Search results for ""edward elgar publishing ltd""

Economic Socialization is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on how children and adolescents come to understand the economic world.The citizen of contemporary Western societies, while often lacking formal training in economics, is a skilled user and interpreter of the economy. International and interdisciplinary in scope, the chapters in this volume examine the social determinants of economic attitudes, beliefs and values, as well as opening out the concept of economic understanding to include social and macroeconomic factors. Specific issues addressed include the evolution of young people's ideas about wealth distribution, public ownership and the market, as well as the role of children as consumers and the association between economic beliefs and social class.Economic Socialization is a major contribution to economic psychology and brings together research and analysis, developing our understanding of the ways in which children learn about and engage in the economy.

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Multinational Enterprises and Trade Policy comprises a selection of Alan Rugman’s most important and influential articles on the multinational enterprise and government policy.This volume focuses on trade and investment policy as well as applications of the theory of internalization to government policy. Topics covered include: strategic trade policy, the ‘double diamond’ framework, the ‘shelter’ theory, the issue of foreign control, the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA and recent contributions on business networks and competitiveness. Special attention is given to the role of multinational enterprises in Canada, Japan and Europe.This book will be essential reading for both academics and policymakers interested in the relationships between multinational enterprises and governments. Together with its companion volume, The Theory of Multinational Enterprises, it will improve access to the work of Alan Rugman, one of the most cited scholars working on the multinational enterprise.

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Tourism is a major global industry and continues to expand at a rapid rate. This two-volume collection of key published articles provides a comprehensive and much needed overview of the economics of tourism. Many of these articles are not readily available as they have been published in a range of non-economics journals. This reflects partly the presence of specialised journals devoted to tourism and partly the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. The editor has prepared an authoritative introduction, which not only presents an overview of the contents of each volume, introducing the subject to a wider non-specialist audience, but also provides insights and critical comments.The first volume concentrates on the basic economics of tourism. It covers the nature and role of tourism economics, determinants of tourism demand and the forecasting of such demand, supply-side aspects of tourism including industrial organization and issues in managerial economics, and public finance and public economics in relation to tourism. The second volume examines wider matters such as impact analyses of tourism, international tourism, tourism in developing countries and its role in economic development, and sustainability and environmental aspects of tourism.This book is a valuable reference for researchers, students and policymakers interested in tourism economics and tourism management, as well as non-specialists seeking an introduction to the subject.

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This important new book is the first general overview of the macroeconomic nature and recent history of the Singapore economy.After discussing general features of modern Singapore's economy, government and development strategy, the authors analyse its macroeconomic history over the past three decades, as well as reviewing current macroeconomic theory regarding small, open economies. Singapore's monetary system, trade patterns, balance of payments and the nature of its exchange rate mechanism and policy are all described and analysed in the subsequent chapters which also look at its growth and cyclical experiences and provide a review of the ways economists have attempted to model the economy. The Singapore Economy integrates much previous research scattered in many sources as well as containing an extensive bibliography of references about the economy and the statistical sources used. It will be suitable for students of macroeconomics and economic development in Asia, and the general reader interested in the nature, structure and recent growth of the Singapore economy.

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This major authoritative collection prepared by leading figures from North America and Europe presents a careful selection of the most important published articles and papers on ecological economics.Ecology and economics have developed as separate disciplines throughout their recent histories in the twentieth century. A signal contribution of this important collection is that it brings these different traditions together and successfully integrates the natural and social sciences in a volume that will be indispensable to anyone interested in ecological economics.This unique volume contains both classics in the field and contemporary research and gives a coherent picture of the development of the major threads in ecological economics.This collection is a "sampler" in the transdiciplinary field of ecological economics which paints a coherent picture of the development of some of the major threads in this new endeavour. It consists of a selection of both classics in the field and contemporary research, and is intended both for formal courses in ecological economics and for interested independent readers. The book contains 43 papers divided into six sections: 1. Historical Roots and Motivations; 2. Basic Organizing Principles of Ecological Economics; 3. Material and Energy Flows in Ecological and Economic Systems: Theory and Applications; 4. Accounting for Natural Capital, Ecological Limits, and Sustainable Scale; 5. Valuation of Ecological Services; and 6. Integrated Ecological Economic Modeling and Assessment.

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The papers collected in the two volumes Nonlinear Models focus on the asymptotic theory of parameter estimators of nonlinear single equation models and systems of nonlinear models, in particular weak and strong consistency, asymptotic normality, and parameter inference, for cross-sections as well as for time series. A selection of papers on testing for, and estimation and inference under, model misspecification is also included. The models under review are parametric, hence their functional form is assured to be known up to a vector of unknown parameters, and the functional form involved is nonlinear in at least one of the parameters.The selection of earlier articles on nonlinear parametric models is extensive and, although they are not all equally influential, each has played a significant part in the development of the field. The more recent articles have been selected on the basis of their potential importance for the further development of this sphere of study.

