Search results for ""edward elgar""

International entrepreneurship as a field of study is not necessarily confined to the internationalisation phenomenon, and recently advanced definitions suggest significant scope for the development and establishment of, as yet, undetermined parameters. Emerging Paradigms in International Entrepreneurship identifies key themes that collectively demonstrate the convergence of thinking at the interface between the disciplines of international business and entrepreneurship. These are: development of the field and the effects of international entrepreneurship on a new economy conceptual and paradigmatic developments international entrepreneurship and the internet as a developing research agenda contacts links and networks as process driven internationalisation cross-sectoral, cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons of entrepreneurship the experiential emphasis in entrepreneurial internationalisation. Explaining the complexities of enterprise in an international and sometimes global environment, this book is distinguished by the cross-disciplinary nature of its contributors and their efforts to develop new paradigmatic approaches in an area characterised by theoretical diversity and convergence.Appealing to researchers, academics and policymakers working in international business - particularly the international growth and development of small firms - and for entrepreneurship and small firm scholars this book is a must-have. Lecturers and students on post-graduate programmes would also be interested in the book as a reader.

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What happens to extensive and generous welfare states when they are faced with serious economic crisis and the effects of globalization? This thorough analysis of the processes of social policy restructuring in two Nordic welfare states endeavours to answer this and other questions related to their survival in a world of intensifying global competition.Virpi Timonen investigates both the changes that have taken place in central social policies in the areas of pensions, unemployment policies, social and health services, and the political and structural reasons for the pattern of policy change that emerged. A critical evaluation of the roles of globalization, political mechanisms and power relationships in shaping these social policies in Finland and Sweden is also featured.Welfare state specialists and those seeking to understand welfare states as a central constituent of politics in Nordic countries will find Restructuring the Welfare State to be of great interest. The book will also appeal to academics and researchers in the fields of social policy and comparative politics, as well as public and social policy analysts in international organizations such as the OECD and the World Bank.

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The extensive destruction of wetlands across Europe represents a significant loss of biodiversity along with its related economic, cultural, ethical and scientific benefits. This volume addresses the critical issues surrounding this environmental change process, employing a range of analytical methods drawn from a variety of disciplines which bridge the social and natural science divide. The authors begin by exploring the various methodological approaches to the analysis of the causes and consequences of wetland loss in Europe. The findings reveal that a formal decision-support process can be defined which can assist in the search for a more sustainable approach to wetland management. The methods and tools advocated are interdisciplinary and require co-ordinated action by experts from a variety of different fields. The authors move on to present a series of case studies from which a number of general conclusions can be drawn. In particular, they identify conflicts concerning use, value and interest groups to be the most common in the context of wetland management versus development. Consequently, they argue that scientific analysis requires support from the social sciences in order to better understand and implement more participatory approaches to environmental management.Given the ongoing depletion of wetland ecosystems throughout the world, this novel interdisciplinary approach to their sustainable management is a timely and valuable exercise. Students, researchers and scholars of environmental economics, environmental science, ecology, geography and environmental politics will find this book to be a useful addition to the literature. It will also help policymakers, international agencies and NGOs to preserve these valuable environmental resources.

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This timely book explores the development of the European Social Model and questions whether the relatively high level of social protection provided, both in terms of social welfare provision and in the creation of workers' rights and employment regulation, is sustainable. At the 2000 Lisbon Council the Member States agreed that this model was in need of modernisation if the objective of creating the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in Europe was to be achieved. Consequently, this book examines the economic rationale for EU social policy, identifies the main factors promoting reform and assesses the priorities for reform in the enlarged EU.As a result of a fruitful collaboration between two authors from different disciplines, and culminating in several contributions to the economic-legal analysis of the EU social policy, this forward-looking book will be of great interest to academics, EU policymakers and law practitioners.

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The delinquent payment of child support by non-custodial to custodial parents is a major problem throughout the United States. To many observers, the problem is one of 'deadbeat dads' - men who simply will not make the required payments. The solution has been to enforce payment by the imposition of increasingly stringent civil and criminal penalties. Despite these efforts, the percentage of single mothers receiving child support has changed very little over the past twenty-five years. The Law and Economics of Child Support Payments investigates why this is, and approaches the payment of child support as an economic problem.To understand the issues involved, leading lawyers and economists examine various facets of the child support system from a law and economics perspective. They consider the incentives faced by both custodial and non-custodial parents, and search for policy actions that are more incentive-compatible for all participants. The assumptions underlying current child support guidelines are discussed, as are the ways in which child support payments affect family structure, teenage delinquency and income disparities between parents.This comprehensive, provocative volume will be of considerable interest to policymakers, lawyers and parent advocacy groups, as well as to students of this timely issue.

