Economy

The title of this book,--or, more accurately, of its subject;--for no author was ever less likely than I have lately become, to hope for perennial pleasure to his readers from what has cost himself the most pains,--will be, perhaps, recognised by some as the last clause of the line chosen from Keats by the good folks of Manchester, to be written in letters of gold on the cornice, or Holy rood, of the great Exhibition which inaugurated the career of so many,--since organized, by both foreign governments and our own, to encourage the production of works of art, which the producing nations, so far from intending to be their "joy for ever," only hope to sell as soon as possible.

This textbook covers the Contract Law option of the new A-level law syllabus, and provides at the same time an ideal introduction for anybody coming to the subject for the first time.

This book, examining smart-city trends and developments from global, Chinese and EU perspectives, shows how the concept of the smart city varies from city to city. A detailed analysis is made to present the smart city as an up-to-date model of world city. Thirty pilot cities answer questions designed by the “Smart City Evaluation Framework,” including managerial entities, stakeholders, project description and performance and whatever else relates to smart cities.

Health Care Finance: Basic Tools for Nonfinancial Managers is the most practical financial management text for those who need basic financial management knowledge and a better understanding of healthcare finance in particular. Using actual examples from hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home health agencies, this user-friendly text includes practical information for the nonfinancial manager charged with budgeting. The Fourth Edition offers: - An expanded chapter on Electronic Records Adoption: Financial Management Tools & Decisions - New chapter : “ICD-10 Adoption and Healthcare Computer Systems” - New chapter: “Other Technology Adoption and Management Decisions” - New chapter: “Strategic Planning and the Healthcare Financial Manager” - New case study: "Strategic Planning in Long-Term Care" that connects with the chapter on strategic planning - New appendix: "Appendix C: Employment Opportunities in Healthcare Finance"

A compelling narrative on what went wrong with our financial system—and who’s to blame. From an award-winning journalist who has been covering the industry for more than a decade, The Devil’s Derivatives charts the untold story of modern financial innovation—how investment banks invented new financial products, how investors across the world were wooed into buying them, how regulators were seduced by the political rewards of easy credit, and how speculators made a killing from the near-meltdown of the financial system. Author Nicholas Dunbar demystifies the revolution that briefly gave finance the same intellectual respectability as theoretical physics. He explains how bankers worldwide created a secret trillion-dollar machine that delivered cheap mortgages to the masses and riches beyond dreams to the financial innovators. Fundamental to this saga is how “the people who hated to lose” were persuaded to accept risk by “the people who loved to win.” Why did people come to trust and respect arcane financial tools? Who were the bankers competing to assemble the basic components into increasingly intricate machines? How did this process achieve its own unstoppable momentum—ending in collapse, bailouts, and a public outcry against the giants of finance? Provocative and intriguing, The Devil’s Derivatives sheds much-needed light on the forces that fueled the most brutal economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Urbanization is one of the major challenges facing China. Of China’s 1.3 billion people, around half still live in rural areas. There has been huge migration from rural areas to cities in recent years, a trend that is likely to continue strong for some time. The strains that this vast migration puts on China’s cities are enormous. This book makes available for the English-speaking reader the results of a large group of research projects undertaken by CDRF, one of China’s leading think tanks, into the details of rural-urban migration, the resulting urban growth and the problems associated with all this. The book goes on to put forward a new strategy, which aims to ensure that China’s urbanization proceeds in an orderly manner and that people and their needs are put at the centre of the strategy. Key parts of the strategy include that 'city clusters' should become the main form of urbanization; that these should be arranged geographically in a pattern of 'two horizontal lines and three vertical lines'; that industrial and employment structures should highlight regional features and diversity; that urban public services should be more equitably distributed; that there should be new forms of urbanization management and city governance to accelerate urbanization and ensure harmonious social development; and that the whole process should be conducted in an ecological, 'green' way.

