Search results for ""edward elgar publishing ltd""

Given the past decade of abuse of shareholder rights, corporate governance is essential for Russia's future. In this comprehensive volume, an international group of contributors - academics, corporate executives, government officials, policymakers, specialists from nongovernmental organizations, and legal experts - examine the crucial role of corporate governance as well as the external institutions and forces that affect it. Offering coverage from numerous perspectives, the contributors explore external and institutional influences on corporate governance, its workings within corporations, and the relationships between boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and the government. Case studies of three major companies illustrate the challenges and opportunities involved in creating sound practices. The concluding section provides a summary of the current situation and discusses implications for the future of Russia's corporate governance.A valuable source of information, Corporate Governance in Russia is a must-read for business people, government officials, academic researchers, students, and all those interested in Russia and what the future holds.

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Latin American countries have now privatized a large number of their utility industries and make more use of market approaches to delivery through networks. Privatization has major consequences for efficiency, long-term growth, consumer welfare and income distribution but insufficient attention has been paid to the direct effect on consumers of regulation and the introduction of competition. This book assesses how reform processes can be improved, particularly in the light of experience in some Latin American and European countries. The authors address the question of infrastructure reforms in a novel way by focusing on the impact which they can have on consumers through the prices paid by different groups and on their access to the networks. They analyse original material from four Latin American countries - Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru - and two European countries - Spain and the UK. Access is especially relevant when considering immature systems which have not yet extended to cover the majority of the population, as is the case in many Latin American countries. The authors also address the widespread impact of privatization on the economy (via macroeconomic influences) and the more general issues of subsidies and regulation which are endemic to these industries. The book focuses on the reform of four sectors: telecommunications, electricity, gas, and water and sanitation.Academics, students, practitioners and policymakers specialising in economics, development and institutional reform will value the book's unique focus on the consumer experience of utility privatization and regulation, complemented by the rigorous case study analysis of the effects on prices and access.

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This authoritative book comprises key papers written on exchange rate economics by the eminent scholar Ronald MacDonald.Each of the highly focused chapters discusses the important issues that his research has pursued in this area. The papers are organised under four headings: monetary fundamentals and exchange rate forecasting; equilibrium exchange rate; expectations formation news and risk; and the economics of fixed exchange rates and credibility issues. Among the key findings, Ronald MacDonald concludes that it is possible to successfully forecast currencies in an out of sample context using macroeconomic fundamentals. Additionally, from a practitioner's perspective, well-founded and useful measures of an equilibrium exchange rate can be calculated once violations of the purchasing power parity concept are recognised.This essential book contains a number of academic orientated papers that postgraduate students and academics will find invaluable for their research. Practitioners in the financial sector will also be extremely interested in the chapters on exchange rate forecasting and issues relating to equilibrium exchange rates.

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The issue of electricity reform has been on the agenda in Europe for a decade and remains a high priority for policymakers looking to the future. However, the performances of new electricity markets are still not clear and arouse significant controversy. This book focuses on the diversity of electricity reforms in Western Europe, drawing evidence from ten European Union memberstates plus Norway and Switzerland as associate members. The contributors analyse the various ways of introducing competition in the European electricity industries, and consider both the strategies of electricity companies and their behaviour in electricity marketplaces. They also offer an explanation of the differences of reforms by the institutions and the industrial structures of each country which shape the types of marketrules, industrial restructuring and public service regulations which have been adopted.As a whole, this volume will attract scholars, PhD and post-graduate students, notably those interested in energy economics, comparative institutional economics and applied industrial economics. European and non-European energy companies or regulatory authorities looking for an independent and analytical overview of European electricity markets will also find this book of great interest.

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This authoritative new collection includes the most important published articles on the normative and positive branches of constitutional political economy.It contains sections on the ideas and concepts of constitutions, on the process of creating and amending them, a variety of papers on both the horizontal as well as the vertical separation of powers, and a final section on the relevance of constitutions for economic outcomes. The editor has written an authoritative introduction which contains a broad bibliography on all aspects of constitutional political economy.This two-volume set will be especially welcome in the field of constitutional political economy since it is a research area which crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. It will be useful to those teaching a course in constitutional political economy as well as economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and political philosophers doing research in this area.

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Financial incentives play an important role in the behaviour of public institutions of higher education. Incentive-Based Budgeting Systems in Public Universities examines alternative uses of these financial incentives, and reviews the consequences of their implementation.The contributors to the book explore diverse areas including: faculty behaviour in an incentive-based environment effects on teaching, evaluation of decentralized approaches to budgeting efficiency implications at the state level the ramifications of revenue flux on institutional behaviour. Case studies from the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan and Indiana University are also presented, and the volume concludes with recommendations regarding possible implementation strategies. The first to analyse the implementation of various permutations of incentive based budgeting in public institutions of higher education, this book will be of enormous interest to policy makers, trustees, administrators and faculty members of these institutions. It will also appeal to those involved in higher education programmes offering courses in the economics and finance of colleges and universities.