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Local communities in all countries are increasingly aware of resource scarcity and are pressing for more say in how funds are used. Developments in Local Government Finance examines key issues for economists interested in local government and, in particular, the functioning of institutions at regional and local levels.Local government organization and finance are addressed from a variety of approaches by the authors who critically examine the current intergovernmental distribution of responsibility for service provision and revenue raising. Adopting a multilateral approach to theory and policy, this major book stresses the need for real, and not just formal, devolution and greater local accountability. The contributors highlight how instruments for financing local government and for pursuing interpersonal and geographical equity can vary considerably between countries with broadly similar systems, yet be surprisingly similar for countries with quite different institutional arrangements. Particular reference is made to emerging problems in the European Union and the experience of Switzerland, a country where fiscal federalism and tax harmonization are living together in a unique equilibrium of forces.Developments in Local Government Finance presents a major contribution to the understanding of local government and finance for both students and practitioners.

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In Government Versus the Market, Roger Middleton provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and controversial analysis of how Britain's relative economic decline from the late nineteenth century onwards generated an intense debate about the legitimate roles of government and the market. After a thorough analysis of Britain's long-run economic performance in a comparative context, which emphasizes how the problem of decline is frequently misunderstood, and an account of the long-run forces promoting and constraining government growth, he then charts how the economic role of government evolved in response to decline but produced a mix of macroeconomic and microeconomic policies which proved inadequate for the task. This major study emphasizes the institutional and political constraints to economic modernization and uses the specific characteristics of Britain's predicament, a combination of market failure and impotent state, to explain why by 1979 the burgeoning New Right were able to launch an attack upon big government. Dr Middleton then demonstrates how Britain's subsequent economic performance, while brilliantly propagandized as an economic renaissance, has in fact been lacklustre and why the Conservatives' economic strategy failed to address the underlying problems of decline and to reduce the size of the public sector. Government versus the Market brings an unrivalled historical, empirical and theoretical breadth to our understanding of the last century of British economic history as well as a wealth of material on economic performance and public sector growth, and the fullest bibliography yet published on Britain's economic decline.Comprehensive, authoritative and wide-ranging, this extensive study uses a long-term and comparative framework which draws upon the latest research of economists, historians and political scientists to show why successive governments have been unable to halt Britain's relative economic decline.

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The Politics of Social Policy in Europe analyses and critically assesses tensions and uncertainties which are haunting social policy provision throughout Europe in the 1990s. The expansion in social expenditures associated with the 1950s and 1970s has been replaced by retrenchment and pessimism in the 1990s. Disillusion prevails throughout the community due to growing disparity between the objectives of policy statements and the real life experience of EU citizens. This important book explores the relationships between political choices and constraints, and how governments in different countries are interpreting the challenges to the welfare state. Additionally it critically assesses their policy options in the 1990s and beyond. Special attention is paid to the relationship between social policy and the wider arguments of public finance, employment, citizenship, competitiveness and the economy. Complementing this discussion are country case studies to show how Germany, Sweden, Britain, Denmark, France and Ireland are planning to deal with these problems.This definitive guide will prove to be an invaluable resource to academics and especially policymakers involved in decision making on social welfare throughout Europe.

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The regulation of road transport externalities - environmental pollution, noise annoyance, accidents and congestion - is one of the most important issues in contemporary transport policies.The Economics of Regulating Road Transport explores welfare economic evaluations - in terms of efficiency as well as equity and social feasibility - of regulatory policies and policy mixes directly aimed at, or indirectly connected to the containment of market failures in road transport.The discussion ranges from static analyses at the level of individual actors and firms to the dynamic behaviour of large spatio-economic systems. Part one explores the economic rationale behind regulating road transport, part two investigates issues of efficiency in the regulation of road transport and part three discusses the issue of equity and social feasibility versus efficiency.This book will be of interest to students of environmental economics and transport economics and to transport and environmental policymakers at the local, regional, national and international level.

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Privatization, Deregulation and the Macroeconomy focuses on the macroeconomic consequences of microeconomic rigidity in the markets for goods or services and the reforms necessary to create economic dynamism. Peter van Bergeijk and Robert Haffner address questions of how market structure, competition policy, over-regulation and collusive behaviour may influence macroeconomic performance. Drawing on many examples from the OECD countries (most notably, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands), Eastern Europe and the Third World, the authors show how economic policies intended to provide greater flexibility can be analysed. The authors examine the diagnosis or measurement of product market inertia at the mesoeconomic level and its consequences at the macroeconomic level such as employment, per capita income growth and price stability. In Privatization, Deregulation and the Macroeconomy, Peter van Bergeijk and Robert Haffner deal not only with practical policy matters but also with the theoretical issues of how to determine price rigidity (hysteresis on the product markets) and their macroeconomic implications. This book will be welcomed by economists interested in industrial organization, macroeconomics, neo Keynesianism, development economics and transitional economies and will also be of interest to policymakers.

