Welfare economics Books
London Publishing Partnership Why Fight Poverty?: And Why it is So Hard
Book SynopsisPoverty, and calls to end it, date back centuries. Even in prosperous modern times, despite the huge transformation of society, poverty has persisted. The challenge is getting harder, not easier, because of more recent changes in society such as the social distance between people in poverty and others, changing family structures (and our mixed views about them) and changing community patterns. The recent economic crisis seems set to leave us with a very different economy in which some may never work. This book looks back at the struggle to rid the country of poverty and asks if the struggle is worth it. What would a poverty free country be like if we could overcome the obstacles which impede progress?
£12.34
Haus Publishing Not for Patching: A Strategic Welfare Review
Book SynopsisIn his famous report of 1942, the economist and social reformer William Beveridgewrote that the war was a 'revolutionary moment in the world's history' and so a time 'forrevolutions, not for patching.' The Beveridge Report outlined the welfare state that Attlee'sgovernment would go on to implement after 1946, instituting, for the first time, a nationalsystem of benefits to protect all from 'cradle to the grave.' Since then the welfare system hasbeen patched, beset by muddled thinking and short-termism. The government spends overGBP171bn a year on welfare and yet, since the Beveridge Report, there has been no strategicreview of the system. Compare that to Defence which, with its comparatively small budgetof GBP35bn, is subject to a strategic review at least every decade. Reform of the welfare systemneed not mean dismantlement, but serious questions must be asked about how a welfarestate as we understand it remains sustainable into the 21st century.
£7.59
London Publishing Partnership Europe's Social Integration: Welfare Models and
Book SynopsisPublished in association with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), this book examines the four factors that challenge the fate of the European social model: globalization, monetary union, Eastern enlargement and digitalization. As a former EU Commissioner for Social Affairs, the author represents the rare combination of a top policy maker and a profoundly knowledgeable political economist. Andor’s book offers both first-rate analysis and imaginative ideas for the reforms needed to cope with these four factors. He leads us through the ’ups’ of post World War II policy design in the West and the vision of a post-communist regime in the Centre-East before going on to examine the EU-wide ’downs’ due to cultural neo-conservatism and the trajectory of EU macro governance. Having taken stock of some of the main threats to the social model, he goes on to highlight where common EU policy can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem - which was too often the case in the past.
£17.09
Haymarket Books The Presidents House Is Empty Volume 3 Losing and
Book Synopsis
£12.34
Springer Nature Switzerland AG The Economics of Addictive Behaviours Volume II:
Book SynopsisThis title discusses the phenomenon of alcohol abuse as a behavioural disease and the associated costs. The author details alcohol’s status as a psychoactive drug; he notes, however, that in contrast to other psychoactive drugs, alcohol has been widely culturally accepted in Western countries and legally available, except in isolated incidents for a short period of time. Joshua considers which policies are being correctly utilised so as to reduce the abuse of alcohol, and how these policies may operate on a supply and demand model. Whereas programs of prevention and treatment operate on the demand side of alcohol abuse, legislation is directed at the supply side of alcohol; that is, dealing with marketing – product, promotion, point of sales and price. This is the second title in a four volume series ‘The Economics of Addictive Behaviours’, consisting of three additional volumes on smoking, illicit drug abuse and overeating. Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. The Consumption of Alcohol World-Wide a) The Patterns of the Consumption of Alcohol b) The World-Wide Risk Factors of Alcohol Abuse 3. The Stages of Alcohol Abuse: From Initiation to Alcohol Dependence a) Living Conditions and Alcohol Abuse b) The Pathways from Initiation to Alcohol Dependence 4. The Consequences of Alcohol Abuse a) The Physiological Effects of Alcohol Abuse b) The Psycho-Social Effects of Alcohol Abuse c) The Processes of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence 5. The Prevention and Treatment of Alcohol Abuse a) Government Intervention in the Abuse of Alcohol b) The Effectiveness in the Intervention of the Abuse of Alcohol c) The Treatment of Alcohol Abuse d) The Prevention and Rehabilitation of Alcohol Abuse e) Harm Minimization as a Viable Strategy 6. Legal Remedies to Reduce the Abuse of Alcohol a) Educational Impact on the Reduction of Alcohol Abuse b) Conditions of Sales: Purchasing Outlets, Number of Locations and Density, and Hours of Opening c) Price Promotion and Discounts d) Randomized Breath Testing and Other Means to Prevent Driving Under the Influence e) Ban of Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages 7. The Market and the Social and Private Costs of Alcohol Abuse a) International Trade and Public Health b) The Social and Private Costs of Alcohol Abuse 8. Economic Remedies to Reduce Alcohol Abuse a) Elasticities and the Demand for Alcohol b) Taxation Policies to Reduce the Abuse of Alcohol 9. The Politics of Corporate and Social Responsibilities a) Corporate Social Responsibilities and Policies b) Corporate Responsibilities and Social Costs10. Conclusion