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This important volume presents a selection of influential articles written by leading scholars whose research is seminal in the development of environmental sociology. The contributors take the discussions of the environmental social sciences into new domains, for example genetics and 'de-materialisation', as well as suggesting new conceptual approaches to familiar problems, such as those of globalisation, scientific uncertainty and environmental citizenship. This outstanding collection, which is a fully up to date companion to the title The Sociology of the Environment, published in 1995, represents a landmark in a field of academic research that is increasingly important for wider policy questions. The volume will be useful to all those interested in environmental issues.

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The measurement of harmonization became a well-established area of academic research from the late 1980s, and the discerning selection of papers in this volume reveal a continuing interest in the topic by a large number of researchers.The coverage is divided into two parts. The first part concerns the measurement of harmonisation, and the second contains analysis of, and comment on, harmonization.This authoritative new volume will be of great interest to all those concerned with the issue of harmonization in international accounting.

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Environmental accounts bring together economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. They enable governments to set priorities, monitor economic policies more precisely, enact more effective environmental regulations and resource management strategies, and design more efficient market instruments for environmental policies. Many industrialized countries compile environmental accounts, but progress in developing countries has been limited - even though the need for environmental accounts is perhaps more acute in these regions. Environmental Accounting in Action studies the experiences of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, the core countries of a unique, regional environmental accounting programme in Southern Africa. Covering minerals, forestry, fisheries and water, each chapter provides important lessons about sustainable resource management. As a whole, the case studies demonstrate how to overcome the many challenges of constructing environmental accounts and the mechanics of successful implementation. By providing a transparent system of information about the relationship between human activities and the environment, the accounts have improved policy dialogue among different stakeholders and have played a significant role in environmental policy design.This book advances a powerful argument for the use of environmental accounts and is a major contribution to the environmental literature on developing countries. Environmental and ecological economists, resource managers, policymakers, NGOs and anyone concerned with sustainable development will find this an informative and valuable read.

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Top European and American scholars contribute to this cutting-edge volume on little-researched areas of environmental and resource economics. Topics include spatial economics, poverty and development, experimental economics, large-scale risk and its management, organizational economics, technological innovation and diffusion and many more.The common thread is the language and methodology of economics, yet the work aims to reach an audience wider than academia; others such as researchers and policymakers, in the public sector, professional staff in research institutes and think tanks, and environmental consultants will all benefit from an awareness of these crucial issues which, if not considered now, will become the problems of the future.

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Why the Bubble Burst provides a comprehensive look at the most dramatic run-up in equity values in US history. Lawrance Evans takes the reader from theory to empirics, illustrating why we need to go beyond the efficient markets hypothesis and the theory of domestic irrational exuberance to fully unpack the unprecedented phenomenon, why the market was destined for a major decline and why the fallout will be severe and protracted. Quantitative evidence suggests that mutual funds, international portfolio flows, and the decline in the amount of corporate equity outstanding all played an integral role in the stock market boom. These ingredients in the context of a supply and demand based theory of equity price determination indicate that supply and demand forces unrelated to corporate profitability elevated US equity valuations to unsustainable levels. The author's conclusions carry implications for economic theory and policy, retirement security and stock market investments in general. Economists, finance professionals and policymakers will find this volume a unique investigation into the stock market boom and bust.

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Since the late 1980s, economic growth has again become a central topic in economic theorising. Recent endogenous growth theory has greatly contributed to the development of the field. Old and New Growth Theories analyses the most recent developments in the theory of economic growth and compares these to earlier theories. The book's originality is due in part to the assembly of contributions from scholars of different persuasions - some within the mainstream and others from Keynesian, Kaleckian and Sraffian traditions. The authors deal with a comprehensive variety of research topics including the key elements necessary to generate growth, the mechanisms of endogeneity of growth and technical change, the role of aggregate demand and of investment in physical and human capital. Economic policy issues are also considered.The book will be appreciated by scholars of economic growth, macroeconomics, classical and Keynesian economics as well as historians of economic thought.

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This unique reference book provides an array of diverse perspectives on international entrepreneurship, a new and emerging field of research that blends concepts and methodologies from more traditional social sciences. The Handbook includes chapters written by top researchers of economics and sociology, as well as academic leaders in the fields of entrepreneurship and international business. State-of-the-art contributions provide up-to-date literature reviews, making this book essential for the researcher of entrepreneurship and the internationalisation of entrepreneurs.

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The integration process of 'The Common Market of the South' (MERCOSUR) has been characterized by serious economic turbulence, including the devaluation of the Brazilian currency and the severe Argentinean monetary crisis. As a response to these difficulties, the adoption of monetary union has emerged as one possible solution to the financial uncertainty which has plagued this region.Whereas some believe MERCOSUR should become a free trade area, others are convinced that nothing less than full monetary union can bring stability to the region and ease the financial fragility of the member countries. This book discusses the future of MERCOSUR, focusing on monetary union and macroeconomic policy co-ordination, and addresses a number of important questions including: is it possible, or even desirable, to achieve monetary integration? what would the pre-conditions be for establishing such a union? what would the convergence criteria be for joining the monetary union? what are the expected economic consequences for the member countries? These questions are all addressed with particular reference to the experience of EMU and the lessons which can be learnt by MERCOSUR countries, in terms of the difficult transitions they may have to face.The book brings together a host of distinguished British, Argentinean and Brazilian economists to elucidate the critical policy issues surrounding the merits of monetary union in South America. Financial economists, international monetary economists, international relations experts, academics and practitioners interested in the issues surrounding economic and monetary union will all value the perceptive insights found in this volume.