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This major new Handbook is a detailed, up-to-date guide to different national labour markets and policies to combat unemployment and their outcomes. It will become established as a standard reference book - the first of its kind - providing an authoritative account of the rapidly growing field of labour market policy in a coherent and systematic framework.A group of internationally renowned researchers provides a state-of-the-art account of research on three levels; an evaluation of the methods available, an evaluation of policies and policy regimes and an evaluation of institutional frameworks and monitoring systems. Unique features of this reference book include the presentation of a 'Target-Oriented Approach' to evaluating labour market policy. The Handbook is international in its approach - all chapters apply an international comparative framework in assessing contemporary developments in the field.International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation will be an indispensable source of reference for policymakers, social scientists and academics interested in labour market policy and policy evaluation.

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This book presents for the first time a careful selection of David Teece's most important writings on the theory of the firm and its implications for economic performance. After a biographical introduction which sheds new light on his research programme, the book focuses on key areas, including:- the nature of the firm and dynamic capabilities diversification and vertical integration internal organization and economic performance international scope, alliances and joint ventures The volume also includes an extensive introduction which provides a biographical insight into the development of the author's career and his continuing research into the areas the articles in this volume exlore. David Teece's style of writing is succinct and logical and the material presented in this volume, and its companion Strategy, Technology and Public Policy, will be of great interest to economists, managers, consultants and policy makers.

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Contingent valuation analysis is both a difficult and controversial means of environmental resource valuation. Yet many economists regard it as the only valid means of measuring values in environmental policy.This major new book contains a collection of papers that examine the current state-of-the-art in the valuation of environmental resources. In particular, they assess the meaningfulness of environmental resource values obtained through the contingent valuation method. An internationally prominent group of scholars develops a fuller understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology and discusses a research agenda to improve estimates of environmental resource values. Economic value and the ability to obtain it through the survey measurement of consumer preferences is central to their discussion. Issues covered include the need for a broad perspective in valuation research, support for replication studies, the relationship between survey structure and survey responses, the processes by which environmental resources affect individual well-being, specific issues regarding environmental goods in surveys, and better tests of internal and external validity.The current state-of-the-art is outlined in a series of core papers and then debated in discussion papers. This major book describes how practitioners, critics, and users of contingent valuation have framed the fundamental issues that must be solved if the approach is to gain wider acceptance.

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This book provides the first comprehensive and accessible account of the evolution of exchange rate regimes in the twentieth century. It presents a chronological, non-technical history and in doing so manages to link the past with the present to shed new light on the merits of different exchange rate systems.Since the golden age before the First World War, the international monetary system has experienced several changes in exchange rate regimes, alternating between fixed and floating rate systems interspersed with managed or dirty floats. The authors examine and assess the evolution of exchange rate regimes since the First World War to the present day. They discuss the forces that have brought about change in order to determine how different regimes affected the economic environment. They consider the merits or otherwise of the respective regimes and assess the evidence and arguments for and against fixed and floating exchange rate systems.Exchange Rate Regimes in the Twentieth Century provides a coherent and manageable analysis of a complex subject. It will prove invaluable to both undergraduates and postgraduates studying economic history, international economics and international studies.

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This collection of essays is a state-of-the-art analysis of key issues confronting the European Union. Identifying European economic integration as one of the defining features of modern international economics, the authors examine many aspects and consequences of this integration which remain as yet obscure and unexplored. In this book, after addressing general issues concerned with European integration, the authors include empirical and theoretical analyses of the monetary union, social policy reform and social union, public finance in the EU, the EU's agriculture and technology policies, and direct foreign investment into the EU. In particular, the volume includes detailed discussion of Greek membership of the EU, supplying a context in which many of the general issues of industrial adjustment, investment and politics can be examined.Using a wide range of topics, methodologies and perspectives, Economic Integration and Public Policy in the European Union offers a stimulating and wide-ranging presentation which will be of interest to economic theorists, empirical social scientists, policymakers and the informed general reader.

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This landmark book presents a critical study of the Austrian subjectivism of Menger and Mises and assesses their contribution in the light of contemporary philosophy of the human sciences.Allen Oakley lays emphasis on the subjectivism of Menger and Mises as the foundation of Austrian economics. By situating their work in the context of the philosophies of the human sciences evolving around them, he shows how these founders of the modern Austrian tradition failed to fully appreciate and to adopt the more penetrating subjectivism of their contemporaries. He argues that, as a result, they left their successors an incomplete and ambiguous metatheoretical legacy.For historians of economic thought and for economic philosophers and methodologists the book provides a critical study of a fundamental theme of Austrian economics that is still the subject of controversy today.