£47.49
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Welfare Economics and Second-Best Theory: A
Book SynopsisThis book examines the implications of The General Theory of Second Best for analyzing the economic efficiency of non-government conduct or government policies in an economically efficient way. It develops and legitimates an economically efficient economic-efficiency-analysis protocol with three unique characteristics: First, the protocol focuses separately on each of a wide variety of categories of economic inefficiency, many of which conventional analyses ignore. Second, it analyzes the impact of conduct or policies on each of these categories of economic inefficiency, primarily by predicting the respective conduct’s/policy’s impact on the distortion that the economy’s various Pareto imperfections generate in the profits yielded by the resource allocations associated with the individual categories of economic inefficiency—i.e., on the difference between their profitability and economic efficiency. And third, it is third-best—i.e., it instructs the analyst to execute a theoretical or empirical research project if and only if the economic-efficiency gains the project is expected to generate by increasing the accuracy of economic-efficiency conclusions exceed the predicted allocative cost of its execution and public financing. The book also uses the protocol to analyze the economic efficiency of specific policies so as to illustrate both how it differs from the protocols that most applied welfare economists continue to use and how its conclusions differ from those produced by standard analysis.Table of ContentsIntroduction to The General Theory of Second Best, Its Central Implications, and the Appropriate Way to Respond to It.- The Economics Profession’s Responses to The General Theory of Second Best: Descriptions and Critiques.- The Concept of “the Impact of a Choice (or Natural Event) on Economic Efficiency”.- “First-Best,” “Second-Best,” and “Third-Best” Definitions, Elaborations, and Other Economists’ Usages.- The Symbols for Various Pareto Imperfections, Private and Allocative Concepts, Categories of Resource-Uses, and Categories of Resource Allocations.- The Vocabulary and Symbols of Distortion Analysis.- Analyses of Various Step-Wise Monopoly Distortions.- The Various Non-Monopoly Step-Wise Private-Benefit, Private-Cost, and Profit Distortions.- Some Negative and Positive Implications of the TBLE Distortion-Analysis Protocol for Economic-Efficiency Prediction/Post-Diction.- The Approach That Would Be TBLE for a Government to Take to Economic-Efficiency Prediction/Post-diction—the Rest of the Story.- Conclusion.
£58.89
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Emergence, Entanglement, and Political Economy
Book SynopsisThis volume is intended to serve as a review of the “next generation” of political economy scholars in what can be called the “Wagnerian” tradition, which traces its roots to Buchanan and De Viti De Marco in the 1930s, who argued that any decision that results from a political entity must be the product of individual decision makers operating within some framework of formal and informal rules. To treat these decisions as if they were the product of one single mind, or even simply the additive result of several decisions, is to fundamentally misunderstand and mischaracterize the dynamics of collective action. Today, Richard Wagner is among the most prominent theorists in analyzing the institutional foundations of the economy and the organization of political decision-making. In this collection of original essays, former students schooled in this tradition offer emerging insights on public choice theory, public finance, and political economy, across a range of topics from voting behavior to entrepreneurship. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Emergence and Entanglement in a Theory of Political Economy.- Chapter 3: Swimming in a Tuxedo: A Systems Theory Approach to Understanding Politics.- Chapter 4: Complex and Entangled Public Policy: Here Be Dragons.- Chapter 5: Taxonomy of Entrepreneurship: A Means-Oriented Approach.- Chapter 6: From Taciturn to Talkative Political Economy.- Chapter 7: Entanglement and Perverse Spontaneous Orders.- Chapter 8: The Tax Code as an Emergent Phenomenon.- Chapter 9: Political Property Rights and Entangled Political Economy.- Chapter 10: The Fiscal Squeeze: Budgets between Fiscal Illusion, Fiscal Commons, and the Tyranny of Experts.- Index.