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John Scott develops, describes, and uses new primary data about US industrial firms' research and development (R&D) investments to create innovative products and processes that provide goods and services without the by-product of pollution. New knowledge about environmental R&D is provided by original surveys of industry from 1993 and 2001. The R&D and other firm data are juxtaposed with US Census industry data and with US Environmental Protection Agency data about industrial toxic releases. This book presents hypothesis tests that provide evidence supporting the use of public policies - described in the book - to stimulate industry to use its creative powers to improve environmental performance.Economists and policy makers in the areas of industrial organization, technological change, the economics of R&D and the environment including policy toward R&D and technology; as well as corporate officers of R&D and environmental affairs will find this volume indispensable.

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The economic system of 'high-growth-period' Japan was characterized by various properties such as its unique banking system, industrial policy and lifetime employment. Juro Teranishi argues that since the 'bubble period' and the subsequent severe downturn of the economy during the 1990s, Japan's economic system has been undergoing extensive changes. This book is informed by a historical evaluation of the 'high-growth-period' economic system in comparison with the preceding Meiji-Taishô economic system, set within a framework incorporating the role of the government and the private sector economic system as well as the government-private sector interface. Factors are identified that determined the emergence of the Japanese economic system, and the nature of, and reasons for, its transformation. Juro Teranishi reveals how the 'high-growth-period' economic system emerged because of the failure of the Meiji-Taishô economic system to adapt to changes in exogenous conditions, and that it is now obliged to change in order to accommodate those changes that took place during the 1990s. The book also includes a valuable evaluation of the performance of the Japanese economic system in terms of not only the growth of GDP, but also income distribution.Juro Teranishi's book will appeal to scholars and students of the Japanese economy, institutional and financial economics, and corporate governance.

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Higher employment, economic growth and innovation are fundamental objectives of modern economies. One effective means of attaining these goals is the development of successful entrepreneurs, and this book aims to provide a deeper, research-based understanding of the factors influencing successful entrepreneurship. Mirjam van Praag compares and contrasts the economic theory of entrepreneurship with determinants of successful entrepreneurship derived from empirical evidence, in an attempt to discover what makes for an accomplished entrepreneur.The author's state-of-the-art historical, theoretical and empirical research on successful entrepreneurship - all from an explicit economic perspective - comprehensively addresses questions such as: 'What are the factors that influence individuals' decisions to start a business venture as opposed to working as an employee?' and 'What are the individual characteristics that make one successful as an entrepreneur?' thereby supporting or dispelling various existing myths. Individual factors contributing to the success of entrepreneurs that are considered include, amongst others, human capital, financial capital and psychological traits. The importance of such factors for the various phases of entrepreneurship, including start-up, delivery and performance is also measured.Providing recommendations that aim to promote successful entrepreneurship, this unique book will be of great importance to a wide-ranging audience, including academics with an interest in economics, social science and business studies. Policymakers, capital suppliers, business consultants and trainers and, of course, potential entrepreneurs themselves will also find the book invaluable.

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EMU is a completely new policy regime which has significant economic implications and which, it is hoped, will ultimately enhance the role of Europe on the world stage. EMU and Economic Policy in Europe takes stock of the initial experiences of EMU and assesses the challenges which will have to be addressed in the early years of its existence to ensure its long-term objectives are successfully achieved.Bringing together leading scholars and policymakers, the book considers some of the most pertinent and significant issues surrounding the euro from a variety of different perspectives. These include the behaviour of monetary and fiscal authorities, the implications for policy co-ordination, the impact of the euro on financial markets and the consequences of EU enlargement.The distinguished array of authors have produced a comprehensive and balanced assessment of the initial economic and policy challenges facing EMU. European policymakers, financial economists and anyone with an interest in the process of European integration will benefit from reading this accomplished book.

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The notion and interpretation of path dependence have been discussed and utilized in various social sciences during the last two decades. This innovative book provides significant new insights onto how the different applications of path dependence have developed and evolved.The authors suggest that there has been a definite evolution from applications of path dependence in the history of technology towards other fields of social science. They also discuss the various definitions of path dependence (strong or weak) and explore the potential applications of path dependence in new areas such as political economy and economic geography.With new perspectives on how the debate surrounding path dependence has evolved, this book will strongly appeal to postgraduate students and scholars of economic history, economic geography, political science and business studies.

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This major Handbook comprehensively surveys the rapidly growing field of the economics of education. It is unique in that it comprises original contributions on an exceptional range of topics from a review of human capital, signalling and screening models, to consideration of issues such as educational externalities and economic growth, funding models, determinants of educational success, the educational production function, educational standards and efficiency measurement. Labour market issues such as the market for teachers and the transition of students from school to work are also explored.The International Handbook on the Economics of Education will be warmly welcomed by academic economists, educational researchers and practitioners in educational management as well as policymakers. Comprising specially commissioned articles, the Handbook will become indispensable reference for this ever topical field of study.