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Multinational Firms and International Relocation addresses the impact of inward foreign direct investment on the host country and the extent to which it displaces jobs at home. Multinational firms in the United States, Japan and the European Union are focused on by a distinguished group of international business scholars who include Giovanni Balcet, Pierre-Andre Buigues, Wong Yu Ching, John H. Dunning, Edward M. Graham, F. Harianto, Thomas Hatzichronglou, Alexis Jacquemin, Terutomo Ozawa, E. Safarian, Philippe Saucier, Yoko Sazanami and Hideki Yamawaki. Issues addressed include European industrial relocations in low wage countries, US direct investments abroad, the strategies of Japanese multinationals, the impact of foreign investment on the domestic manufacturing industry of OECD countries, and multinationals and technology diffusion in South East Asia.International business scholars, business strategists and policy makers will welcome Multinational Firms and International Relocation for the combination of insights and analysis it offers on the strategies of multinational firms, the impacts of their relocation policies and the evolution of the delocalization debate.

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This major three-volume collection - offered in the centenary year of Hayek’s birth - celebrates a lifetime of scholarship and original contributions that cross the disciplines of politics, philosophy and economics.Hayek rose to fame as a young technical economist engaged in debate with Keynes and became infamous in middle age for his harsh critique of socialist planning. For much of the 1950s and 1960s Hayek was ignored as a relic of 19th century economic liberalism as the tide of intellectual and political fashion moved against both his warnings about Keynesian demand management and his critique of socialist planning. Late in life, Hayek was celebrated as a prescient scholar who foresaw the decline in both the Keynesian and socialist systems of economic control. Hayek made major analytical contributions which have yet to be appreciated by either friend or foe. Through this selection of classic articles The Legacy of Friedrich von Hayek attempts to place Hayek’s contributions to political economy in a proper perspective.

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At a time when state assistance to the arts sector has come under considerable scrutiny both in Europe and the United States, this book comprehensively examines the evolution of, and rationale for, state involvement with the so-called 'high' arts on both continents. This book offers an overview of the key economic issues arising in relation to the state and the arts in these regions, with a detailed analysis of the European and American models of state assistance to the high arts sector.John O'Hagan examines in detail the various channels - regulation, taxation and direct expenditure - through which the state interacts with the arts and compares and contrasts the experiences of America and Europe. Regulatory measures considered include the guarantee of artistic freedom, copyright, resale royalties for artists, and trade restrictions. He also considers taxation measures to support the arts, including deductions for charitable contributions to the arts, property tax exemption, and relief on artists' income. The discussion on direct expenditure covers state ownership of institutions, revenue funding and matching grants as well as new avenues of expenditure such as community arts/arts centres, and new revenue sources for this expenditure, such as lottery funding. Finally the book covers the non-profit making arts sector, and examines why it, and not the commercial sector, receives private and state funding.The State and the Arts will be indispensable for students and academics of public and social policy, cultural economics and public management. It will also be of considerable interest to policymakers and key players in the arts sector.

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Until recently, 'Subjective Expected Utility Theory' was accepted within the economics profession as the theory of rational decision-making under risk and under certainty. However, its pre-eminence in recent years has been undermined as a consequence of a flood of experimental evidence casting doubt on its descriptive accuracy. This book documents the theoretical reconstruction of the theory of decision-making in the aftermath of this flood. It is divided into three parts and contains the key papers introducing and describing new theories of decision under risk, new theories of decision under uncertainty and new theories of dynamic decision-making.

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Industry and Society in Europe examines changes in industrial organization in Britain, Germany and France from the perspectives of economic sociology and political economy. This important new textbook presents a systematic, comparative analysis of recent processes of industrial and social change in these societies and assesses the contribution each country will make to the emerging European social and economic entity. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, the book covers a wide range of highly topical themes, including the finance-industry nexus, corporate restructuring, the impact of globalization, the role of small and medium-sized firms, state - industry relations and new developments in work organization and industrial relations. Introducing a sociological perspective to the study of business and economic life, Christel Lane critically engages with some of the main theories in the field including flexible specialization, regulation theory and the new institutionalism in sociology.

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Mathematical Economics is an authoritative collection of the most influential contributions essential to an understanding of this important area of economic science. These seminal papers illustrate the development of the field from its inception in the 19th century up to the present, and exhibit the power of mathematics to lead to new thinking which can illuminate the scientific structures underlying economic arguments. Many of these papers started new fields of economics, influencing deeply the way economists think about their world. They illustrate the extensive range of topics to which mathematics has been applied productively, and show the areas of mathematics which have proved valuable, including functional analysis, linear algebra, algebraic and differential topology, stochastic processes and dynamical systems. They also show the extent to which today’s policy analysis rests on yesterday’s mathematical economics. Anyone with an interest in economics as a science will find this collection indispensable. The collection is an essential part of any course using mathematical economics.