Technological Superpower China explores how China is becoming a technological superpower within the global economy by integrating its national R&D programmes with the innovation systems of national and international corporations. Jon Sigurdson provides a thorough and comprehensive analysis of China’s knowledge foundation in technology and R&D following its dynamic march forward in the early 1980s. The author describes how China’s narrow window of opportunity - before becoming an ageing nation - has prompted the country to hurriedly mobilize resources in the hope of becoming a technological superpower within the next few decades. He examines how advances in higher education, human resources development, technology access through FDI, technology transfer, ICT, space and defence technology and corporate technology are being exploited in the race to emerge as an advanced knowledge economy nation. Exploring the changes in China that are transforming the technological landscape of the country, this book will be a fascinating read for academics, students and researchers interested in China’s development, the foundations of its economic growth and its role in regional and political affairs.

Great individuals are assumed to cause the success of radical innovations--thus Henry Ford is depicted as the one who established the automobile industry in America. Hayagreeva Rao tells a different story, one that will change the way you think about markets forever. He explains how "market rebels"--activists who defy authority and convention--are the real force behind the success or failure of radical innovations. Rao shows how automobile enthusiasts were the ones who established the new automobile industry by staging highly publicized reliability races and lobbying governments to enact licensing laws. Ford exploited the popularity of the car by using new mass-production technologies. Rao argues that market rebels also establish new niches and new cultural styles. If it were not for craft brewers who crusaded against "industrial beer" and proliferated brewpubs, there would be no specialty beers in America. But for nouvelle cuisine activists who broke the stranglehold of Escoffier's classical cuisine in France, there would have been little hybridization and experimentation in modern cooking. Market rebels also thwart radical innovation. Rao demonstrates how consumer activists have faced down chain stores and big box retailers, and how anti-biotechnology activists in Germany penetrated pharmaceutical firms and delayed the commercialization of patents. Read Market Rebels to learn how activists succeed when they construct "hot causes" that arouse intense emotions, and exploit "cool mobilization"--unconventional techniques that engage audiences in collective action. You will realize how the hands that move markets are the joined hands of market rebels.

An in-depth look at the essential issues surrounding zombie institutions and their effect on the global economy. Zombie banking has become standard operating procedure for big debtor nations. They prop up failing institutions, print money, and avoid financial corrections. But in an attempt to prolong the inevitable, bigger problems are created. The approach used now has not, and will not, work. This timely book reveals why. Zombie Banks tells the story of how debtor nations and failing institutions are damaging the long-term prospects of the global economy. Author Yalman Onaran, a veteran Bloomberg News reporter and financial banking-sector expert, examines exactly what a zombie bank is and why they are kept alive. He also discusses how they hurt economic recovery and what needs to be done in order to restore stability. Along the way, Onaran takes an honest look at how we arrived at this point and details the harsh realities that must be faced, and the serious steps that must be taken, in order to get things headed in the right direction. Puts insolvent banks and debtor nations in the spotlight and examines how they are crippling the global economy On the record sources include Paul Volcker, Joseph Stiglitz, Sheila Bair, and many more bank executives, regulators, politicians, and policymakers in the United States and abroad Takes the complexity of the current situation and translates it in a way that makes it understandable While the short-term measures taken to stave off depression and rejuvenate economic growth may offer hope, they are unsustainable over the long term. Get a better look at what really lies ahead, and what it will take to improve our economic situation, with this book.

For years, America has been plagued by slow economic growth and increasing inequality. Yet economists have long taught that there is a tradeoff between equity and efficiency-that is, between making a bigger pie and dividing it more fairly. That is why our current predicament is so puzzling: today, we are faced with both a stagnating economy and sky-high inequality. In The Captured Economy , Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles identify a common factor behind these twin ills: breakdowns in democratic governance that allow wealthy special interests to capture the policymaking process for their own benefit. They document the proliferation of regressive regulations that redistribute wealth and income up the economic scale while stifling entrepreneurship and innovation. When the state entrenches privilege by subverting market competition, the tradeoff between equity and efficiency no longer holds. Over the past four decades, new regulatory barriers have worked to shield the powerful from the rigors of competition, thereby inflating their incomes-sometimes to an extravagant degree. Lindsey and Teles detail four of the most important cases: subsidies for the financial sector's excessive risk taking, overprotection of copyrights and patents, favoritism toward incumbent businesses through occupational licensing schemes, and the NIMBY-led escalation of land use controls that drive up rents for everyone else. Freeing the economy from regressive regulatory capture will be difficult. Lindsey and Teles are realistic about the chances for reform, but they offer a set of promising strategies to improve democratic deliberation and open pathways for meaningful policy change. An original and counterintuitive interpretation of the forces driving inequality and stagnation, The Captured Economy will be necessary reading for anyone concerned about America's mounting economic problems and the social tensions they are sparking.