£104.49
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Beyond Economics: Happiness as a Standard in our
Book SynopsisThere is a lot of attention for happiness, but there is also a lot of confusion, about the concept and the nature of happiness. This book wants to reduce this confusion, to make the deliberations and discussions about happiness more productive. A reduction of confusion will also make it easier to assess happiness as a possible standard in our personal life and in politics. Acceptance of happiness as a standard will have positive effects. Acceptance in personal life will make individuals more critical, and less vulnerable for adversity and manipulation. Acceptance in politics will contribute to a better detection and analysis of social-economic problems. Such positive effects are important for well-being. Well-being is usually defined as ‘objective well-being’ by experts, like medical specialists or psychologists. They apply their professional standards like blood pressure or personality characteristics. Happiness, on the other hand, is ‘subjective well-being’ as experienced by the people themselves. This happiness is the appreciation of one’s own life as a whole, and this appreciation is based on standards people have adopted themselves, knowingly or unknowingly. Happiness as subjective well-being, and objective well-being as defined by experts, are complementary. It is important to asses objective and subjective well-being simultaneously, and it is incorrect to ignore one of them. Table of Contents1. Introduction: an old discussion but a new challenge!2. The concept of happiness as subjective well-being3. The measurement of happiness as an actual phenomenon 4. Dualism of happiness; the body and the mind again!5. Affective happiness, or the affective component of happiness6. Evaluative happiness, or the evaluative component of happiness7. The explainability of happiness 8. Governments and happiness9. Complications in the interpretation and valuation of happiness10. Happiness as a standard in personal life and in politics11. What if? Some policy-options with happiness as a standard12. Summary of main conclusions and discussion
£41.24
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Welfare Economics and Antitrust Policy - Vol. I:
Book SynopsisThis book is Volume I of a two-volume set on antitrust policy, analyzing the economic efficiency and moral desirability of various tests for antitrust legality, including those promulgated by US and EU antitrust law. The overall study consists of three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-8) introduces readers to the economic, moral, and legal concepts that play important roles in antitrust-policy analysis. Part II (Chapters 9-16) analyzes the impacts of eight types of conduct covered by antitrust policy and various possible government responses to such conduct in terms of economic efficiency, the securing of liberal moral rights, and the instantiation of various utilitarian, non-utilitarian-egalitarian, and mixed conceptions of the moral good. Part III (Chapters 17-18) provides detailed information on US antitrust law and EU competition law, and compares the extent to which—when correctly interpreted and applied—these two bodies of law could ensure economic efficiency, protect liberal moral rights, and instantiate various morally defensible conceptions of the moral good. This first volume contains Part I and the first two chapters of Part II of the overall study—the two chapters that focus on oligopolistic and predatory conduct of all kinds, respectively. The book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students of economics and law who are interested in welfare economics, antitrust legality and the General Theory of the Second Best.Table of ContentsPart I: Basic Concepts and Analytic Protocols.- Part II: The Morally-Relevant Effects of Specific Categories of Antitrust-Policy-Coverable Conduct and the Ability of Government to Secure Better Options.
£85.49
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Welfare Economics and Antitrust Policy — Vol. II:
Book SynopsisThis book is Volume II of a two-volume set on antitrust policy, analyzing the economic efficiency and moral desirability of various kinds of antitrust-policy-coverable conduct and various possible government responses to such conduct, including US and EU antitrust law. The overall study consists of three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-8) introduces readers to the economic, moral, and legal concepts that play important roles in antitrust-policy analysis. Part II (Chapters 9-16) analyzes the impacts of eight types of conduct covered by antitrust policy and various possible government responses to such conduct in terms of their economic efficiency, their impact on liberal moral rights, and their instantiation of various utilitarian and other egalitarian conceptions of the moral good. Part III (Chapters 17-18) provides detailed information on US antitrust law and EU competition law and compares the extent to which—when correctly interpreted and applied—these two bodies of law could increase economic efficiency, protect liberal moral rights, and instantiate various morally defensible conceptions of the moral good. This second volume contains the last 6 chapters of Part II, which focus respectively on horizontal (M&A)s, conglomerate (M&A)s, surrogates for vertical integration, vertical (M&A)s, joint ventures, and internal growth and Part III, which focuses on US antitrust law and EU competition law. The book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students of economics and law who are interested in welfare economics, antitrust policy, and The General Theory of Second Best.Table of ContentsPart II (Cont'd): The Morally-Relevant Effects of Specific Categories of Antitrust-Policy-Coverable Conduct and the Ability of Government to Secure Better Outcomes.- Part III: The Economic Efficiency, Liberal Justness, and Non-Liberal-Egalitarian Moral Desirability of U.S. Antitrust Law and E.U. Competition Law, Correctly Interpreted and Applied as a Matter of Law.