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This book examines the way in which the increasing internationalization of services, including the operation of multinationals in this sector, interacts with the process of innovation in services. The book challenges the theoretical traditions that have developed around the analysis of service innovation and internationalization, and argues for a new research agenda. The distinguished contributors address many of the most pertinent issues and adopt a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches to enrich the debates. In contrast to most other books on this topic, this volume pays particular attention to services that are knowledge or technology intensive. It elucidates the process of internationalization of such services (through trade and FDI) and stresses the important role it plays in the globalization of production, distribution and innovation. The book also highlights the significant implications service internationalization can have for the competitiveness of firms, regions and countries. The authors thoroughly evaluate trade and investment statistics in order to identify different modes of internationalization and the substantial cross-national differences that this reveals. They move on to examine the organizational structure of multinationals, the new international division of labour and the factors which can influence the location decisions of knowledge-intensive services. Using extensive survey data from a variety of different countries, they accurately identify the trends, characteristics and drivers which have acted as a catalyst for the increasing internationalization of knowledge-intensive services, as well as the obstacles which can hinder this process. Adopting a truly global perspective, this significant new volume will be of considerable interest to students, scholars and policymakers in the fields of international business, innovation and management.

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Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry traces the discovery and development of drugs in Japan and the UK both historically and sociologically. It includes sixteen case studies of major pharmaceutical developments in the twentieth century, encompassing, amongst others, beta-blockers, beta-stimulants, inhaled steroids and histamine H2-antagonists.The book illustrates that the four stages of drug development - namely compound, application, organisational authorisation and market - are interactively shaped by heterogeneous actors and institutions. The book also identifies three different types of pharmaceutical development - paradigmatic innovation, application innovation and modification-based innovation, all with distinguishable features in the drug development process. Finally, several historical, structural and cultural factors influencing the shaping of medicines are revealed by the comparison between British and Japanese drug innovation.Addressing a number of practical implications for the promotion of the pharmaceutical industry, this book will be of enormous interest to students, researchers and academics specialising in science and technology, and the management of technology and innovation. Practitioners, managers, and policy planners within the pharmaceutical industry will also deem this book invaluable.

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This timely volume offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of firms' behaviour and organization, providing an essential outline of the ways in which our understanding of firms and markets is evolving. Key topics, such as the interplay between labour and capital, the choice of the optimal product range and the dynamics of capital accumulation and innovation are investigated. All of these aspects of the evolution of a market are evaluated in connection with the manifold issue of information, be that related to demand uncertainty, accountancy data, the diffusion of technological knowledge, or the nature of strategic interaction among firms in market games.Technology, Information and Market Dynamics is an extensive and detailed book, offering useful indicators for both theoretical and applied research. It will appeal to economists and researchers of industrial organization and innovation.

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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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Independent institutes conducting policy research, analysis and public dialogue, or 'think tanks' as they are more commonly known, are one of the leading catalysts for ideas and action in civil societies around the world. Examining the role of think tanks in the policy formulation process, this groundbreaking study provides the first systematically comparative and methodologically rigorous map of such organizations and the social, political, legal and economic conditions that shape their work. Once found only in advanced industrial democracies, think tanks now provide information and advice for policymakers in countries as diverse as India, Lebanon, Chile, Bulgaria, Germany, Senegal and Thailand. Using case studies of 20 countries across five regions of the world (Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Europe and Asia), James McGann and Erik Johnson explore how the environments in which think tanks operate serve to expand or constrict their autonomy and influence. They also suggest ways in which donors, policymakers and international organizations can ensure the viability and sustainability of these important institutions. With incisive analysis and cogent recommendations for how to seed and sustain independent think tanks around the world, this volume will be of great interest to those involved with think tanks themselves, as well as public policy and political science scholars, international development agencies and policymakers worldwide. The comparative dimensions of the book will have considerable appeal among students of comparative politics, public policy and international affairs.

