Still the definitive book on the subject, this volume has been thoroughly revised to cover rapidly changing aspects of the economics of aging. It provides an in-depth examination of the nation's evolving private and public policies on retirement, pension, and health, including, for instance, the dramatic changes in employer-sponsored pensions. New attention is given to the retirement of baby boomers and the financial situation of older women, many of whom still live in poverty. Other topics added to this edition include the proposed new way of measuring poverty, new economic implications of demographic aging, the concept of productive aging', an update on reverse annuity mortgages, hybrid pension plans and pension privatization, and current information on Social Security. This highly readable book is essential for everyone concerned with gerontology. A thorough, rich, and current work, this book is the most comprehensive resource available for students, policymakers, researchers, human resource directors, and in short, all who have a personal or professional interest in the essential questions facing the growing aging population in the United States. It examines changes in retirement patterns, problems of older workers, and the complexity of retirement preparation, as well as pension plan health costs and all the programs affecting financial security.

Discussing global society entails discussing the predominant characteristics of knowledge-based activities in all walks of life. Its main characteristics are based on creativity, innovation, freedom, and networking. The emergence of such a society poses several challenges to all disciplines of social sciences. Within such a context, sociologists must have practical encounters to the theoretical, methodological, and empirical challenges imposed within contemporary global society. In this vein, studying creative cities from an interdisciplinary perspective helps provide critical readings of the phenomenon and the different levels of the concept in reality. The Handbook of Research on Creative Cities and Advanced Models for Knowledge-Based Urban Development provides global models and best practices of creative cities worldwide and illustrates different theoretical blueprints for the better understanding of contemporary global society. While defining key concepts of creative cities, global society, and creative class, the book also clarifies the main differences between hubs, parks, and precincts and their contributions to knowledge-based development. Covering topics that include knowledge economy, social inclusion, and urban mobility, this comprehensive reference is ideal for sociologists, urban planners/designers, political scientists, economists, anthropologists, historians, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book shows how specific historical events and societal forces within Nigeria transcend the choices its political leaders have made to influence the course of the state's political development. Kalu N. Kalu describes a variety of factors that have contributed to the challenges facing state-building and political institutions in Nigeria. Chief among them are the nature of interest aggregation, the dynamics of conflict, and the patterns of state intervention in matters dealing with secularism, distributive politics, economy, security, and autonomy. Kalu succeeds in constructing a more organic concept of political development in Nigeria by creating a model based on rentier politics that captures the critical relationship between state power and economy. By doing so, he goes beyond current scholarship about Nigeria and demonstrates the need for a restructuring of its institutions, offering insight into an enduring narrative that continues to shape Nigerian politics.

This edited volume discusses the development of the new social and impact economy in ten countries around the globe. The new social and impact economy is an attempt to conceptualize developments after the 2008 economic crisis, which emphasized the pifalls of the Neo-Liberal economic system. In the aftermath of the crisis, new organizational entities evolved, which combined social and business objectives as part of their mission. Using data gathered by two recent international research projects-the ICSEM project and the FAB-MOVE project-the book provides an initial portrait of the forces at play in the evolution of the new social and impact economy, linking those to the past crisis as well as to Covid19 and comparing the emergence of the phenomenon in a varied group of countries. The book begins with an overview of the classical definitions of social economy and proposes a comprehensive concept of new social and impact economy, its characteristics, and sources. Ten country chapters as well as a comparative chapter on international social economy organizations follow. The volume concludes with an overall analysis of the data from the country chapters, forming a typology of social economy traditions and linking it to recent Post Capitalism trends. Creating a conceptual framework to analyze the new phenomena in social economy, this volume is ideal for academics and practitioners in the fields of social economy; social, economic and welfare policies; social and business entrepreneurship in a comparative fashion; social and technological innovation as well as CSR specialists and practitioners.

This Handbook brings together leading scholars of European social policy to reinvigorate theoretical, conceptual and substantive debates around European welfare states and societies as well as the 'social dimension' of the European Union. This unique and original collection comes together at a time of substantial economic, social and political turbulence across Europe, changing narratives, ideas and attitudes towards welfare, increasing institutional complexity in the delivery of services, and a 'crisis of legitimacy' for the European project itself compounded by Brexit. It is against this backdrop that the Handbook draws together key commentators in European social policy to engage with and further develop theoretical, conceptual and substantive understandings of social policy in post-crisis Europe. Issues covered include, amongst others, varieties of welfare capitalism, cultural political economy, austerity, territoriality, engendering, multiculturalism, socio-ecological changes, social investment and public attitudes. The Handbook of European Social Policy offers a comprehensive and state-of-the-art reflection on theoretical debates on welfare regimes and the trajectories of the EU's social dimension. It is a key reading and teaching resource for students and academics in social policy. Contributors include: D. Bailey, E. Barberis, D. Beland, A. Borchorst, C. Bruzelius, D. Clegg, M. Daly, C. de la Porte, F. Dukelow, V. Fargion, B. Greve, E. Heins, A. Hemerijck, B. Hvinden, B. Jessop, Y. Kazepov, P. Kennett, B. Kovacs, J. Kvist, N. Lendvai-Bainton, T. Meyer, T. Modood, B. Nolan, K. Petersen, B. Pfau-Effinger, F. Roosma, C. Saraceno, M.A. Schoyen, M. Schroeder, M. Seeleib-Kaiser, B. Siim, M. Souto-Otero, N.-L. Sum, W. van Oorschot