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This authoritative new volume contains a selection of the most important articles and papers spanning over 20 years on budgeting and managing public spending. It is divided into five succinct parts, covering the main areas of the field including the political-economic environment, approaches to expenditure budgeting and implementing the budget. Donald Savoie does not limit his examples to just one country - budgeting and spending is discussed in a variety of countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and Spain. He has also written a new introduction to accompany the piece. All those with an interest in government spending, budgeting and how finances are controlled will find this work - which includes articles and papers not immediately accessible - an essential reference tool.

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Halbert White has made a major contribution to key areas of econometrics including specification analysis, specification testing, encompassing and Cox tests and model selection. This book presents his most important published work supplemented with new material setting his work in context.Together with new introductions to each of the chapters, the articles cover work from the early 1980s to 1996 and provide an excellent overview of the breadth of Professor White's work and the evolution of his ideas. Using rigorous mathematical techniques Halbert White develops many of the central themes in econometrics concerning models, data generating processes and estimation procedures. Throughout the book the unifying vision is that econometric models are only imperfect approximations to the processes generating economic data and that this has implications for the interpretation of estimates, inference and selection of econometric models.This unique collection of some of Halbert White's important work, not otherwise readily accessible, will be welcomed by researchers, graduates and academics in econometrics and statistics.

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How can the notion of competitiveness be reasonably applied to an economy? What relation does high or low competitiveness have to the current account? Do huge and persistent imbalances really reflect competitive positions of local firms or are they merely due to a misalignment of exchange rates or even outright protectionism, as the US-Japan trade conflict suggests?All these questions are rigorously addressed in International Competitiveness and the Balance of Payments. In examining the determinants of current account balances the conventional competitiveness approach - in which deficits are assumed to indicate low competitiveness - is contrasted with an intertemporal view of the balance of payments. By emphasizing locational quality as the decisive factor in international competitiveness, the authors are able to offer fundamentally different conclusions about the determinants of current account debates.As well as theoretical evidence advocating the intertemporal view, the authors present four case studies in support of this approach: Germany before and after unification, Spain before joining the EMS, the United States since the early 1980s, and Japan's persistent current account surpluses.

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This major book brings together four essays which rigorously defend classical liberal philosophy and present a convincing justification of the minimal state.In Before Resorting to Politics, the first essay, Anthony de Jasay rejects political solutions, seeks to de-politicise society and provides an original analysis of liberty, coercion, the role of chance and deserts in the distribution of resources. This is followed by Norman Barry's Classical Liberalism in the Age of Post-Communism, a succinct but comprehensive reconstruction of classical liberal theory explaining its implications for law, constitutionalism and public policy. Adam Smith into the Twenty-First Century by Edwin West shows how Smith's liberalism - less ambivalent than that of J.S. Mill and his followers - continues to thrive and is enjoying a revival in the 1990s. In the final essay, Economic Policy in a Liberal Democracy, Richard E. Wagner offers an approach to welfare economics and economic policy appropriate for a classically liberal society.The essays are co-ordinated by an introduction in which Charles K. Rowley explains why some notable classical liberal scholars have abandoned classical liberalism and presents a vigorous philosophical justification for the minimal state. Including essays by some of the most eminent scholars in the field, The Political Economy of the Minimal State makes an important and distinguished contribution to one of the most contentious issues in twentieth century political economy.

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Between Anarchy and Hierarchy offers a stimulating new perspective on conflict and collaboration in international politics. Robert Lieshout's new book shows how decision-making within individual states influences foreign policy and, in turn, international politics. Using a sliding scale between anarchy and hierarchy, he shows how each political system can be defined, including the distinctly anarchic international system itself. By showing the impact which internal decision-making processes have on the structure of the international system, Professor Lieshout integrates a theory of foreign policy making into a theory of international politics. After developing the epistemological foundations of this theory, Professor Lieshout applies his principles to results drawn from the use of game theory in international relations, examines the role of force in both hierarchical and anarchic systems, and shows how the adaptability of collective decision-making processes in states influences their behaviour in the international system.Between Anarchy and Hierarchy is remarkable both for the use of a general empirical behavioural theory to explain international politics, and for integrating theories of bureaucratic decision making into 'realist' theories of international relations. It will be of particular interest to international relations specialists as well as economists, political scientists and sociologists within the rational choice tradition.

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Since 1958, the economic theory of the participatory or labor-managed firm and its performance compared to capitalist firms, has exploded into a vast literature comprising several hundred articles. Indeed, as one early contributor has recently remarked, the theory has become a 'new discipline' in itself. Producer Cooperatives and Labor-Managed Systems provides, for the first time, a careful selection of the most significant theoretical and empirical contributions to this burgeoning field, and promises to become a valuable research tool and reference volume.