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There is a long-standing difference amongst public economists between those who think that collective choice must be formally acknowledged, and those who derive their policy recommendations from a social planning framework in which politics plays no role. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a meaningful dialogue between these two groups, in the belief that the future of both political economy and of normative public finance lies somewhere between the two approaches.Some of the specific questions addressed in the book include: does public finance need political economy? Should collective choice play a role in the standard of reference used in normative public finance? What is a 'failure' in a non-market or policy process? And what have we learned about the theory and practice of public finance from three decades of empirical research on public choice? The book also provides a practitioner's view of the political economy of redistribution. The distinguished list of authors, many of whom are pre-eminent in their fields, includes Robin Boadway, Geoffrey Brennan, Albert Breton, AnIbal Cavaco Silva, Walter Hettich, Gebhard Kirchgassner, Dennis Mueller, William Niskanen, Hirofumi Shibata, Eugene Smolensky, Heinrich Ursprung, Frans van Winden, Stanley Winer and Donald Wittman.The importance of political economy to any understanding of why public policy evolves as it does is now widely accepted by public finance scholars and practitioners. This book goes a step further by considering the role of collective choice in defining what constitutes 'good' or 'better' policy. It will be an essential companion for all scholars of public finance and political economy.

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This ambitious book seeks both to revive and revise the idea of 'functional finance'. Followers of this doctrine believe that government budgets should concentrate solely on their macroeconomic impact on the economy, rather than reflecting a concern for sound finance and budgetary discipline.Reinventing Functional Finance examines the origins of this idea and then considers it in a modern context. The authors explore the concept of NAIRU and argue that modern economies can operate at the level of full employment without provoking unmanageable inflation. They also contend that budget deficits do not have the deleterious effects commonly ascribed to them; the belief that they do rests on a misunderstanding of modern money. In this context, they highlight the relevance of Abba Lerner's famous dictum, 'money is a creature of the State'. The authors also debate the merits of various proposals for 'Employer of Last Resort' programs, which combine automatic stabilizers with the buffer stock principle. The book boasts an array of eminent contributors which includes, amongst others, James Duesenberry, Robert Eisner, Robert Heilbroner, Richard Musgrave, Edward Nell and Randall Wray.Financial economists, politicians, policymakers and bankers will welcome this provocative and refreshing book which challenges established economic thinking.

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The processes of globalisation and increased economic regionalism have had profound, often destabilising, effects on modern economic and financial systems. In recognition of this fact, the editors of this fine book have collected together a diverse range of heterodox ideas surrounding the complex relationships and interactions between globalisation, regionalism and economic activity.The book promotes real-world economic issues and explores them without adopting any particular methodological, ideological or theoretical agenda. A number of influential economists explore the inter-relationships between globalisation, regionalism, finance, economic growth and development from a global perspective. Amongst other topics, the book includes comprehensive discussions on fixed versus flexible exchange rates; international liquidity; the WTO dispute settlement system; the eastward expansion of the European Union; crowding-out in export led growth; demand and supply in the New Economy; the national origin of financial liberalisation in the US; and the relationship between savings and investment. The range and depth of analysis makes this book a timely and useful contribution to current policy debates. Academics, students and scholars with an interest in globalisation, international economics and macroeconomics will do well to read this eclectic and stimulating volume.

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This book opens a fresh chapter in the debate on local enterprise clusters and their strategies for upgrading in the global economy. The authors employ a novel conceptual framework in their research on industrial clusters in Europe, Latin America and Asia and provide new perspectives and insights for researchers and policymakers alike.The debate on local upgrading capacity is torn between two lines of thinking: those who believe that local relationships between enterprises and institutions are key to upgrading, and those who argue that the spaces for upgrading are defined by the sourcing strategies of global buyers. From this debate a number of important questions arise: how feasible is it to develop local upgrading strategies? Can local policy networks make a difference, or do global forces undermine them? Do global quality and labour standards marginalise developing country producers or do they help them to upgrade? To answer these questions, the book brings together theoretical and empirical research on local and regional clusters, global value chains and global standards, using case studies from developed and developing countries. The authors provide a new understanding of how global and local governance interact, highlighting power and inequality in global chains but also identifying scope for local action.By showing how and why insertion in global value chains can accelerate or inhibit local upgrading, this book represents a significant contribution to the academic and political debate on globalization. It will be essential reading for all students, academics and researchers interested in global political economy, global and local governance structures, economic geography and innovation studies.

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The development of a European Port Policy is widely recognised as a critical component of the Common EU Transport Policy, and has been the focus of attention since the early 1990s. A coherent common EU wide port policy has not yet been achieved, but the authors of this book argue that it has a major role to play in European integration and that its significance in this context is set to increase. European Union Port Policy assesses the progress that has been made towards a comprehensive policy framework, reviewing the impact of both historical and contemporary policy initiatives - such as the recent 'port package' - before forecasting expected developments in policy making and the prospects of successfully achieving a single port policy.This book offers a unique review of port policy in the EU and will appeal to all those in academic and policy circles with an interest in both transport and European integration.

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Since the 1940s, development thinking has been the subject of fierce debate and continual evolution. The authors of this book trace the ideas that have driven changing approaches to development, focusing also on the Prebisch-Singer Thesis, which seeks to explain the widening gaps between rich and poor nations, caused by unequal distribution of trade benefits. They discuss both aid during and after the cold war, and the rise and subsequent liberalisation crisis of the Asian 'Tiger Economies'.The Economic North-South Divide goes on to explore the structural roots of the debt crisis and considers the impact of debt management on North-South economic relations, exposing certain double standards that tilt global markets further against the South. Encouraged by recent successful opposition to neoliberalism, the authors finally propose ideas for a world where people seem to matter. This book is a welcome addition to the debate and will appeal to anyone interested in economic development and history.