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Nonlinear Models, Labour Markets and Exchange offers a number of broad introductory surveys in the areas of nonlinear modelling, labour economics and the economic analysis of exchange. This collection of articles consists largely of recently published refereed papers. The early chapters provide an introduction to the analysis of 'chaos and strange attractors' and the use of the very flexible generalised exponential family of frequency distributions in analysing both time series and cross-sectional distributions. The volume then provides syntheses of the theories of internal labour markets, trade union bargaining, and population ageing and its implications. It goes on to survey a range of topics in the broad area of the theory of exchange, which is central to the neoclassical economic model. Finally, the book provides some advice for students who are about to start their first piece of research. It ends with a unique survey of the history of economic analysis. Providing introductory material and syntheses of a wide range of topics, Nonlinear Models, Labour Markets and Exchange will be welcomed by economics academics and researchers interested in labour economics and econometrics.

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Under the direction of Nobel laureate Robert A. Mundell and Paul J. Zak, eminent contributors to Monetary Stability and Economic Growth offer a unique insight into the way that economists analyse the causes of money (mis) management in the US, Latin America, Europe and Japan, and prescribe stabilising reforms. Their lively discussion provides answers to various questions including: How does monetary stability affect economic growth? How can nations best achieve monetary stability? When is monetary union desirable? Which anchors for monetary stability are likely to be most effective? How will the euro affect financial markets and the international monetary system? Is international monetary reform possible, and how can it be achieved? The mechanisms that link monetary policy - including foreign exchange regimes and the international monetary system - to economic performance are examined, and the ways in which countries can stimulate economic growth are explored. This superb narrative volume, brought alive by the debate between leading economists, is contextualised by the editors' excellent introduction. It will be of immense interest to students, researchers and teachers of macroeconomics and financial economics as well as professional economists.

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In their pursuit of policies to combat global warming, countries will find that they may also receive additional benefits which are not directly associated with the primary aim. These ancillary benefits are likely to include, for example, a reduction in pollution as a result of carbon containment policies. International Climate Policy to Combat Global Warming is one of the first books which analyses climate policy, taking account of ancillary as well as primary benefits. The author integrates ancillary benefits into the theory and explores the implications for international policy measures. Because of the private character of ancillary benefits, the author is able to treat climate policy as an impure public good which in turn has an impact on the efficient climate protection level. He highlights the general failures of the standard approach to climate policy design and goes on to propose a new approach to international negotiations on climate change. He suggests a flexible matching scheme which would help overcome free-rider incentives and which would have considerable advantages over traditional co-operative designs.By proposing a novel framework for the analysis of, and solution to, the problem of global warming, this book will be welcomed by environmental and ecological economists, policymakers and researchers of political science.

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Economics is a matter of choice and growth, of interaction and exchange among individuals. Because property rights define the rules of these interactions and the objects of exchange, it is vital to fully understand the institutions and implications of the various property-rights regimes. With over 20 original and specially commissioned chapters, this book takes the reader from the historical and moral foundations of the discipline to the frontiers of scholarly research in the field.This Companion is both an introduction to the economics of property rights and a guide to help understand and analyse policy issues by making use of the powerful conceptual tools offered by this increasingly popular branch of economics. Following a comprehensive introduction by the editor, the book is divided in to three broad sections which examine the birth and evolution of property rights, investigate the relationship between property rights and the law, and explore contemporary economic issues from a property rights perspective. Together, the chapters in the book do not claim to offer a standard solution to the institutional questions raised by the property-rights issue. Instead, they present the theoretical tools and real-world examples needed to allow the reader to develop new ideas and evaluate existing problems.Non-technical in nature and including a distinguished list of authors from across the spectrum of economic thinking, The Elgar Companion to the Economics of Property Rights makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on economics, law, political science and public choice. For any serious scholar or student of these disciplines, this book will prove to be the ultimate reference companion.

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This major reference work, now in its fourth edition, is an extensive and authoritative guide to the most frequently cited academic economists throughout the world.As with the previous editions, each of the entries is written by the entrants themselves and gives pertinent biographical data, principal fields of interest, chief publications and a statement of their principal contributions to economics as they - and not the editors - perceive them. This edition includes only living economists whose articles, published in the period 1990-2000, have been most frequently cited and as such it is the most up-to-date biographical dictionary of the leading players in the economics profession. a thoroughly revised, updated and extended fourth edition containing the most cited economists from 1990-2000 the only biographical dictionary of major economists to appear in any language provides critical information on over 700 living economists five appendices, including indices of principal fields of interest, country of residence, year of birth, current affiliation, and first degree and doctorate.

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The past two decades have seen a process of almost continuous reform in public management in developed countries and a renegotiation of traditional relationships between state, economy and society. These changes have been expressed through privatization, civil service reductions and restructuring, the introduction of market-type mechanisms to improve the delivery of public services, the construction of new forms of partnership between state and non-state organizations, and new types of regulation and accountability. In turn, these public management reforms have, in a variety of ways, been transferred to the state systems of developing and transitional economies. The Internationalization of Public Management constitutes one of the first attempts to examine the conceptual and practical problems which attend such policy transfers, and to make preliminary judgements about the successes and failures of public management reform in developing countries. The distinguished group of contributors offers instructive insights into the complex reality of the development state.Both academics and postgraduate students within the areas of politics and governance, public sector management and development studies will find this book essential reading. Practitioners in these fields, especially within aid agencies and research institutions, will also find the book contains valuable lessons and conclusions.