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What has dictated the rate and direction of technological change? How central has it been to industrial progress? How has it related to other determinants of economic growth and development?In Technology and Industrial Progress, Nick von Tunzelmann examines theoretical views on the nature and contribution of technology, and the empirical evidence from the major industrializing countries from the eighteenth century to the present day. The experiences of countries regarded in their time as the leaders of industrialization - Britain in the eighteenth century, the United States in the nineteenth century and Japan in the twentieth century - are critically compared by the author. The following chapters study the transfer of each of these patterns of technology and growth to later industrializers, such as continental Europe, the Soviet Union, and today's newly industrializing countries. Adopting approaches drawn from evolutionary economics, Dr von Tunzelmann links micro-level phenomena relating to individual firms and technologies to macro-level outcomes as reflected in economic growth and development.This long-awaited book is exceptional both in the range of countries surveyed and the breadth of topics analysed, encompassing changes in production processes, products and marketing, management and finance.

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This innovative book offers a critical history of the development of Soviet ideology, discussing its centrality to Soviet politics and the destructive effect that it had on the Gorbachev reforms.Neil Robinson analyses the nature and historical evolution of Soviet ideology between 1917 and 1985 to demonstrate the structural importance of Soviet ideological discourse and the uncertain place that it allocated to the communist party in the Soviet political system. On the basis of this analysis, Dr Robinson provides a fresh interpretation of Gorbachev's political reforms. He describes the ideological dynamic that underwrote the development of perestroika, how Gorbachev's ideas on democratization sent contradictory messages to the communist party, and how this stimulated opposition to perestroika from party cadres and Soviet society. Ideology and the Collapse of the Soviet System establishes the ideological roots of the crisis of Soviet power under Gorbachev and provides a convincing account of the Soviet system's inability to reform itself.

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The Efficient Markets Hypothesis is one of the most controversial and hotly contested ideas in all the social sciences. It is disarmingly simple to state, has far-reaching consequences for academic pursuits and business practice, and yet is surprisingly resilient to empirical proof of refutation. Even after three decades of research and literally thousands of journal articles, economists have not yet reached a consensus about whether markets - particularly financial markets - are efficient or not. These two volumes bring together the most influential articles surrounding the Efficient Markets Hypothesis debate, from Paul Samuelson’s pathbreaking proof that properly anticipated prices fluctuate randomly to Fischer Black’s study of noise traders, from Eugene Fama’s empirical implementation of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis to Robert Merton’s analysis of stock price volatility.

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This volume contains 27 papers and documents divided into four parts: the Measurement of Harmonisation; The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC); European Harmonisation and Official Material.The first part establish ways of measuring harmonisation as well as applying the techniques to various accounting issues in several European countries. The papers form a corpus of knowledge as there is substantial cross-referencing. The second part examines the processes and the progress of the IASC. Some of the papers are concerned with the nature and procedures of the IASC and others measure the success of its harmonisation efforts. The third part turns the spotlight on the harmonising activities of the European Union. In part four, four fundamental official documents are reproduced; the Preface and the Framework of the IASC and the Fourth and Seventh Directives of the European Union.

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Theorist, practitioner, educator and arguably the father of professional economics, Alfred Marshall's life and career have long required a full scale biography to put his work into context and reveal the extent of his influence.Peter Groenewegen's outstanding new book places the major features of Marshall's life and work within the rich institutional setting of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. This biography sheds new light on Marshall's decision to study economics - after dropping mathematics, philosophy and psychology in turn - and the background to his important books, including the Principles of Economics, as well as his government advice over three decades. More than just the life of a major economist, it also deals with economics and mathematics education at Cambridge, contemporary controversies over socialism, imperialism, free trade, eugenics, religious belief, social welfare and the women's movement.As the first biography of Alfred Marshall, A Soaring Eagle contributes to the history of economics, the social sciences and education while also offering a series of insights into Victorian and Edwardian society.

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Microeconomic Theories of Imperfect Competition: Old Problems and New Perspectives is an authoritative collection of readings which, together with a new, original introductory essay by the editors, provides a broad overview of the major theoretical concepts in the field.This collection includes published papers on industry size: quantity and price competition, entry barriers, product differentiation, incomplete information, general equilibrium with imperfect competition.This book will be essential reading both for those seeking an introduction to the subject and those seeking a new perspective.

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Pluralism in Economics sheds new light on the various meanings and consequences of pluralist approaches to the history and methodology of economics. The first part focuses on philosophical and methodological issues. The second part contains six case studies which discuss diverse issues but adopt the pluralistic approach recommended in the first part.The contributors attempt to reconcile two major strands of thinking in economic methodology: the 'rhetoric' of economics as advocated by Deirdre McCloskey and the sociological approach which argues that scientific knowledge can be best analysed in the context of a sociological understanding of the scientific enterprise.The book has been prepared under the auspices of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy and presents new work by leading economists from both Europe and North America.

