unfolding process.
Cultural Heritage in International Economic Law
Can cultural heritage be adequately protected vis-?-vis economic globalization? This book investigates whether and how international economic law governs cultural phenomena by mapping the relevant legal framework, discussing the relevant disputes concerning cultural elements adjudicated before international economic 'courts' (namely the World Trade Organization adjudicative bodies and investment treaty arbitral tribunals), and proposing legal methods to reconcile cultural and economic interests. It thus provides a comprehensive evaluation of possible solutions, including evolution of the law through treaty interpretation and reforms, to improve the balance between economic governance and cultural policy objectives.
Machine Learning for Transportation Research and Applications
Transportation is a combination of systems that presents a variety of challenges often too intricate to be addressed by conventional parametric methods. Increasing data availability and recent advancements in machine learning provide new methods to tackle challenging transportation problems. This textbookis designed for college or graduate-level students in transportation or closely related fields to study and understand fundamentals in machine learning. Readers will learn how to develop and apply various types of machine learning models to transportation-related problems. Example applications include traffic sensing, data-quality control, traffic prediction, transportation asset management, traffic-system control and operations, and traffic-safety analysis.
Microeconomic Foundations II
A cutting-edge introduction to key topics in modern economic theory for first-year graduate students in economics and related fields Volume II of Microeconomic Foundations introduces models and methods at the center of modern microeconomic theory. In this textbook, David Kreps, a leading economic theorist, emphasizes foundational material, concentrating on seminal work that provides perspective on how and why the theory developed. Because noncooperative game theory is the chief tool of modeling and analyzing microeconomic phenomena, the book stresses the applications of game theory to economics. And throughout, it underscores why theory is most useful when it supports rather than supplants economic intuition.Introduces first-year graduate students to the models and methods at the core of microeconomic theory todayCovers an extensive range of topics, including the agency theory, market signaling, relational contracting, bilateral bargaining, auctions, matching markets, and mechanism designStresses the use--and misuse--of theory in studying economic phenomena and shows why theory should support, not replace, economic intuitionIncludes extensive appendices reviewing the essential concepts of noncooperative game theory, with guidance about how it should and shouldn't be usedFeatures free online supplements, including chapter outlines and overviews, solutions to all the problems in the book, and more
Tasks, Skills, and Institutions
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO 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 book investigates the trends in earnings inequalities in developing countries to determine the main drivers. Particular attention is paid to extending the most conventional explanations of changes in earnings inequality, based on the relative abundance of skilled and unskilled labour, with recent theories that put the nature of tasks performed by workers in their jobs, rather than their skills, at the centre of the analysis. The latter approach has helped to explain relevant patterns recently observed in the trends in earnings inequality in the US and other industrialized countries. Developed countries have experienced a polarization in earnings and in employment, namely stronger growth in the earnings and jobs for the most and least skilled workers at the expense of those in the middle. This pattern has been attributed to differences in tasks-whether a given job is routine and can be automated or offshored-rather than skills, and has reduced employment and incomes in typical middle-class jobs in manufacturing and services. However, this narrative has been developed in the context of mature industrialized economies on the frontier of technological change that have also seen a large set of activities offshored to emergent economies. Evidence for developing countries, however, is still scarce and faces bigger challenges, both conceptual, and in terms of gathering the necessary data on earnings and task content of jobs. This book presents the main results of the UNU-WIDER project, The Changing Nature of Work and Inequality, aiming to fill this knowledge gap.
China's Dilemma
China's Dilemma-Economic Growth, the Environment and Climate Change examines the challenges China will have to confront in order to maintain rapid growth while coping with the global financial turbulence, some rising socially destabilising tensions such as income inequality, an over-exploited environment and the long-term pressures of global warming. China's Dilemma discusses key questions that will have an impact on China's growth path and offers some in-depth analyses as to how China could confront these challenges. The authors address the effect of the global credit crunch and financial shocks on China's economic growth; China's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and emissions reduction schemes; the environmental consequences of foreign direct investment in China; the relationship between air pollution and mortality; the effect of climate change on agricultural output; the coal industry's compliance with tougher regulations; and the constraints water shortages may impose on China's economy. It also emphasises the importance of managing the rising demand for energy to moderate oil price increases and placating domestic and international concerns about global warming. In the thirty years since China started on the path of reform, it has emerged as one of the largest and most dynamic economies in the world. This carries with it the responsibility to balance the requirements of key industries that are driving its development with the need to ensure that its growth is both equitable and sustainable. China's Dilemma highlights key lessons learned from the past thirty years of reform in order to pave the way for balanced and sustained growth in the future.