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Recent acceleration of the Indian economic growth rate from 6 to 8 per cent has sparked worldwide speculation that India is about to catch up with China and become another Asian miracle economy. Economic Reform in China and India examines this prospect, reviewing the development strategies pursued by the two countries over the last 50 years in general and exploring recently introduced reform measures in particular. The culmination of many years of research by specialists in these economies, this book assesses the performance of China and India at both macro and sectoral levels (including economic, social, political and environmental aspects). It illustrates the reasons why China has outperformed India in the past and identifies the obstacles that India will face in its attempts to catch up with China. Providing solutions for China and India that can be applied to other developing countries, this book will be invaluable for researchers, academics and students focussing on economic development and Asian studies. It will also receive much attention from investors and government analysts interested in the strategic implications of the emergence of the two Asian economic giants.

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Managing Value-Based Organizations argues that those who fail to understand management history are destined to repeat it. Research has shown that despite the prodigious output of management books, managers still have little idea why there is so much change in the world of work or what they can do about it. Most, it seems, are still waiting for the dust to settle, expecting instead that in the near future they will be able to go back to doing things the way they have always done them.This highly innovative and accessible book takes a historical look at how the organization and management of work has changed since before the Industrial Revolution and uses this as a basis to explain: how and why organizations and management behavior have evolved over the past 500 years the importance of understanding how organizations are changing today and what they will become in the future what new organizations will look like and how managers will have to change to be effective in them, and how managers can change their organization from one which is locked in tradition to one which is flexible enough to respond positively to constant change. <Revealing both the practicalities and theories behind surviving upheaval in the workplace, academics, business managers and HR managers alike will find this book to be a fascinating and invaluable read.

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Services now account for almost three quarters of economic activity in advanced market economies and two of the principal topics that researchers on services have been concerned with are, on the one hand, productivity, and on the other, innovation in and through services. These two issues, and finding ways to measure and conceptualise them, lie at the heart of this book.The productivity question is a puzzle in many so-called 'stagnant services', where national accounts show little or no increase in productivity, while closer empirical investigations and case studies reveal that some of these sectors are in fact as dynamic as their manufacturing counterparts. How can these opposing views be reconciled? The same applies to innovation in and through services, where many of the existing approaches retain much of their bias towards manufacturing and technology, and fail to capture some of the fundamental aspects of innovation in services. Written by some of the most distinguished authors in the field, this book elucidates the critical and complex relationships between services, production and innovation. The authors discuss the limitations of current theories to explain service productivity and innovation, and call for a conceptual re-working of the ways in which these are measured. They also highlight the important role of knowledge in the production system and in doing so make an important contribution to a key debate which has emerged in the social sciences in recent years.Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge in Services will inform and interest those in the fields of economics, management, business studies and economic geography.

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The literature and research on environmental and resource economics has exploded in recent years. This major annual publication provides a cutting-edge survey of current research by the leading experts in the field. The Yearbook includes contributions on: climate change policy general equilibrium models in environmental and resource economics hedonic property value techniques for policy and litigation progress and problems in the economics of sustainability valuing the health effects of pollution the economics of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils tradable permits for air quality linking environmental ethics and environmental policy.

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Lance Taylor is widely considered to be one of the pre-eminent development economists in the world and is known for his work on development planning, macroeconomics of development, stabilization policy, and the global economy. He has also been the major force behind structuralist economics, which is seen by many to be a major alternative to orthodox development economics and policy prescriptions. The essays in this volume, written by well-known scholars in their own right, make contributions to each of these areas while honoring the contributions made by Lance Taylor. Professional economists, researchers and policy makers interested in development economics, political economy, global political economy and viable alternatives to mainstream thought will find this collection a valuable addition to their libraries.

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The path to success as an academic economist is littered with obstacles. Even with excellent research material, one faces issues of running the seminar and conference gauntlet, tempestuous relationships with co-authors, the selection of an appropriate journal outlet, a detailed peer review process and, with it, the ever-present spectre of rejection.This collection tackles the issues confronting the up-and-coming economist. The authors include some of the subject's finest luminaries who offer friendly and invaluable advice as well as providing a more light-hearted look at the publication process. Some articles have become classics in their own right. They vary from an examination of seminal (and originally rejected) articles by leading economists to an analysis of why referees are not adequately paid. The tools of both economic theory and econometrics are applied to uncover some home truths and, as a result, these papers provide new insights into the nature of economic discourse.