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This major reference collection describes and reviews the contribution which geographers have made to the charting, description, analysis and understanding of this age-old phenomenon. Migration is one of the dominant forces reshaping modern societies. The traditional concerns of geographers with flows, spatial differentiation and the power of place have given them unique understandings in the study of migration relevant to contemporary problems. Geographers have been able to make a distinctive contribution to knowledge about this phenomenon, from the laws of Ravenstein to the humanistic accounts of those caught up in refugee movements.Geography and Migration includes macrolevel descriptions to examine whether migration takes place in discernible flows and whether there are regularities in migration patterns or in the characteristics, origin and behaviour of migrants. Micro and macro-level explanations follow and address the impact of life cycle, quality of life and search factors. The final section includes essays and papers on the impact of migration on participants, source areas and destinations.

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Global manufacturing has been altered by the emergence of a new approach to production which differs radically from the principles of mass production. This approach has been characterised by successful manufacturers in Asia and the West who have engaged in a continuous process to improve quality, process productivity and cost performance. The authors of Beyond Quality argue that many of the methods used by these new firms are equally suitable for manufacturers in developing countries and the transition economies of eastern and Central Europe.Using case study material from Latin America, Africa and Central Europe, the authors demonstrate that it is the skill and organization of people - rather than sophisticated equipment - which determines growth in productivity and product quality. These new forms of improvement are not dependent on economies of scale and so provide small producers with the flexibility to compete effectively against mass producers.

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This collection includes both classical and recent papers that explore the complex interrelationships between transport, land use and the spatial organization of metropolitan areas. Since land use planning and transportation planning play a major role in shaping these relationships, special attention is given to studies on planning issues and policies.Whilst one section of the collection features papers written in the tradition of urban economics, the main emphasis is on studies which examine the impact of various changes in transportation systems on land use.

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Plato of Athens (c 429-347 BC) is the earliest European thinker whose thoughts on politics survive to any great extent. His work, contained in The Republic, the Statesman, the Laws and the unfinished Critias, amongst other works, has made major contributions to the agenda of Western Political thought and its content. [In The Republic, Plato’s preoccupation was the concept of the just individual and the just state.] His view that intellect and political authority should be correlated has been a major theme of political thought down the centuries, influencing both authoritarian and egalitarian attitudes to government and democracy. In his later work Plato’s concern shifted from the question of justice to questions of the competence of rulers, which in The Statesman he treated as of the first importance, and eventually to the role of law and a mixed constitution, along with religion, in guaranteeing political order.The papers in this authoritative selection explore various aspects of Plato’s thought including social structure, education, freedom, property, the status of women, human motivation and racism in addition to his views on law, reason and justice. The vast array of topics covered shows how Plato’s work adumbrates many of the concerns of political thought up to the present day and indeed is still relevant in our modern age.

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Most of the existing literature on European history of economic thought concentrates on the major works of leading figures such as von Bohm-Bawerk, Menger, Pareto, Walras, Weber and Wicksell. These economists exerted enormous influences on the development of economics, despite their differing theories and approaches. Yet, there were many other economists whose contribution to the field has not been described in existing literature. This book resurrects these forgotten economists and presents 17 specially commissioned essays on their lives and contributions to economics. As such this book presents a fuller picture of the development of economics in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century.The authors examine the economists' original ideas, and discuss how their work contributed to the development of economic thought. In addition the contributors look at the spread of ideas, of their acceptance or rejection, which can be explained partly by physical and linguistic or national isolation. They also consider influences on economic thought both between and within countries, and of other disciplines on economics; and as a consequence a sense of national identity in the practice of economics is developed. Finally, the authors present ideas on the path-dependent process of the development of economics and of the alternative paths that were around at the time, as well as on the origins of econometrics and differing attitudes towards statistical and mathematical approaches.This long-overdue addition to the literature will be welcomed by historians of economic thought, those studying the lives of economists as well as those interested in the philosophy and evolution of economics.

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In 1876, Carl Menger, then a young professor at the University of Vienna, was asked to teach the principles of political economy to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the 17 year old only son of Emperor Francis Joseph, who was to die tragically before he could inherit the throne.Rudolf's recently discovered Notebooks of these lectures, corrected by Menger, are a fascinating record of what the founder of the Austrian marginalist school thought worth teaching to the heir presumptive of a great power. Without referring to his own theories, Menger delivered a course on the economics of Adam Smith - as presented in the mainstream German textbooks of the time - in such a way that the Notebooks can be viewed as a key document on classical economic liberalism, pure and unadulterated. They cast new light on Menger's own theoretical discoveries, his view of government and his interpretation of classical economics. In this important volume Rudolf's Notebooks are published for the first time both in German and an English translation. The editor's detailed introduction provides the historical and intellectual background to the Notebooks as well as a thorough analysis of classical economics and its treatment by Menger. The text is fully annotated in German and English with its surprising sources traced passage by passage.