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Commenting on the quality of the contributors when opening the conference on which these books are based, the former Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Edward George, said 'I cannot remember ever before having had such a galaxy of academic economist and central banking superstars gathered together under one roof!''Monetary History, Exchange Rates and Financial Markets is an impressive collection of original papers in honour of Charles Goodhart's outstanding contribution to monetary economics and policy. Its contributors - eminent international academics, central bankers and financial market regulators - provide an insight into an extensive set of issues including: the role of the history of economic thought in modern macroeconomics Charles Goodhart's contribution to British monetary history lessons from the history of financial crises customer trades and extreme events in foreign exchange markets trading activity, volatility and liquidity in foreign exchange markets competition, stability and financial regulation. Charles Goodhart has written extensively on many of these topics and has become synonymous with his field; the chapters within this book offer a summary of current thinking on his own research subjects and include perspectives on controversies surrounding them. Integrating clarity of economic thinking with the practicalities of policy, this arresting book will be invaluable to economists, central bankers and students of monetary economics. The companion volume examines central banking, monetary theory and practice.

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Recent years have seen the development of new theories of market failure based on asymmetric information and network effects. According to the new paradigm, we can expect substantial failure in the markets for labor, credit, insurance, software, new technologies and even used cars, to give but a few examples. This volume brings together the key papers on the subject, including classic papers by Joseph Stiglitz, George Akerlof and Paul David.The book provides powerful theoretical and empirical rebuttals challenging the assumptions of these new models and questioning the usual policy conclusions. It goes on to demonstrate how an examination of real markets and careful experimental studies are unable to verify the new theories. New frontiers for research are also suggested.The first systematic analysis of these important new theories, Market Failure or Success is required reading for all who seek to better understand one of the most exciting debates in economics today.

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Drawing on the biophysical sciences, public policy, geography, economics, exploratory research and the behavioural sciences, this book offers reviews and prescriptions for the future of ecological economics, placing particular emphasis on complex sustainability problems.The book is divided into three broad parts: challenges and reviews, reorientations and openings, and frameworks and applications. To begin, the authors illustrate the limitations of ecological economics by highlighting the lack of theory and method, the need for greater interdisciplinary co-operation and the domination by economists from developed nations. They move on to present strategies to address these shortcomings by focusing on interdisciplinary methods and their theoretical basis, discussing the future prospects for ecological economics, and addressing a host of ecological economic issues from a variety of natural and social science perspectives. They aim to challenge the notion of ecological economics by addressing 'what it is', and asking 'what it could be'.The book expands current thinking on ecological economics by exploring existing avenues for integrative and interdisciplinary research and discovering new overlaps with a range of other disciplines. It will appeal to ecological and environmental economists, and academics and researchers of the social sciences, particularly environmental science and geography.

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There is a long-standing difference amongst public economists between those who think that collective choice must be formally acknowledged, and those who derive their policy recommendations from a social planning framework in which politics plays no role. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a meaningful dialogue between these two groups, in the belief that the future of both political economy and of normative public finance lies somewhere between the two approaches.Some of the specific questions addressed in the book include: does public finance need political economy? Should collective choice play a role in the standard of reference used in normative public finance? What is a 'failure' in a non-market or policy process? And what have we learned about the theory and practice of public finance from three decades of empirical research on public choice? The book also provides a practitioner's view of the political economy of redistribution. The distinguished list of authors, many of whom are pre-eminent in their fields, includes Robin Boadway, Geoffrey Brennan, Albert Breton, AnIbal Cavaco Silva, Walter Hettich, Gebhard Kirchgassner, Dennis Mueller, William Niskanen, Hirofumi Shibata, Eugene Smolensky, Heinrich Ursprung, Frans van Winden, Stanley Winer and Donald Wittman.The importance of political economy to any understanding of why public policy evolves as it does is now widely accepted by public finance scholars and practitioners. This book goes a step further by considering the role of collective choice in defining what constitutes 'good' or 'better' policy. It will be an essential companion for all scholars of public finance and political economy.

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In light of the recent and ongoing surge of interest in Alfred Marshall's work, this new and original reference volume fills a gap in the literature through a detailed examination of his thought and of his contributions to economics and social science.The Companion places Alfred Marshall's ideas in their historical context, highlighting the many streams of social research originating from them. The contributors form a remarkable cast of leading experts, covering a spectrum of Marshallian themes and issues, including: his life and work background and influences scope and methodology of economics economic analysis - including distribution theory, industrial economics and money social and political issues relations with his contemporaries the Marshallian tradition relevance to contemporary economics. This comprehensive and multidisciplinary Companion illustrates the relevance of Marshall to present-day economic reality and as such will prove an invaluable reference tool for general economists and a wide ranging audience: historians of economic thought; economic, political and cultural historians; industrial, regional and development economists; economists interested in institutional, cognitive and evolutionary economics.