Georgia's Emerging Ecosystem for Technology Startups
This publication explores Georgia's growing technology startup scene, assesses the challenges and opportunities for new ventures, and outlines ways to boost the ecosystem and help spur social and economic growth. Drawing on interviews with founders, the publication analyzes the prospects for tech startups in agriculture, the green economy, health, and education. It examines the government's active role and looks at funding options including venture capital. Explaining why founders struggle to secure financing and international exposure, it outlines how Georgia can develop its talent pools, encourage more women founders, and tailor support to ensure its startups survive and thrive.
Of Politics & Economics
"Why have American policymaking and political institutions weakened? Well, let me offer my one-word explanation for this phenomenon: 'Corruption.'" This book has all the makings of a modern-day thriller: politics, partisanship, kickbacks, fraud, quid pro quos, and, you guessed it-corruption. All based on historical and public events commented on and analyzed by author Steven I. Platt during his long and storied career as a judge and mediator. From the bowels of politics, corruption, and partisanship, Of Politics and Economics: The School of Hard Knocks & Gentle Persuasion is a well-chosen collection of Judge Platt's significant and timeless writings on the state of politics and its intersection with law and economics. For 13 years, Judge Platt shared his opinion publicly and unapologetically in a popular column published in The Daily Record in Baltimore and in the judge's own blog, "A Pursuit of Justice: The Intersection of Law, Economics, and Politics." Written by a self-proclaimed "political junkie," who spent more than 20 years feeding the political machine, then another 30 years serving on the Bench of the Maryland Judiciary, Judge Platt has witnessed, presided over, and commented on incidents involving local, state, and federal political figures who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law and societal values. Contents include: Chapter 1: Is Politics Corrupt? Stay Tuned to Your Supreme Court StationChapter 2: Corruption May Explain the Previously UnexplainableChapter 3: Corruption Precipitates Crisis in ConfidenceChapter 4: What's Wrong with Our Broken Political Process?Chapter 5: Loss of Public Trust and Confidence Caused by CorruptionChapter 6: Destructive Partisanship March Can Be HaltedChapter 7: Midnight in Paris for PoliticiansChapter 8: Trump-Speak vs. Candidate-SpeakChapter 9: Political Choices Should Be Reality-Based and CheckedChapter 10: Politics as TheaterChapter 11: President of the United States - A Job DescriptionChapter 12: The Political Art of Holding Your Tongue and Thinking Your PieceChapter 13: Political Judgment Is Not Science - It's About PeopleChapter 14: Political Theater Need Not Be Children's TheaterChapter 15: The Act of Governance - What MattersChapter 16: How Will Candidates Govern? The Most Important Question Not Easily AnsweredChapter 17: How Do We Spot Leaders?Chapter 18: The Great Risk ShiftChapter 19: The Politics of the Shift of Economic RiskChapter 20: Corporate Networks, Power, and Money Precipitate Crisis of the Old OrderChapter 21: Planning for Justice After the RevolutionChapter 22: Responsibility and Accountability in the Criminal Justice System: A ChallengeChapter 23: New Era for International Courts and the United States
Renewable Energy Investments for Sustainable Business Projects
With such a wide range of social and economic uses, energy has become essential to global infrastructure and operations, regardless of economic or environmental cost. Renewable energy sources, where energy is obtained from natural sources such as the sun and wind, currently stand as important alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet their comparatively high installation costs continue to deter investors and further propel the planet towards catastrophic climate change. Conscious of these complexities, Renewable Energy Investments for Sustainable Business Projects identifies multiple solutions for improving the appeal of renewable energy projects. Breaking down myths about their viability and practicality, Hasan Din癟er and Serhat Y羹ksel take a variety of issues into consideration, including finance, competition, risk management, customer relations, technological factors and learning and growth to formulate a practical rather than theoretical examination of renewable energies and their potential. From tax advantages to hydrogen sourcing, Renewable Energy Investments for Sustainable Business Projects explores a variety of the latest practices and technological developments surrounding renewable energy, offering practical insight and tangible advice to academics and researchers in environmental management.
Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing
Why are house prices in many advanced economies rising faster than incomes? Why isn't land and location taught or seen as important in modern economics? What is the relationship between the financial system and land? In this accessible but provocative guide to the economics of land and housing, the authors reveal how many of the key challenges facing modern economies - including housing crises, financial instability and growing inequalities - are intimately tied to the land economy. Looking at the ways in which discussions of land have been routinely excluded from both housing policy and economic theory, the authors show that in order to tackle these increasingly pressing issues a major rethink by both politicians and economists is required.