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In this fresh examination of the Microsoft antitrust case, Richard Gordon critically examines the economics of the US government's arguments. The conclusion is that the government presented a sketchy, incoherent, invalid economic case and relied upon creating the impression of misdeeds to persuade the courts. The primary charge is that Microsoft possessed an impregnable monopoly in operating systems for personal computers. According to the government, Microsoft created, included in its operating system, and vigorously promoted its internet browser solely to prevent the development of the Java/Netscape alternative. The promotion of this browser was considered predatory. Microsoft allegedly undertook similar acts against other companies. According to Gordon, the government failed to present even a clear statement of its charges and failed to substantiate the critical allegations. In this book, he concentrates on the underlying economics of the case and reviews the germane theory. He presents and evaluates implicit government arguments as well as Microsoft's refutations.Readers in economics, law and public policy will find this well researched analysis enlightening.

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Discrimination's dynamic nature means that no single theory, method, data or study should be relied upon to assess its magnitude, causes, or remedies. Despite some gains in our understanding, these remain active areas of debate among researchers, practitioners and policymakers. The specially commissioned papers in this volume, all by distinguished contributors, present the full range of issues related to this complex and challenging problem. Part 1 explores innovations in methods and data collection that help to provide richer descriptions of inequality. Part 2 reviews empirical evidence on discrimination that people with disabilities, older workers and gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals face. Although discrimination among these groups is not new, this Handbook shows that economists are beginning to more fully document their experiences. Part 3 presents a balanced discussion of anti-discrimination policies and the impact of affirmative action. The methods and data chapters are particularly designed to encourage researchers to utilize the new approaches and develop new data sources.Accessible and comprehensive, the Handbook is the seminal reference on the economics of discrimination for academic and professional economists, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, practitioners, policymakers, and funders of social science research.

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Innovation is crucial for small enterprises to become and remain competitive in the global economy. In this book, the authors have combined theoretical insights with comprehensive case studies on innovation among small-scale enterprises in developing countries, paying particular attention to technological change in clusters of small firms.The authors deliberately use a broad definition of innovation in order to emphasise the fact that technological change and innovation adoption takes place on a wider scale and in a greater number of forms than is frequently assumed. The unusual case studies such as the Kenyan food processing sector, furniture making in Nicaragua and tile manufacturing in Indonesia highlight the patterns of innovation adoption and diffusion, and serve as a unique and fascinating backdrop to the study. The authors pay specific attention to innovation by small enterprises in times of economic crisis and go on to assess the mechanisms employed to promote innovation. They demonstrate that although radical innovation among small enterprises occurs on a limited scale, innovation through gradual incremental improvements in production processes and products is continuous. Innovation and Small Enterprises in the Third World will be widely read by academics, researchers and policymakers concerned with innovation adoption and diffusion, and third world development issues.

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This book is unique in providing the first full English translation of Menger's seminal article Geld - one of the most influential papers on the origin of money. The editors aim to facilitate a broader and more detailed discussion of Menger's method, theory and findings with this translation and in depth analysis.Menger's institutional approach is applied and extended to the analysis of the evolution of payments systems, focusing in particular on electronic money, on its institutional character, and on monetary policy as well as predictions of likely future developments.Carl Menger and the Evolution of Payments Systems will be of great interest to financial economists and Austrian economists as well as historians of economic thought.

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The past decade has seen both some new trends in the economics of transportation and the reinforcement of work from previous periods. Econometrics and innovative programming techniques have developed the work on production efficiency and interest in demand analysis has continued. Of increasing importance in recent years are the environmental implications of transportation as well as safety and security concerns. Economists are also addressing the problems of congestion with particular regard to new policy initiatives which tie transportation more closely to land-use patterns and telecommunications. In this volume Kenneth Button brings together some of the most significant previously published articles by leading academics in all these crucial areas.

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Just as society has realised the value of entrepreneurs, so entrepreneurs are gradually realising the value of strategic marketing. In this book, the authors explain the substantial role of marketing in the success of small firms which have emerged in the new business environment of the past 10 to 15 years. Entrepreneurial marketing is especially important for small, developing firms which have to consider emerging business and market trends, and so a model is presented specifically tailored to the needs of expanding entrepreneurial ventures. The authors also critically analyse the extent to which mainstream marketing and entrepreneurship theory are useful in entrepreneurial marketing. They argue that to be fully effective, marketing must be viewed from a broad perspective and as a value-creating process.In order to understand the dynamic pattern of growth of small entrepreneurial ventures, they emphasise the importance of making a clear distinction between: managerial growth and entrepreneurial growth entrepreneurship, management and leadership transactional marketing, relationship marketing and complex combinations focal organisations and virtual organisations explorative learning and exploitative learning value configurations and value chains. This book will be of immense worth to students, scholars and practitioners of marketing and entrepreneurship, and will contribute to a new dialogue between the two disciplines. It will also be of considerable value to the wider business and management community learning to operate and succeed in the new economic era.