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Incentives to Improve Education identifies three categories of incentives: rewards, (financial rewards for teachers), competition (educational choice, often in the form of payment for education by voucher) and threats (introduction of external standards and accountability for performance).Using new institutional economics as a basis, Robert McMeekin develops a theoretical framework in which micro-level institutions - the 'rules of the game' - within school organizations influence the effort and the performance of teachers, students and other members of school communities. This model is used to analyze alternative approaches within each category of incentives (for example, merit pay for individual teachers versus merit awards to whole schools) and the reasons why some are more effective than others. The book argues that an incentive's impact on schools depends on how it influences the institutional climate within the school. Contracting in schools and networks of schools are also explored.Drawing on a body of economic thought - rarely applied in education studies - that explains how and why different approaches to providing incentives work, this book will be invaluable to economists, practitioners and others with an interest in educational policy and governance and in improving school performance.

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Human Capital Over the Life Cycle synthesises comparative research on the processes of human capital formation in the areas of education and training in Europe, in relation to the labour market. The book proposes that one of the most important challenges faced by Europe today is to understand the link between education and training on the one hand and economic and social inequality on the other. The authors focus the analysis on three main aspects of the links between education and social inequality: educational inequality, differences in access to labour markets and differences in lifelong earnings and training. Almost all the stages in the life cycle are tracked from early childhood to stages late in the working life: firstly the characteristics and effects of schooling systems, then the transitions from school to work and, finally, human capital and the working career. Academics and researchers of European studies, labour economics and the economics of education will all find this novel and analytically sound book of interest, as will sociologists and policymakers in Europe.

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Microsimulation Modelling of Taxation and the Labour Market reports new research on behavioural microsimulation modelling of tax and transfer systems. Its aims are twofold. Firstly, the book discusses the rationale for the basic modelling approach adopted and provides information on econometric methods used to estimate behavioural relationships. Secondly, it describes the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS) in detail, explaining its main features, installation and use.After providing a broad review of tax modelling, the authors review alternative approaches to the analysis of labour supply behaviour, discuss the main components of behavioural microsimulation models and present econometric results concerning wage functions and preferences. They go on to provide a detailed description of MITTS, which was constructed by the authors in order to examine the implications of tax reforms in Australia. Microsimulation Modelling of Taxation and the Labour Market will appeal to those with a special interest in the analysis of tax and transfer systems and labour supply behaviour.

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The quality of ecosystems is affected by the actions of different stakeholders who use them in a variety of ways. In order to understand this complex relationship between humans and nature, it is vital to understand the complexity of the interacting agents. The authors in this book attempt to do this by applying multi-agent systems to the problems of ecosystem management. The multi-agent approach to ecosystem management is a relatively new and rapidly developing field which takes a formal computational approach towards the interaction of humans with their environment. The authors highlight some of the promising new methodologies which are emerging in the field from disciplines such as computer science and computational social science. They move on to address a number of important topics including diffusion processes, common-pool resources, land use change and the participatory use of models, in an attempt to solve contemporary management issues. They clearly demonstrate the potential utility of multi-agent systems in the context of theoretical problems and practical case studies. This book provides a state-of-the-art review of the theory and application of multi-agent systems for ecosystem management. It will prove indispensable for ecological economists, natural resource and social scientists, and policymakers. It will also appeal to students and scholars who are interested in modelling the human dimensions of global environmental change.

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Mainstream financial economics has largely ignored the complex cognitive and motivational factors that guide investor trading decisions and that influence the structure and dynamics of world equity markets. Research shows, however, that investor psychology is reliably linked to predictable momentum and reversals in stock prices and, more generally, to stock market bubbles. The first volume reviews the scientific debate between leading behavioral scientists and proponents of rational markets and rational economic man. It also summarizes key elements of a new psychological theory of stock prices with special emphasis on the formation of investor beliefs and the quality of judgment.The articles in the second Volume support the behavioral approach with international evidence collected from many sources. Major anomalies in financial decision-making and in the behavior of equity markets are interpreted in the context of new experimental, empirical, and theoretical research.

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The literature on nonprofit organizations can be said to have developed in three waves. The first wave asserted some plausible objectives for a nonprofit organization possessing monopoly power and examined the subsequent implications for organizational behaviour; the second looked more broadly at the role of nonprofit organizations in a wider economy as they compete or collaborate with for-profit firms and government agencies; the third wave began the development of integrated theories in which the objectives of nonprofit organizations emerge endogenously within an environment potentially containing organizations from other sectors. The Economics of Nonprofit Enterprises brings together some of the most important previously published articles which investigate and elucidate these phases.Richard Steinberg has written an authoritative new introduction which provides an interesting overview of the subject and points the way for future research.

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This major two-volume collection presents a comprehensive overview of the scholarly literature exploring the emergence, functioning and forms of networks, focusing on their role in the economy. The collection draws from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds to combine key writings that have defined the field with more recent contributions in emerging areas of network research.Volume I introduces networks as a distinctive governance structure. The collection explores critical antecedents and social exchange conditions of networks such as trust, reputation, power, and cohesion and also examines the vulnerability of networks. Volume II features pivotal network processes and dynamics such as access, learning and innovation, mobilization and recombination, and diffusion. The collection covers the spectrum of various network forms and elucidates the key features of regional, informal, business and project networks.These insightful volumes will be an essential source of reference for students and researchers alike.