£66.49
Springer International Publishing AG Power and Responsibility: Interdisciplinary
Book SynopsisWritten by leading scholars from various disciplines, this book presents current research on topics such as public choice, game theory, and political economy. It features contributions on fundamental, methodological, and empirical issues around the concepts of power and responsibility that strive to bridge the gap between different disciplinary approaches. The contributions fall into roughly four sub-disciplines: voting and voting power, public economics and politics, economics and philosophy, as well as labor economics.On the occasion of his 75th birthday, this book is written in honor of Manfred J. Holler, an economist by training and profession whose work as a guiding light has helped advance our understanding of the interdisciplinary connections of concepts of power and responsibility. He has written many articles and books on game theory, and worked extensively on questions of labor economics, politics, and philosophy. Table of ContentsChapter 1. Instead of an introduction - Manfred on his 75th Birthday (Heinz Kurz).- Part I. Economics and Philosophy.- Chapter 2. Three Types of Dramatic Irony (Timo Airaksinen).- Chapter 3. Defence is of Much More Importance than Opulence: Adam Smith on the Political Economy of War (Heinz Kurz).- Part II. Labor Economics.- Chapter 4. Relative Absence Concerns, Positional Consumption Preferences and Working Hours (Laszlo Goerke).- Chapter 5. Power, Responsibility and Social Policy: The Impact of Basic Income in a Competitive Experimental Labor Market (Veera Jokipalo).- Part III. Voting and Voting Power.- Chapter 6. Computing the Public Good index for weighted voting games with precoalitions using dynamic programming (Jochen Staudacher).- Chapter 7. The Art and Beauty of Voting Power (Sascha Kurz).- Chapter 8. An application of power indices for the family of weighted majority games in partition function form (José Alonso Meijide).- Chapter 9. Measuring Voting Power in Complex Shareholding Structures: a Public Good Index Approach (Izabella Stach).- Chapter 10. Voting on or About God (Mario Ferrero).- Chapter 11. Probabilistic study of voting rules: A tale of two volumes (Hannu Nurmi).- Chapter 12. The Liblice Castle Story (Dušan Tříska).- Chapter 13. Lexicographic Ranking based on Minimal Winning Coalitions (Michele Aleandri).- Chapter 14. The Public Good index for games with several levels of approval in the input and output (Sascha Kurz).- Part IV. Public Economics, Politics and Responsibility.- Chapter 15. Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? (Ronald Wintrobe).- Chapter 16. Inflated expectations from democracy: Towards a systematic explanation (George Tridimas).- Chapter 17. Electoral competition, political promises and the “responsible party government” hypothesis (Benoît Le Maux).- Chapter 18. The effect of social interaction and cultural consumption on voting turnout (Marco F. Martorana).- Chapter 19. The Political Economy of Buchanan's Samaritan's dilemma (Alain Marciano).- Chapter 20. Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia – An Utopian Vision Fruitful for Africa? (Rigmar Osterkamp).- Chapter 21. When Census is an Election: A Game-theoretic Analysis of Over-reporting of Headcount (Vikas Kumar)
£151.99
De Gruyter Multidimensional Inequalities: International
Book SynopsisMultidimensional Inequalities is a deep dive into the historical contexts and contemporary realities that negatively influence society and its structures. It is often overlooked that inequality is not just about income and wealth but rather a broad spectrum of intersecting factors. This book focuses on each aspect individually, analysing its effect on welfare systems, and informs about the instruments available to reduce inequality. Table of ContentsPreliminary structure of the book (a short overview of the expected chapters) Introduction Theoretical understanding and measurement of equality/inequality - a number of issues - and not only in relation to money If one wants to discuss inequality, it is not only necessary to have normative justice considerations, where, moreover, there is often a greater consensus on when something is unjust than when a situation is equal. An overview will be given of key theoretical aspects in relation to understanding justice and inequality, as well as elements to be taken into account when inequality is to be assessed, including, for example, time horizons for measuring the degree of inequality. We will also discuss what type of inequality is being measured (for example, inequality in opportunity or resources, or whether it is inequality in measured welfare / resources. Finally, the chapter will present the most central ways inequality is measured while discussing why these are usable and why not other measurements tools that can be more precise are used in the analysis in the book. Core concepts will be defined. The chapter will also look into the issue of trickle-down economy, e.g. that if the rich becomes richer this is also the case for the poor. Equalities in opportunities – Sen’s perspective on justice and inequality Causes and explanations for inequality, for example, look at differences in the opportunities each individual has. Thus, the focus is on whether everyone basically has the same opportunities to achieve a number of things in life, including the ability to choose among a set of functioning’s. This chapter will, based on Sen's concept of capabilities, focus on whether and, if so, how such an understanding can help explain inequality. It also raises the debate that if two people have the same opportunities but use their opportunities differently and there will be ex-ante inequality then there is a societal problem. Economic inequality Central for analysis has in many years been the economic inequality between individuals and households, as well as over time. Inequality in income and wealth has been central, including not only the distribution