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The Environmentalism of the Poor has the explicit intention of helping to establish two emerging fields of study - political ecology and ecological economics - whilst also investigating the relations between them.The book analyses several manifestations of the growing 'environmental justice movement', and also of 'popular environmentalism' and the 'environmentalism of the poor', which will be seen in the coming decades as driving forces in the process to achieve an ecologically sustainable society. The author studies, in detail, many ecological distribution conflicts in history and at present, in urban and rural settings, showing how poor people often favour resource conservation. The environment is thus not so much a luxury of the rich as a necessity of the poor. It concludes with the fundamental questions: who has the right to impose a language of valuation and who has the power to simplify complexity? Joan Martinez-Alier combines the study of ecological conflicts and the study of environmental valuation in a totally original approach that will appeal to a wide cross-section of academics, ecologists and environmentalists.

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This innovative book provides a greater understanding of the relationships between transnational corporations and the economic development of host economies. In the age of globalisation, awareness of the mechanisms through which foreign firms impact on host countries is crucial. The emphasis lies on backward linkages and knowledge transfer to local firms. The book offers a theoretical framework for the activities of TNCs and a review of their impacts on South East Asian economies.The author conveys in-depth information, using extensive data collected from transnational corporations in the Malaysian electrical and electronics sector. A unique approach is adopted by presenting factors explaining the existence as well as the degree of knowledge transfer through backward linkages. To date, no other study has provided a full range of data - qualitative and quantitative - on the existence, as well as the degree, of backward linkages' transfer.Academics, practitioners and students of international business studies, international development and Asian studies will find Transnational Corporations, Technology and Economic Development of great interest, as will business school libraries in European, North American and Asian universities.

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The application of real options theory to the decision making of multinational enterprises (MNEs) is an exciting new area of research within the field of international business. Such contributions will make existing theories in international business (such as internalization theory) dynamic and more realistic. This important collection presents 20 of the most significant articles that apply real options theory to international business and strategic management. The volume organizes the recent literature so that further advances can be made by international business scholars to capitalize on the power and usefulness of the real options approach. Part I includes articles that help to clarify the definitions of real options and the boundaries of applying real options theory to analyze the decision making of firms. Part II consists of applications to operational flexibility of the multinational network. Part III comprises applications to market entry modes among which joint ventures are most widely studied. Part IV refers to applications to market entry timing. Part V includes several applications to strategic management.

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This book argues that the capacity of a country to develop, and the levels of economic and social development achieved, depend more on the institutional parameters within which the development policies are implemented than on the policies themselves. It contends that forces of globalisation influence individual countries' economic and social institutions. The book begins by examining theoretical aspects of social and economic institutions. It goes on to explore the operation of, and change within, these institutions as a result of globalisation, using examples from selected countries over five continents. The contributors conclude that globalisation has produced beneficial impacts on those social institutions which have been necessary for achieving genuine growth and development. On this evidence they argue for the need to embrace globalisation by undertaking relevant institutional changes.Approaching the issue of globalisation from a novel perspective - namely how the forces of globalisation are transforming domestic, social and economic institutions to create greater opportunities for empowerment in individual countries - this book will be a fascinating read for those with an interest in development, institutional and international economics.

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Environmental management, either voluntary or imposed, can add to the costs of nature-based tourism businesses. Such costs can make tourism destinations less competitive, but the same activities can also enhance competitiveness by increasing demand. The aim of this book is to provide an assessment of the relative importance of these two opposing effects in the context of a case study of nature-based tourism in Tropical North Queensland, Australia.The authors estimate the demand side effects using discrete choice modelling to determine the impact of changing environmental conditions on the market share of a variety of tourist destinations. The costs of environmental management are also considered by analysing firm level data. The effects are then integrated using a model of the tourism market that is formulated around nature-based tourism regions. The results show that the competitiveness of a region is enhanced through its environmental management and highlight the importance of self-regulation in the industry when the environment is a common property resource. The authors also draw some insightful conclusions regarding business strategies that would aid the profitability of firms and regions supplying nature-based tourism products. The conceptual foundations developed in the book are not restricted by national boundaries and the empirical analyses can be extended to other nature-based tourism destinations and to other relevant policy issues. As such, this book will have a broad appeal amongst environmentalists, scholars of tourism economics and management, and policymakers concerned with the regulation of the tourism industry and its effect on the environment.

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Most countries apply some form of restrictions to local government budgeting and borrowing, but in various forms and to varying degrees. These restrictions are considered necessary components of a fiscal federalism involving some sort of central government control in local affairs, a design which can be termed 'administrative federalism'. In this comprehensive book Bernard Dafflon introduces the reader to the institutional complexities of fiscal controls in European local public finance.The authors comprehensively explore the issues of government budgeting and borrowing, with the ultimate aim of understanding how mechanisms of fiscal discipline are established and function. Ten European countries are scrutinised on the basis of ten key issues including local budgetary policy-making, the policy effects of local budget deficits and public debt, the rules of amortisation and debt instalment, whether extensive fiscal controls promote budget accountability and discipline, and how the Maastricht criteria concerning deficit and debt can be implemented. They go on to highlight the complicated mix of rules, administrative routines and co-operative arrangements through which each country implements their individual budget controls. Although these arrangements have been successful in avoiding serious fiscal imbalance in the last twenty years, the authors argue that their impact on the broader goals of the government sector remains a more contentious question.This book offers a broad understanding of the rich institutional variations and elaborate fiscal designs in Europe from a comparative perspective. It will be welcomed by political scientists, public sector managers and economists, and scholars, practitioners and advanced students of public policy and fiscal studies.