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The governance of the global environment is one of the major policy issues of the new century. Global environmental problems are increasingly important because of their impact on industrial activities, infrastructures, ecosystems, natural resources, biodiversity and human health. These problems can be managed and solved only through international co-operation, policy co-ordination, voluntary, widespread and equitable participation in the decision making process.This authoritative new collection analyses these issues from several different viewpoints. Political scientists, economists and lawyers provide ideas and analytical frameworks to deal with global environmental problems. Applications to climate changes, biodiversity, acid rains and ozone layer depletion are also discussed, thus providing inputs to both academic researchers and policymakers.

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This book offers a timely and critical evaluation of the Chicago School approach to antitrust law. Recent judgements by the United States Supreme Court (in cases such as Kodak) and the debate surrounding the Microsoft monopoly have led to the view that antitrust has entered the post-Chicago era, in which previous immoderations are tempered, and more refined and accurate analyses take precedence. This claim is made at a time when European competition policy is gradually embracing an economics-based approach. The authors discuss the economic foundations of competition policy and the different ways in which both American and European competition law does - or does not - take account of economic insights. Although the book makes no claim to provide a definitive answer to the host of questions arising from the complexities of antitrust, it does offer an important contribution to a better understanding of the many 'interfaces' between economic thinking and sound legal policy.More than 20 years on from the initial successes of the Chicago School, this book provides a timely appraisal of developments in antitrust law. It will be an enlightening and challenging read for a host of academics, practitioners and policymakers including industrial and political economists, lawyers, regulators and corporate strategists.

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This book addresses the role of cooperation, networks and institutions in the context of regional innovation systems. It emphasises the importance of these factors in the emergence of local innovation systems, using detailed examples of clusters which have reached different stages of maturity. The authors address the topic from an empirical, theoretical and political perspective, and highlight the local mechanisms which are involved in the development of innovation systems. They offer a comprehensive overview of different approaches in the field and present numerous case studies which stress the influence of networks and local institutions. Significantly, they also introduce several new approaches to regional innovation systems, including contributions which explicitly discuss the design and potential of policy measures to promote regional development. The policy recommendations are based on sound theorising which, in turn, is based on extensive empirical research.This book is a valuable addition to a complex and growing literature which offers new perspectives and insights on cooperation, networks and institutions, and their role in the development of local systems of innovation. The combination of empirical, theoretical and policy-oriented approaches will ensure this book is essential reading for academics and policymakers in the fields of regional economics, innovation research and economic geography.

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The Elgar Companion to Economics and Philosophy aims to demonstrate exactly how these two important areas have always been linked, and to illustrate the key areas of overlap. The Companion is divided into distinct parts, each of which highlights a leading area of scholarly concern: political economy conceived as social philosophy; the methodology and epistemology of economics; and social ontology and the ontology of economics. The contributors are well-known and distinguished authors from a variety of disciplines, who have been invited both to survey and to provide a personal assessment of current and prospective future states of their respective areas of philosophical interest. Academics and students who have an interest in economics and philosophy, political philosophy and the history of ideas will find this book of great appeal, as will researchers working in the field and readers interested in the nature of the discipline of economics.

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The main theme of this study is the political economy of policy reform in less developed countries and post-socialist countries. Given the complexity of economic development and transition, Joachim Ahrens views failures in policy reform, poor public sector management, rent-seeking, corruption, and over-centralization as systematic, though not exclusive, instances of institutional failure. This interdisciplinary study looks for ways of constructing effective market-enhancing governance structures that provide appropriate incentive systems to cope with such failures. No blueprint is offered, but the book provides a conceptual governance framework that can be applied in a comparative way to analyze economic, political, and social obstacles to policy and institutional reform. The concept is not only used to analyze the politico-institutional foundation of policy reform in East Asia and Eastern Europe, but it also allows to elaborate country specific strategies to craft institutional safeguards that help overcome impediments to development and transition.This innovative book, which overcomes the conventional perspective of a government-market dichotomy, will be of interest to researchers, students, policymakers and all those concerned with the impact of the dialectic interaction between political and economic forces on economic development.

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Productivity growth has long been recognised by both economists and non-economists as being necessary for all economies aspiring to raise their standard of living. Thus, Renuka Mahadevan aims to highlight the conceptual differences, advantages and disadvantages of the various total factor productivity (TFP) measures and suggests processes and strategies for choosing the best technique to draw up policies for sustainable growth. Empirical results from six case studies are presented, and the analysis of the selected Asia Pacific economies is not only informative but also allows for variety in issues concerning productivity analysis. Consequently, policy measures based on each of the economies' experiences are carefully measured out in relation to various aspects such as trade liberalisation, industrial policy and other microeconomic and macroeconomic policies.The nature of the applied work in the book is refreshing and will therefore appeal to policymakers. It is also a valuable reference material for economists and researchers in industry and government, as well as graduate students who are interested in the Asia Pacific region and in particular, in productivity growth analysis.