This nontechnical book provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary survey of political economy that can easily be understood by any reader with an introductory-level background in economics. • Provides in-depth historical analysis of the development of political/economic ideologies and their influence on contemporary debates among social scientists as well as the general public • Gathers ideas and policy proposals from many prominent social scientists representing divergent ideological perspectives into a single volume • Analyzes the roles of science and ideology in the development of political economy • Exposes students to the findings of advanced social science research in easily understood and accessible language

Coffee has been grown on Java for the commercial market since the early eighteenth century, when the Dutch East India Company began buying from peasant producers in the Priangan highlands. What began as a commercial transaction, however, soon became a system of compulsory production. This book shows how the Dutch East India Company mobilised land and labour, why they turned to force cultivation, and what effects the brutal system they installed had on the economy and society.

In a world increasingly organised as networks of cities, this book offers the first full-length treatment of the subject of managing the city economy. It explores key challenges and strategies, particularly in developing countries, where developmental deficits are greatest and almost all urban growth up to 2050 will take place. Adopting a practitioner’s perspective, theoretically grounded and international in scope, this book is unique in its focus and endeavours to connect theory with practice. Through an interdisciplinary and strategic approach, this book explores the challenges and options in managing the contemporary city economy. It aims to illustrate the extent to which appropriate policy interventions in the city economy could offer effective solutions to some of the most difficult social and environmental challenges facing cities. The book comprises five main parts. Part I sets the scene and examines contemporary processes that affect cities and explains the challenges they pose for city managers. Part II presents a selection of conceptual frameworks commonly used in urban economic analysis. Part III examines the management of sectoral growth, covering manufacturing, exports of services, transport and logistics, and real estate. Part IV addresses urban poverty, low-carbon transition and the informal economy. Part V focuses on laying the foundation for long-term city development, exploring the roles of city development strategies, municipal finance, investment in people and appropriate infrastructure. This book is designed for graduate courses in urban economic development, urban planning, urban policy and public administration, and for professionals who are involved in the management of city economies or/and conducting research, consultancy or policy advocacy for cities. Through critical review of relevant debates and a dozen case studies this book will equip city managers with the knowledge required to strengthen the performance of their city economy while delivering authentic and sustainable development.

Society and Economy―a work of exceptional ambition by the founder of modern economic sociology―is the first full account of Mark Granovetter’s ideas about the diverse ways in which society and economy are intertwined. The economy is not a sphere separate from other human activities, Granovetter writes. It is deeply embedded in social relations and subject to the same emotions, ideas, and constraints as religion, science, politics, or law. While some actions can be understood in traditional economic terms as people working rationally toward well-defined ends, much human behavior is harder to fit into that simple framework. Actors sometimes follow social norms with a passionate faith in their appropriateness, and at other times they conform without conscious thought. They also trust others when there is no obvious reason to do so. The power individuals wield over one another can have a major impact on economic outcomes, even when that power arises from noneconomic sources. Although people depend on social norms, culture, trust, and power to solve problems, the guidance these offer is often murky and complicated. Granovetter explores how problem solvers improvise to assemble pragmatic solutions from this multitude of principles. He draws throughout on arguments from psychology, social network studies, and long-term historical and political analysis and suggests ways to maneuver back and forth among these approaches. Underlying Granovetter’s arguments is an attempt to move beyond such simple dualisms as agency/structure to a more complex and subtle appreciation of the nuances and dynamics that drive social and economic life.

The internet represents a rapidly evolving set of technologies which is central to the development of a modern economy. Internet Economics: Models, Mechanisms and Management integrates knowledge about internet service design with economic modelling principles (pricing, cost and service models). Chapters highlight specific applications of the internet such as service provisioning, cloud computing, commerce, business security, network externalities, social media and more recent developments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), the industrial internet, data analytics and the use of big data to bring value to commercial ventures. Therefore, readers will have a conceptual and practical framework for understanding the economics of internet infrastructure and service delivery. This text is essential reading for students and professionals involved in business programs and courses that focus on the commercial aspects of internet services and industries that rely on internet-based technologies.