General Economic History
Sociologist, historian and political economist, Max Weber is one of the most important thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His astonishing range and penetrating insights resulted in many influential books spanning religion, society, politics, and economics, permanently affecting the direction of the social sciences.General Economic History, published in 1923 (three years after Weber's death) and compiled from meticulous notes taken by his students, ranks as one of his most important books. It is a landmark work in economic history. From early forms of exchange in pre-capitalist households and villages, through industry and the beginnings of commerce, to the evolution of trade and money, Weber tells the epic story of the development of Western capitalism. At its heart, he argues, capitalism is driven by two immensely powerful forces: the basic, material needs that human beings seek to fulfil; and the fundamental but intangible spirit that sets capitalism in motion.This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Introduction and, for the first time in English, a translation of Weber's original "Conceptual Preface" to the German edition, both by Keith Tribe. Also included are some corrections to the main text.
The Working Class in Glasgow
Originally published in 1987, this book examines how much industrialisation improved the standard of living of the British worker, based on the experience of one representative city: Glasgow.
The Renaissance of the Scottish Economy?
Originally published in 1982, written at a time when Scotland was emerging from a recession, it offered a comprehensive appraisal of the Scottish economy.
Heritage
In the three or four decades before the first world war British industry was subject to increasing foreign competition particularly from America and Germany. Frequent complainets have been made both by contemporaries and by later students of the peiod that British industrialists were slow to meet this challenge. This provides an admirable background for a series of case studies of the major British industries, each one of which has been written by a recognised authority. The chief aim has been to review the main developments in ten industries during the period 1875-1914, paying particular attention to the way in which they were affected by foreign competation, and the measures taken to combat it. As far as possible an attempt has been made in each case to ascertain how progressive British industrialists were, that is to what extent they were willing to innovate or alter their methods to meet the new conditions. Wherever it can be shown that a lack of enterprise was evident, the authors have tried to determine what were the major factors which governed the pace of innocation. This is an important book since it covers a crucial period in Britain's economic history. No conscientious teacher or student of industrial history can afford to ignore it. Not only will it be of great interest to economists, economic historians, sociologists and the informed layman, but it should be made compulsory reading for businessmen and managers who are at present struggling anew with the problems of industrial innovation. They may both take comfort and derive useful lessons from these studies. The contributors to the book are: A.J. Taylor, Professor of History, University of Leeds; P.L. Payne, Senior Lecturer in Economic History, University of Glasgow; R.E. Tyson, Lecturer in Economic History, University of Aberdeen; E.M. Sigsworth, Reader in Economic History, University of York; J.M. Blackman, Lecturer in Economic History, University of Hull; P. Head, Principal Planning Officer, Staffordshire County Council; S.B. Saul, Professor Economic History, University of Edinburgh; I.C.R. Byatt, Lecturer in Economics, London School of Economic and Political Science; H.W. Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Aberdeen; T.C. Barker, Professor of Economic History, University of Kent; Derek H. Aldcroft, Lecturer in Economic History, University of Glasgow, who edits the volume.
Heritage
Based in Glasgow and Toronto and later Hamilton, the trading business of Peter and Isaac Buchanan became one of Canada's largest. The crash of 1857, which abruptly ended an Upper Canadian boom, brought its growth to a halt, and increasing financial problems led to its failure in 1867 and gain in 1872. This history of success and failure reveals much about the Anglo-Canadian trading system and the Upper Canadian economy of the period. The Buchanans' timing was excellent in 1834 they began operations in Glasgow and Toronto, early in the prolonged era of growth which by the mid-1850s had transformed Upper Canada from a frontier wilderness to a relatively developed agricultural society. In 1840 they added a large branch in Hamilton. Over the years a number of new partners were admitted, and branches were established in Montreal, New York, Liverpool, and London (Canada West). By 1845 the firm dealt in all the major categories of the colony's imports. By 1856 Peter's and Isaac's initial capital had increased sixteen fold, and the total capital of all partners exceeded 瞿360,000.The business's rapid rise indicates something of the processes, extent, and timing of Upper Canadian business and economic development. It also exemplifies the workings of the British export trade, notably Glasgow's role, and it clearly illustrates the significance of the metropolitan rivalries of the era. The workings of the international credit system are central to the story. And its failure is equally indicative of the changes in the commercial environment after the boom years.The Buchanans were also significant historical figures. Isaac Buchanan is well known for his career in politics and his many writings on economic issues. His brother played a vital role in promoting the Great Western Railroad of Canada in Britain. Drawing on the voluminous Buchanan Papers in the Public Archives of Canada, this book illuminates a key period in Canada's economic and historical development.
Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions
This book presents a comparative analysis of Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions (CBMA) in terms of competitive framework and procedures between India and the United States of America.