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This updated and fully revised second edition provides a comprehensive examination of issues of paramount importance for Southeast Asian economies including: the economic implications of the 1997 Asian crisis for both older and newer members of ASEAN the role of government and FDI in ASEAN economic growth and development trade patterns with the US, Japan and the EU and the economic implications of China's accession to the WTO for ASEAN countries the environmental consequences of industrialisation and growth the emergence of economic growth triangles and their contribution to ASEAN growth and regional cooperation the prospects and challenges of ASEAN economic cooperation before and after the crisis and the key challenges facing ASEAN member countries in the aftermath of the crisis. This is a timely and topical book. The Economies of Southeast Asia, Second Edition will continue to be a valuable and essential text for courses on Asian studies and economics, development economics and comparative economic systems in both the East and West.

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This authoritative collection brings together the most important papers in time series econometrics published since 1990. These articles cover a range of central aspects of the field, concentrating in the main on theoretical and methodological developments. Taken together, they provide an overview of the current status of research in time series econometrics, emphasising those areas that appear to have attracted most recent interest in the profession.Volume I includes sections on unit root and stationarity tests; cointegration; structural breaks; nonlinearity; and long memory. Volume II covers conditional heteroskedasticity; stochastic volatility; unobserved components; trend function analysis; prediction; seasonality; and causality.These volumes will be essential reading for all who have an interest in this rapidly advancing subject.

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The contingent valuation technique for measuring the economic value of environmental goods and services has become increasingly popular in recent years and has many advantages over other revealed or stated preference methods. It has been criticised, however, for being inconsistent with economic theory by reflecting altruistic motives and moral obligations. This book examines the role of the 'warmglow' effect (the pleasure derived from giving to good causes or being concerned about the environment) in contingent valuation studies and examines whether warmglow is an underlying force in CV responses.The author argues that if the empirical evidence suggests that warmglow is important, then its magnitude needs to be assessed in the valuation function. The ultimate goal is to disentangle the warmglow effect from the original 'willingness-to-pay' mean estimates and compute a dry estimate, free from any warmglow. The author conducts a CV application in a Portuguese natural park to test the validity of this approach. He tests the premise that the financial contribution by itself constitutes a source of well-being to the respondent and also discusses whether the warm glow component should or should not be included when formulating benefit-cost analysis and environmental policy.This innovative book will be essential reading to all students and scholars of the economics of environmental valuation.

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Service activities are now acknowledged as key players in economic development, societal change and public policy worldwide. This exciting Handbook not only contributes to ongoing conceptual debates about the nature of service-led economies and societies; it also pushes back the frontiers of current critical thinking about the role of service activities in urban and regional development and the important research agendas that remain to be addressed.Drawing on both theory and case studies, the contributors are international experts who have written original and stimulating chapters from a number of different disciplinary perspectives. Each chapter seeks to raise awareness of, and to provoke debates about, the opportunities and challenges presented by the shift to service employment.Providing a truly interdisciplinary analysis, The Handbook of Service Industries will be invaluable to scholars specializing in services research, as well as students and researchers in the areas of economics, geography, business and management, sociology, public policy and planning. The policy-making community will also find the Handbook a relevant and useful resource.

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In this important book some of the world's leading scholars in environmental economics explore the theoretical and empirical problems to be solved if policymakers are to develop accounts to capture the sustainability of economic development. The development indicators that have been used over the last half century and more, GDP and GNP, fail to record the change in the value of a nation's natural or environmental capital. The contributions to this volume consider why this is so, and what is required of genuine sustainability measures. They include both theoretical papers on the identification of sustainability measures in optimising and non-optimising economies, and empirical applications of the theory of green accounting to different sectors in developing countries. The extensive introduction surveys the state-of-the-art on natural resource accounting for economic development.The book makes a substantial contribution to the development of an important field of environmental economics. It should be read by all environment and development economists, and policymakers with a particular interest in natural resource accounting, sustainability and development.

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It is through a gradual evolution, rather than by grand design, that the somewhat fragmented economic policies of the EU now appear to be heading towards a rather more robust and coherent economic governance. EU Economic Governance and Globalization considers the following crucial question as the EU enters its final stage of institution-building; will the economic institutions of the EU push ahead to reform its rigid national economies and open them up to globalization and international competition?Focusing on telecommunications, air transportation, currency competition, taxation, eastern enlargement and transatlantic relations, the contributors to this book question whether EU standards, regulatory regimes, and policies are flexible enough to bring about a dynamic and open economy.This book will be of interest to scholars of European and regional studies and international political economy, as well as policy analysts and policymakers.