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Contains 61 articles, dating from 1890 to 2005.

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It is a popular notion that money and output are separate and autonomous entities. Money and Inflation argues that this idea can neither explain the purchasing power of money nor its variations over time, and a new theory is therefore presented in its place.The book aims to provide the foundations for a new analysis of inflation from a macroeconomic perspective. The role of money is investigated in terms of value, prices, profit, and capital accumulation.The author argues that in order to gain a thorough comprehension of inflation it is necessary to focus on the formation of national income, not on its distribution. Sergio Rossi's new approach proposes a structural reform of modern banking systems, and outlines an original macro-theoretical investigation of measurement problems in price index theory.Despite its elective affinity with the works of Ricardo, Walras and Keynes, the new analysis overturns traditional concepts of money. The discussion elicits a deeper understanding of the conditions underlying today's inflationary pressures and prescribes new solutions to permanently eradicate them.This unique and path-breaking study will be of enormous interest to academics, researchers, and students involved in monetary economics, as well as monetary policy makers, and central bank and international banking officials.

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This two volume set critiques an oft neglected area of study. The readings on "Historical Relationships" highlight the divorce between economic analysis and theology that occurred very early in the development of the discipline, and which now seems impossible to bridge. A second selection of readings reflects the critique of economic analysis from a theological perspective that has been developed mainly in the last of the 20th century.

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As national economies become more closely linked, the value of more active corporate and policy level cooperation is becoming increasingly recognised. This book promotes the concept of alliance capitalism - a spirit of collegial entrepreneurship - as a means to facilitate more harmonious development in the international economy. The authors examine balances between the competitive and cooperative activities of firms and governments in major industrialized countries from perspectives of efficiency and social justice. They advocate cooperation to overcome internationalized market failures and policy failures, and to reduce imbalances in the spread of gains from global commerce. This advocacy is based especially on comparisons between corporate and policy level activities in the USA and the EU, and between the USA and the EU. The potential advantages of strengthening cooperation are stressed with emphasis on imperatives being set by continuing technological advances.Alliance Capitalism and Corporate Management will be required reading for all scholars and students of international management and international political economy, business leaders and corporate managers, and decision makers in the fields of industrial and competition policy.

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This book explores the key issues relating to links between exchange rate instability and domestic inflation, including real exchange rate and interest rate manifestations, and the co-variability of exchange rates and commodity prices. The common theme throughout is the behaviour of asset prices and interest rates in international markets.A number of interrelated questions regarding the interactions of exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices are posed: Why is purchasing power parity invariably controversial? Despite overwhelming evidence that sterilised central bank interventions are impotent, why do major industrialised countries (such as the G-7) continue to look for accords to stem exchange rate volatility? Why are the currencies of resource-based economies depreciating when the commodity prices are holding up? Has the link between exchange rates and commodity prices collapsed? In a world of increasing globalisation, why are interest rate movements so poorly correlated across countries? New insights to these and other fundamental questions in international finance are provided by way of empirical analyses. Whilst there remains much that is little understood, the conclusions concerning the validity of the theory of purchasing power parity are becoming more and more reliable.This book is a must-read for graduate students, researchers and lecturers interested in finance, economics or business. Exchange Rates, Interest Rates and Commodity Prices will also appeal to policymakers.

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This volume raises an important question: Given the fast-changing global economy and the challenges it presents, what is the role for the university as an institution promoting sustainable human development?The editors begin by outlining the changes associated with the recent wave of globalization, particularly transformations in the relative power of institutions internationally. They analyze the constraints universities face in industrialized and developing countries in promoting sustainable human development. The authors in Part I point out the need for the university to take a role in meeting the challenges of globalization so they examine the effects of the increased market focus of the world economy on several types of nations - low-income (Jamaica), transitional (Slovenia), peripheral to industrialized nations (Ireland) - and on women, a typically disadvantaged group. Contributors to the second half of the volume provide a variety of perspectives and concrete examples that highlight the roles universities can play in fostering development beneficial to communities and nations. Promising initiatives in Malaysia and India and at a university in the United States are discussed as well as the general lessons each offers. Collectively, the authors suggest that, as an institution, the university can and should play an important role in promoting sustainable human development. Readers interested in economic development, regional studies, globalization and community development will find this book a unique and important contribution.

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