This book explores the ability of the Norwegian school system to support the achievement of formal competencies among children with physical disabilities, as well as its role in the informal dimensions of social participation and networking. Schools contribute to social inclusion in several ways: they are arenas for building official competencies, ensuring future access and success in the labour market. They are also sites for meeting other children, and developing friendships - friendships are not only important for strengthening cognitive development, but are vital to both good mental health and the building of various forms of social capital. By examining schools and the ways in which inclusion is incorporated early, this book aims to bridge the opportunity and employment gap that people with physical disabilities are more likely to face later in life.

This book explores sustainable development from the perspective of resources and energy, based on China's practical experience and cross-disciplinary research. It focuses on major challenges, key solutions and policy recommendations, and studies and explores seven important themes of resources, energy and sustainable development, including: 1) China's low-carbon energy transition, 2) China's urbanization and low-carbon development, 3) China's low-carbon action in cities, 4) China's low-carbon power transition, 5) China's water resources management, 6) electric vehicle development and key metal resources and 7) China's low-carbon development of the iron & steel industry. This book contributes to a more integrated understanding of many themes and their relationships in the area of resources, energy and sustainable development and guides the related policy and management.

Despite the fact that immigration policy is today one of the most salient political issues in the OECD countries, we know surprisingly little about the factors behind the very different choices countries have made over the last decades when it comes to immigrant admission. Why has the balance between inclusion and exclusion differed so much between countries - and for different categories of migrants? The answer that this book provides is that this is to an important extent a result of how domestic labour market and welfare state institutions have approached the question of inclusion and exclusion, since immigration policy does not stand independent from these central policy areas. By developing and testing an institutional explanation for immigrant admission, this book offers a theoretically informed, and empirically rich, analysis of variation in immigration policy in the OECD countries from the 1980s to the 2000s.

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.

The 2012 Republican nomination process went on longer than most pundits predicted early on. While Mitt Romney began the season as the prohibitive favorite, he was tested repeatedly by what was seemingly the Republican flavor of the week (including Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum). The sheer number of candidates who were viewed as legitimate contenders demonstrate the fundamental concern facing Republicans moving forward: a fractured party. The pro-business, Tea Party, and evangelical Christian wings disagreed in 2010 on who would provide the best alternative to Democratic President Barack Obama and as a result created a crippling nomination period. By the time Romney was able to claim victory, he was severely wounded after countless attacks from his fellow Republicans. To this internal discontent, we can also add the changing national demographics that could lead to electoral problems for Republicans in their own right. Consider that Mitt Romney did better with older, white male voters than John McCain had. Unfortunately, the share of the national vote for this demographic decreased from 2008 to 2012. As Rand Paul stated recently, the time has come for Republicans to reach out to individuals who do not fit the stereotyped Republican image if they have any hope of being successful. In this volume, we assess how the 2012 GOP nomination cycle is indicative of just how the Republican Party has become, in the words of pundit Cuck Warren, a "Mad Men Party in a Modern Family World."

How are the deals and decisions of the EU made - in the meeting rooms and at the conference tables, or by informal networks in the back corridors of power? This book addresses an issue of paramount importance concerning the politics of the European Union: aspects of governance and policy making in the EU that are labelled 'informal'. Much of the literature on the EU focuses on the formal facets of EU politics, but uniquely, the subject matter within this book deals with informal aspects such as: the role of personal relationships, the presence of non-hierarchical policy-networks and non-institutional channels of interest representation, and the relevance of the unwritten rules and routines which govern these aspects of EU politics. The contributors ascertain that the study of sectoral policy making in the EU is incomplete without attention to this informal governance, which is normatively and conceptually more complex than is generally assumed. They provide a number of different approaches to the subject, illuminating the nature of informal governance in the EU and demonstrating the way in which its analysis can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of politics and policy making in the EU. This highly original book will be a fascinating read for a wide-ranging audience - including academics, students, researchers and practitioners - with an interest in the governance of the EU.