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Managing for sustainable development has become increasingly accepted worldwide by corporate, public, and non-profit organizations as vital to the continued existence and development of both these organizations and their natural and social environments. This collection of original papers provides various perspectives on sustainable management practices, particularly as practiced by large corporations. The ten studies in this volume represent the latest theoretical and empirical research in the field of organizations and the natural environment. The contributors present a range of unique perspectives on issues including the impact of globalization on sustainability, cross-cultural comparisons of the impact of institutional contexts on environmental practices of Japanese and Chinese firms, comparisons of voluntary environmental initiatives undertaken by public and private sector organizations, processes of organizational change in response to stakeholder pressures, the transfer of environmental capabilities during mergers and acquisitions, why some companies keep the environmentally friendly features of their products secret, and the influence of emissions and health-impacts information on attitudes toward the environment. This volume opens and closes with two essays that comprehensively review the state of research in organizations and the natural environment and suggest directions for future researchers. This insightful book presents studies from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives: Human Resources Management, Strategy, Operations Management, Accounting, International Business, Marketing, and Development. It represents the latest state of knowledge in organizations and the natural environment and provides interesting perspectives for academics, environmental consultants as well as environmental managers from business, the public sector, NGOs, international development institutions, and government.

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The management of natural resources located on private lands often involves a perceived conflict between the mix of private and public benefits they produce. This book is focused on one such issue: the design of policy relating to the production of wetland outputs in order to maximize private and social welfare. The authors first address the welfare impacts of alternative wetland management strategies on the wider community. They then concentrate on privately owned wetlands in Australia and find that they generate substantial public benefits. Furthermore, they are able to identify cost-effective avenues to increase these benefits. The authors then turn their attention to the integration of policy costs in decision-making and the implications for wetland policy. They highlight the fact that policy development and implementation is a costly process and in some cases can even outweigh the net benefits available from increasing wetland production. This important new book develops theory and policy for the provision of public goods from private land, and applies this to case studies of wetlands in Australia. It will be of great interest and practical value to environmental economists and policy makers working on the theory and application of economics to policy development. It will also appeal to environmental NGOs concerned about the effective production of environmental goods.

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Karl-Goran Maler's work has been a mainstay of the frontiers of environmental economics for more than three decades. This outstanding book, in his honour, assembles some of the best minds in the economics profession to confront and resolve many of the problems affecting the husbandry of our national environments.This book investigates many of the recent advances in economics, in terms of the management of natural resources and environments. The authors also concentrate on other important issues such as control theory for non-convex economic problems, duopoly theory, game theory, local public finance, patent races and population control. In addition, they investigate the difficulties involved in constructing environmental agreements, and detail the potential benefits of marrying together the disciplines of ecology and economics. As a whole, the book effectively illustrates both the power and limitations of economics to shed light on many of today's pressing environmental issues.The diverse range of topics and exceptional quality of the authors - including contributions by Nobel Laureates Kenneth J. Arrow and Robert M. Solow - will make this book essential reading for academics and advanced level students of environmental and resource economics, as well as natural scientists with an interest in resource allocation issues.

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This forward-looking volume offers insights into the globalization of the Chinese economy and its accession to the WTO.The contributors provide updated accounts of recent developments in the Chinese economy and examines the implications of China's accession for the rest of the world. Firstly, the volume offers an overview of possible changes in industrial policies and analyzes new developments in some important sectors, including agriculture, telecommunications and automobiles. It addresses the key concerns in China regarding its entry into the WTO, such as whether the WTO membership will cause massive unemployment and/or exacerbate inequalities among regions. Finally, it evaluates the implications of increased trade and financial ties with China for the rest of the world, investigating the conditions facilitating foreign direct investment in China and assessing potential trade disputes as trade between China and the rest of the world grows. The Globalization of the Chinese Economy provides a comprehensive picture of the political, economic and social environment in China as a whole. It will be of particular interest to academics of Asian studies and international relations as well as policymakers in the US, China and other Western economies.

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The book explores the evolution, through the first half of the 20th century, of the key neoclassical concept of rationality. The analysis begins with the development of modern decision theory, covers the interwar debates over the role of perfect foresight and analyses the first game-theoretic solution concepts of von Neumann and Nash.The author's proposition is that the notion of rationality suffered a profound transformation that reduced it to a formal property of consistency. Such a transformation paralleled that of neoclassical economics as a whole from a discipline dealing with real economic processes to one investigating issues of logical consistency between mathematical relationships.Modeling Rational Agents will be of great interest to scholars of the history of economic thought and method, as well as all those working in the field of game and decision theory.

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This book examines the overall trends and labour patterns of migrants, their relationship with the state, and the impacts they have on the societies in which they work and sometimes settle. The book adopts a multidisciplinary perspective which encompasses economics, history, politics, geography, and sociology, and presents a unique body of new empirical research that forms the basis of many of the chapters.The book emphasises the growing importance and value of transnational communities and multiple identities. It covers many of the diverse migration patterns that have recently emerged - from rural out-migration in China, to international labour movements in the Asia Pacific region as a whole. The conditions of many migrant workers are far from satisfactory and this is highlighted in a number of the chapters. Settlement outcomes, when and where they occur, have major policy and social implications and are changing the ethnic composition of many countries in the region. The growth of civil society in Singapore, increased ethnic diversity in Japan and the emergence of New Zealand's multicultural population are all examples of some of the developments that host nations are having to come to terms with.This extensive book presents state-of-the-art research on migration in the Asia Pacific, specifically focusing on the economic, political and social identities of migrants, and the responses of different states to this complex issue. It will be extremely worthwhile reading for students, scholars and researchers in the social sciences, especially those with an interest in geography, demography and the theory and policy of international migration.

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