measured more overall, but also, for example, the proportion of total income the 1% of the population are earning. The chapter provides a historical outline of developments in inequality, as well as a more detailed comparison of developments in a selection of European welfare states representing different regimes. This analysis will, to a limited extent, also include explanations, cf. chapters 10 and 11 instead. Gender inequality There has been, for some time now, a focus on gender equality, and it has been seen as more developed in the Nordic welfare states than in other types of welfare states. The chapter will present a number of indicators of inequality, but also the trends therein, as well as areas where the different gender have a better / worse position in society. This is probably illustrated by the fact that there has been a development towards greater equality, but at the same time that there are inequalities in a number of areas, for example in relation to pay and living in poverty, as well as in life-expectancy. Inequality in health care Where economic inequality is often to the disadvantage of women, the picture is different when looking at health inequality. The chapter describes through a selection of indicators the degree of health inequality in a number of welfare states. Although there are universal health systems in welfare states, there is a great difference between how long people live, what diseases they get and whether they have an experience of good health and could pay for medicine, for example. This also includes people’s own perception of whether they have a good health and differences in life-expectancy. Inequality in educational attainment The level of education is of great importance for a wide range of inequalities, which are highlighted in a number of the other chapters of the book. This chapter attempts to shed light on causes of education inequality. Here, not only must we look at basic education, but also at participation in continuing education, which, given the expected technological development, must be assumed to be increasingly important. A comparative overview of differences between countries in education inequality is also provided. Inequalities in employment and unemployment Labour markets are divided nationally as well as internationally. There are differences between who is part of the workforce and who is not, and there are differences in the risk of being unemployed. This includes variations between young and elderly, between different degrees of ethnicity. Different groups also have varying probabilities of becoming long-term unemployed. In addition, they differ in earnings in different parts of the labour market. The situation and possible causes for the development (globalization, new technology, etc.) will be included in the presentation. Ethnic inequality An ongoing discussion in recent years, partly also due to the issue of populism, has been the difference between native and non-natives position in societies. This chapter will show differences in a number of areas as indicator of that this is and has been a dimension one need to be aware of if one want’s to understand and explain the varieties in the level of inequality across countries. Democratic inequality The focus in this chapter is on who have the opportunity to make decisions about key societal issues and whether or not there is equal access to participate in societal decision-making. This is also linked to the populist discussion, which can be argued to be a type of explanation for why there are some who believe that there is an elite that decides and solely accepts their own ideas and interests. Contribute the welfare state to increase in inequality? Welfare states have been seen as a piggy-bank (Barr 2001), which allows the individual citizen to be protected against a number of social risks. This contributes to a greater degree of equality, as the individual does not have to secure against a number of social events. Thus, there is a discussion that welfare states can contribute to redistribution over a life course and between rich and poor. This redistribution can be achieved through the layout of the tax system, but also through the provision of a number of public services. These types of arguments are presented together with an analysis of whether and the degree of redistribution in various welfare states, including as far as possible development over time. The chapter will also look into the question whether everyone has the same opportunity to have consumption opportunities in a community. This obviously has a clear connection between the income and wealth of the individual person / household when looking at private consumption. But in addition, depending on the type of welfare state, there may be differences in access to public consumption, which may thus compensate for differences in access to private consumption. Finally, given the need for a welfare state also in relation to ensuring equality in access to, redistribution between rich and poor and over the life-time why do we still see such a large degree of differences among welfare states, and why no convergence seemingly is under way. What instruments are available to create a higher degree of inequality? Chapter 10 looked at whether welfare states contribute to a greater degree of equality. This chapter is followed up with a number of fundamental considerations and presentations of what instrument welfare states have if they wish to reduce inequality, including the advantages and disadvantages of choosing between different types of instruments. We look at how welfare states can be financed, as well as income transfers and public service activities. National and international possibilities This last chapter summarizes the analysis and production of inequality while focusing on both national and international opportunities to reduce inequality, including poverty. It is also proposed to include a broader perspective on the development of welfare states.