An efficient air transport system is critical to countries attaining and sustaining healthy economies in an increasingly interconnected world economy. Competing successfully now means quick shipping over long distances at reasonable rates. Societies also prosper when people from different countries can travel around the world using efficient transport. This volume includes literature surveys and original empirical research examining airline efficiency in the twenty first century.Topics cover airline productivity, sources of airline efficiency, the cost and scope of operations in airline transport; airline productivity for different global regions; methodologies estimating productivity growth and efficiency. Further chapters on sources of airline efficiency examine fuel efficiency differences, efficiency in different stages of production, and the contributions of technological change, mergers, and low-cost carrier competition to efficiency. Chapters on the cost and scope of operations examine all-cargo carrier efficiency, gains from airline/high speed-rail cooperation, and airport economies of scope in passenger and freight operations.

Why the United States has developed an economy divided between rich and poor and how racism helped bring this about. The United States is becoming a nation of rich and poor, with few families in the middle. In this book, MIT economist Peter Temin offers an illuminating way to look at the vanishing middle class. Temin argues that American history and politics, particularly slavery and its aftermath, play an important part in the widening gap between rich and poor. Temin employs a well-known, simple model of a dual economy to examine the dynamics of the rich/poor divide in America, and outlines ways to work toward greater equality so that America will no longer have one economy for the rich and one for the poor. Many poorer Americans live in conditions resembling those of a developing country―substandard education, dilapidated housing, and few stable employment opportunities. And although almost half of black Americans are poor, most poor people are not black. Conservative white politicians still appeal to the racism of poor white voters to get support for policies that harm low-income people as a whole, casting recipients of social programs as the Other―black, Latino, not like "us." Politicians also use mass incarceration as a tool to keep black and Latino Americans from participating fully in society. Money goes to a vast entrenched prison system rather than to education. In the dual justice system, the rich pay fines and the poor go to jail.

This book tells the story behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s use of the phrase "living wage" in a variety of speeches, letters, and statements, and examines the degree to which programs of the New Deal reflected the ideas of a living wage movement that existed in the US for almost three decades before Roosevelt was elected president. Far from being a side issue, the previously unexplored living wage debate sheds light on the New Deal philosophy of social justice by identifying the value judgments behind its policies. Moving chronologically through history, this book's highlights include the revelation of a living wage agenda under the War Industry Board (WIB)'s National War Labor Board (NWLB) during World War I, the unearthing of long-forgotten literature from the 1920s and 30s that formed the foundation of Roosevelt's statements on a living wage, and the examination of contemporary studies that used a simple living wage formula combining collective bargaining, social insurance, and minimum wage as a standard for social justice used to measure the impact of New Deal polices.

Few political parties have been as misunderstood—or as roundly condemned—as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. With this book, Joseph Daher presents a new way of looking at Hezbollah: through the lens of political economy. By discarding more common approaches to the party that focus on religious discourse or military questions, Daher is freed up to analyze what the party actually is: an organization that is operating within a specific political and socio-economic context, one that simultaneously offers it a rich ground of support and limits its range of action. Daher clearly and carefully positions Hezbollah within that context, focusing on its historic ties with its main sponsor, Iran, its media and cultural wings, its relationship with Western economic policies, and the impact of the Shi’a population on the sectarian politics of Lebanon. Offering additional attention to the party’s positions on worker’s rights and women’s issues, this fresh take on Hezbollah will be incredibly useful for understanding the world’s most tumultuous region.

Pakistan occupies a paradoxical, even contradictory place in American foreign policy. Nominally a strategic ally in the war on terror, it is the third-largest recipient of US aid in the world. At the same time, it is run by its military and intelligence service—whose goals certainly do not always overlap with US priorities. This book offers a close look at what the rise of the military has meant for Pakistani society. Ayesha Siddiqa shows how entrenched the military has become, not just in day-to-day governance, but in the Pakistani corporate sector as well. What are the consequences of this unprecedented merging of the military and corporate sectors? What does it mean for Pakistan’s economic development—let alone for hopes of an eventual return to democracy and de-militarization? This new edition brings Siddiqa’s account fully up to date with a new preface and conclusion that emphasize the changing role of the media.