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Public Economics, Political Processes and Policy Applications brings together an impressive collection of Charles R. Plott's work in experimental economics.The papers in this volume represent the beginnings of Professor Plott's experimental research on public economics, public choice and political processes, which are the origin for experimental work in mechanism design and experimental testbeds. He addresses the problems related to committees and public choice institutions, and develops methodological foundations that were later exported to other areas of economics. In these groundbreaking experiments strategies for posing questions are developed. The fundamental principles that shape policy studies are discovered and refined.The volume goes on to apply the principles to the prediction of group choice using game theory and voting theory, the power of special institutions and processes to determine outcomes, and the concept of equilibrium and equilibration in decision processes.Finally, the papers reflect a maturing of the methodologies, devoting attention to their success in the area of institutional design in general and of policy in particular. With deep roots in problems related to policy analysis that are carried throughout the volume, Public Economics, Political Processes and Policy Applications will be a fascinating read for those with an interest in experimental economics, the methodology of economics, political theory, and political economy.

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This book examines the extent to which spatial economic convergence has taken place in the European Union and analyses the effectiveness of regional policy. The authors examine the differing economic features of the European regions and provide an institutional background to regional policy at both the national and Union level. Theories of economic growth are discussed and assessed in terms of the relative performance of regional economies in Europe. The authors then analyse the extent to which economic convergence, for example in terms of income and employment, has materialized across regions using a variety of techniques including mean reversion and time varying parameter procedures. The analysis is both at the level of the entire EU area and at more disaggregate levels that look at specific regions of the Union and at specific sectors. The book offers an assessment of some of the key regional policy instruments used and pays particular attention to the role of infrastructure investment as a tool for enhancing regional growth. It also considers the extent to which some non-regional specific policies impact upon the development of regional economies and explores the implications of closer monetary ties between member states.This book will be of interest to academics and policymakers concerned with regional science, European studies and macroeconomics.

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Family businesses, have been instrumental in the industrialization of most countries and remain an important dimension of modern economies world wide. Yet analyses of international differences in Western micro- and macroeconomic performance, since the late nineteenth century, have usually been focused upon the rise and capabilities of the American-style business corporation. In this context, while family business has not been without its champions, these firms were often dismissed as inferior alternatives to managerial capitalism and the source of economic decline. As a result they have received, until comparatively recently, less attention than they deserve. This collection of essays which spans more than forty years of scholarship on family business is not confined to the discussion of Western firms. Instead contributions cover their role, capabilities and performance on four continents and include the work of leading institutional and development economists and sociologist as well as business and economic historians.

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Dynamics and Income Distribution brings together Irma Adelman’s pioneering applications of econometrics, as well as papers on the poverty and income distribution implications of growth and development. The volume combines some early papers on business cycles and long swings with other pieces focusing on just economic development.With a firm emphasis on the dynamics of income inequality, this volume includes empirical study of how inequality changes with economic development and the conceptual development of dynamic indices of income inequality. Professor Adelman’s papers draw on quantitative simulation models and the experience of specific countries to discuss policies to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. The author argues that trickle-down processes are not likely to reduce poverty sufficiently rapidly. Land reform and the equal access to education need to be focused in order to generate the initial conditions for equalizing economic development. Economic development and poverty reduction, she suggests, require an emphasis on education, on institutions determining access to jobs and resources, and on labour-intensive types of economic growth. With its companion volume, Institutions and Development Strategies, this collection of selected essays makes a significant contribution by improving access to Irma Adelman’s pioneering work on the economics and policy of development.

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Bureaucracy and Public Economics brings together in one volume the classic book and related articles which put forward the first formal economic theory of the behaviour of bureaucracies. William Niskanen Jr. has consistently argued that bureaucrats have personal objectives - that differ from those of both their political supervisors and the general public - which they further by use of their monopoly power. He develops his argument to contend that government budgets have become too large and should be curtailed. All of Professor Niskanen's major contributions to this field have been brought together in this one volume including his pioneering article on 'The Peculiar Economics of Bureaucracy', the full text of the book 'Bureaucracy and Representative Government' and his recent reassessment of the larger body of scholarship on the economics of bureaucracy.Scholars, students and teachers of public economics will welcome this volume which, by making some of the key contributions in the field more widely accessible, will provoke discussion, debate and further research.

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The Economics of Business Strategy is an authoritative collection of the most important published articles on the economic basis of business strategy. John Kay - who himself has made seminal contributions to the field - has selected articles that illustrate the origins of familiar concepts in business strategy - the experience curve, the portfolio matrix, the 'five forces' while also presenting the foundations of the modern resource based theory of strategy.The volume will be of particular interest to economists who wish to learn how the subject has been used in business and to people working in business who wish to learn of the economic basis of the concepts used.

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