£60.75
Springer International Publishing AG Economics of Happiness
Book SynopsisThis book focuses on what makes people happy. The author explains methods for measuring subjective life satisfaction and well-being by discussing economic and sociodemographic factors, as well as the psychological, cultural and political dimensions of personal happiness. Does higher income increase happiness? Are people in rich countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries, happier than those living elsewhere? Does losing one’s job make one unhappy? What is the role of genetic endowments inherited from our parents? How important are physical and emotional health to subjective life satisfaction? Do older people tend to be happier, or younger people? Are close social relationships necessary for happiness? Do political conditions, such as respect for human rights, democracy and autonomy, play a part? How can governments contribute to the population’s happiness? This book answers these questions on the basis of extensive interdisciplinary research reflecting the current state of knowledge. The book will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the various dimensions of personal well-being beyond the happiness-prosperity connection, as well as to policymakers looking for guidance on how to improve happiness in societies.Trade Review“Frey’s book is a good piece of scholarly work and leads readers to think about new developments such as the transition to a digital economy, rarely studied topics such as war (including such sub-topics as combat flow and afterglow post-traumatic stress disorder), prison inmates, the use of happiness pills, and complicated decision-making processes (cognitive biases) and their possible effect on the happiness of individuals.” (Devrim Dumludag, Journal of Economics, Vol. 126, 2019)“The book is well structured; after having a short introduction about the concept of happiness, we are guided through all the major economic questions, namely how to measure happiness, the possible determinants of happiness, and the relation of happiness to governments, consumption, management, religion, war, television and the digital world in general.” (Adam Tamas Tuboly, Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 26 (2), 2019)
£41.24
Peter Lang AG Poverty Relief in a Mixed Economy: Theory of and
Book SynopsisThis study examines, both conceptually and empirically, the welfare mix in the activity field of poverty relief and specific shifts of this mix, i.e. changes towards privatization and marketization. In the first part of the study, the meanings of the concepts ‘welfare mix’, ‘privatization’ and ‘marketization’ are disentangled and the concepts are connected. Based on this conceptual framework, the second part of the study assesses the welfare mix in poverty relief and recent changes thereof empirically. The empirical part focuses on Austria. There, mainly two types of organizational actors, namely public agencies and nonprofits, provide poverty alleviation. Thus, only the roles and contributions of these two types of providers are examined.Table of ContentsContents: Welfare mix in the activity field of poverty relief and specific shifts of this mix – Changes towards privatization and marketization – Focus on Austria and the roles and contributions of public agencies and nonprofits in the provision of poverty alleviation.
£40.59
Peter Lang AG Poland on its Way to a Federal State?
Book SynopsisThe volume concentrates on «fiscal equalization» in theory, in Poland and in Germany. It starts with an overview on the normative concept of fiscal federalism, emphasizes special problems of fiscal equalization in transition countries, and describes in detail the legal framework and the financial flows of Poland’s fiscal equalization system. After a short overview on the «Länder» and the municipal fiscal equalization system in Germany, reforms proposals for the Polish fiscal equalization system are developed.Table of ContentsContents: Lars Ponterlitschek: The Theory of Fiscal Federalism – Lars Ponterlitschek: Fiscal Decentralization - Problems and Special Requirements for Transition Economies – Magdalena Godek/Radosław Witczak/Tomasz Uryszek: Deconcentration, Decentralization, Federalism: Terms and Definitions in the Polish Literature – Lars Ponterlitschek: Analysis and Evaluation of the Polish Fiscal System - The Task and Expenditure Side – Lars Ponterlitschek: Social Security System in Poland - Description and Analysis of the Current System – Radosław Witczak: Revenue Assignment in Poland – Tomasz Uryszek/Lars Ponterlitschek: Intergovernmental Transfers in Poland - Legal Framework – Marta Mackiewicz/Elżbieta Malinowska-Misiąg/Marcin Tomalak: The Self-Government Units in Poland Financial Data – Piotr Bury: Limitations on the Fiscal Policy of a Local Government – Andreas Kienemund: The Federal Financial Equalisation System in Germany – Wolfgang Scherf/Kai Hofmann: The Local Fiscal Constitution in Germany - An Overview – Stefan Schäfer/Ivo Bischoff: Unemployment Insurance and Micro-Level Labor Market Policy in a Federal State - Theoretical Considerations and the German Experience – Lars Ponterlitschek: Reform Proposals for the Polish Fiscal Equalization System Derived from the Theory of Fiscal Federalism – Tomasz Uryszek/Radosław Witczak: Proposals for the Improvement of the Polish Local Finance System – Wojciech Misiąg/Marcin Tomalak: Self-Government Finance Recommendations for Poland.
£45.27
Juggernaut Publication South Vs North: India’s Great Divide
Book SynopsisHe reveals how south India deals with a particularly tough set of issues â its triumphs in areas of health, education and economic growth are met with a policy regime that penalizes it; its success in population control will be met with a possible loss of political representation. How will the region manage such an assault?
£16.62
United Nations #Housing2030: effective policies for affordable
Book SynopsisThe study explores housing affordability challenges and existing policy instruments for improving housing affordability in the regions covered by UNECE and presents examples of "good practices" in improving housing affordability among countries and cities. The study focuses on four topics, namely: housing governance and regulation; access to finance and funding; access and availability of land for housing construction; and Climate-neutral housing construction and renovation
£33.96
Juggernaut Publication South vs North: India's Great Divide
Book SynopsisChildren born in south India have better chances of survival, education, and economic success compared to those born in the north. The book explores the reasons behind this disparity and the potential consequences for a centralized India.
£18.99
Amsterdam University Press Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of
Book SynopsisThis book examines how the Netherlands managed to create and maintain one of the world’s most generous and inclusive welfare systems despite having been dominated by Christian-democratic or ŸconservativeŒ, rather than socialist dominated governments, for most of the post-war period. It emphasizes that such systems have strong consequences for the distribution of income and risk among different segments of society and argues that they could consequently only emerge in countries where middle class groups were unable to utilize their key electoral and strong labor market position to mobilize against the adverse consequences of redistribution for them. By illustrating their key role in the coming about of solidaristic welfare reform in the Netherlands, the book also offers a novel view of the roles of Christian-democracy and the labor union movement in the development of modern welfare states. By highlighting how welfare reform contributed to the employment miracle of the 1990s, the book sheds new light on how countries are able to combine high levels of welfare generosity and solidarity with successful macro-economic performance.Trade Review'Oude-Nijhuis's book on the Dutch welfare state stands out as one of the most astute and comprehensive studies ever of social policy evolution in a capitalist democracy. Because of its fine-grained historical research and careful analysis, comparativists have in it a model for future research and thinking on the capitalist welfare state.' - Peter A. Swenson, BA Princeton University, Ph.D. Yale University, is Yale's C.M. Saden Professor of Political ScienceTable of ContentsLIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PREFACE Part I: HISTORY AND THEORY 1. The Dutch Welfare Puzzle 2. The Politics of Social Solidarity Part II. THE POLITICS OF WELFARE STATE EXPANSION 3. Welfare Reform in the Age of Austerity 4. Welfare State Expansion and the Confessional Preoccupation with Self-help and Personal Responsibility 5. Completing the Social Insurance System 6. Catering to the Low Paid Part III. THE POLITICS OF RETRENCHMENT 7. The Emergence of Welfare Without Work 8. Tackling the Inactivity Crisis 9. Towards an Active Welfare State 10 Population Ageing and the Need for Further Reform Part IV. CONCLUSION 11. The Political Determinants of Solidaristic Reform Notes Index
£111.15
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Rich Get Richer, The: American Wage, Wealth And
Book SynopsisInequality of wages among workers and inequality of income and wealth among families and households has been rising steadily for the past half-century in the United States and other developed economies. However, the United States stands out for having the most unequal wage and income distributions to begin with and for experiencing the fastest rise in inequality over the following decades. While this has been a long-developing situation and the subject of academic interest for some time, it is only in the last decade or so that inequality has attracted considerable public attention and become a political issue. Inequality has also become a subject of renewed interest among economists, with a growing number of scholars engaged in the development of new databases and the analysis of the causes and effects of increased inequality.This book provides an overview of the economic analysis of wage, income and wealth inequality in the United States, with a focus on this recent research. It provides the reader with an understanding of the complex causes of rising inequality, the serious consequences that make rising inequality an issue for public policy, and the potential policy actions that might be taken to slow or reverse rising inequality. The author presents an economic and statistical analysis in clear non-technical language to allow the general reader or student in an undergraduate course to learn the insights that economists have gained into the issue of inequality in advanced economies.The book contends that rising wage inequality among workers and income and wealth inequality among families reflects the complex interaction of profound changes in the US economy over the last half-century. These are not limited to economic changes like new technology, increased globalization, changes in the internal structure of firms, and the rise of new growth sectors in tech, finance, and health care. Of additional critical importance are changes in public opinion and political platforms and policies that replaced the New Deal view of the economic role of government with a pro-business, free-market philosophy that has changed labor market policy in a direction promoting increased inequality. This major change in the environment raises important questions about the efficacy of policy proposals. An additionally intriguing issue is the ultimate impact of the financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic on perceptions of and support for government policies designed to reverse the seemingly inexorable trend toward greater inequality. This book traces the evolution of inequality over time through key concept illustrations and language that is easy enough to understand, even for the general reader.
£66.50
Springer Verlag, Singapore An Essay on the Principle of Sustainable Population
Book SynopsisThis book focuses on the future of the global population and proposes revising Malthus’ Law. The United Nations estimates that the global population will top 11 billion by 2100, at which point its growth will be near an end: it will find a new equilibrium in a long demographic transition from high birth and death rates to low ones. However, the author reviews the fertility developments reported in the World Population Prospects 2017, which are near or below the replacement level in most regions, with the important exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, and warns of a possible scenario of the extinction of human society. Returning to Malthus, his Essay on the Principle of Population is critically reconsidered. Simple simulations show that exponential growth and decay are unsustainable beyond the narrow ranges of the net reproduction rate. In addition, the length of reproduction periods, which depends on women’s lifespans, plays a pivotal role. The limits of growth are given in any case, to the extent that time and space will permit.From this perspective, teleological conditions such as instinct, passion, or even natural reproductive tendencies are irrelevant and unnecessary. When the population deviates too far from the replacement level, either its shrinking or massive growth will overshoot the limits of its existence. This principle of sustainable population indicates that the demographic transition must follow a logistic curve. Using a system dynamics approach, the author constructs a simulation model based on four major loops: fertility, reproduction timing, social capital accumulation, and lifespan. Using only endogenous variables, this model successfully reproduces the historical process of the demographic transition in Japan. Thereby, it shows that the timing and periods of reproduction, maximum fertility, and maximum lifespan hold the key to sustainability. Based on these findings, the author subsequently discusses recovering replacement fertility, extending lifespans, and the demographic future of the human race. Table of Contents1. Introduction：The Sustainability of World Population.- 2. The Principle of Sustainable Population.- 3. Designing the Demographic Transition Model.- 4. Simulating the Demographic Transition.- 5 Thinking about the Demographic Future of Human Society.- 6. Epilogue：Beyond the Demographic Consideration.- References.- List of Tables and Figures.
£52.24
Springer Verlag, Singapore Insights into Chinese Agriculture
Book SynopsisThis book uses simple economic theories to explain how China's agricultural economic phenomena exists in reality. It also helps the reader to get a clear understanding of economic phenomena, insight into the "hog cycle" and "food safety," as well as other economic and social phenomena. The language of this book is not only easy to understand, but also uses ancient poetry and humor to make the subject interesting, as it speaks to the history and current situation of Chinese agriculture. It also opens a window for the people to read about agriculture. This is a unique book on agricultural science that fills an important gap in works on agricultural science and agricultural economics.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Does China Have Enough to Eat.- Chapter 2 The Problem of Food Safety.- Chapter 3 Rural Land System and Rights.- Chapter 4 Can Farming Make Money.- Chapter 5 Who Will Till the Land and How Will They Till It.
£104.49
Springer Verlag, Singapore Social Choice Theory: An Introductory Text
Book SynopsisThis introductory textbook on social choice theory makes the social choice theoretic framework and its main results, that have a direct bearing on the discourses on electoral rules and policy evaluation, accessible to a larger audience. The text is essentially self-contained. No previous knowledge of mathematical logic or relational algebra is assumed. Whatever technical prerequisites are needed, are developed in the text itself. Although the text is at an introductory level, there has been no compromise on rigor. Unlike most introductory books, the relevant proofs are not omitted; rather, they have been explained in detail. The text has a large number of examples so that the concepts and results become clear to the reader. There is a large number of exercises with full solutions provided at the end of the text, so that the reader can check her/his understanding of the material.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Elementary Logic.- Sets, Relations, Functions.- Binary Relations.- Social Choice Theoretic Framework and Arrow Impossibility Theorem.- Some Important Value-Judgments, Rules and Theorems.- Implications of Weakening of Some of Arrow Conditions.- The Method of Majority Decision: Conditions for Transitivity and Quasi-Transitivity.- Strategic Aspects.- Summary and Concluding Remarks.
£71.24
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Equality Of Opportunity: The Economics Of
Book SynopsisForeword by Eric Maskin (Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2007)This book is a collection of articles written by the two authors on the topic of equality of opportunity. All articles build on the idea that a just society should equalize the resources that determine the opportunities agents face in order to follow their goals. Resources are either external, like financial resources, or internal, like preferences or skills. The authors propose to define “equality of opportunity” as the combination of ethical principles of compensation and responsibility. The principle of compensation requires external resources to be used to compensate low-skilled agents (considering that inequalities due to skill differences are unjust). The principle of responsibility requires external resources to be allocated without regards to inequalities due to differences in preferences (considering that these inequalities are not unjust). The articles present different ways of combining the two principles in different economic contexts.The book offers many possible aspects of the analysis of equality of opportunity, ranging from axiomatic discussions in abstract compensation models, to the design of redistribution policies in concrete labor income taxation models.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Pure Compensation Problem; On Fair Compensation; Three Solutions for the Compensation Problem; On the Equivalence Between Welfarism and Equality of Opportunity; Unequal Earning Abilities and Income Redistribution; Fair Allocation with Unequal Production Skills: The No-Envy Approach to Compensation; Cooperative Production with Unequal Skills: The Solidarity Approach to Compensation; An Equal Right Solution to the Compensation-Responsibility Dilemma; Fair Social Orderings When Agents Have Unequal Production Skills; Fair Income Tax; Help the Low Skilled, or Let the Hardworking Thrive? A Study of Fairness in Optimal Income Taxation; Kolm's Tax, Tax Credit and the Flat Tax.
£102.60
Springer Social Welfare in Qatar
Book SynopsisBackground in Potential Theory.- Fundamentals of Fine Potential Theory.- Further Developments.- Fine Complex Potential Theory.
£142.49
