The 1990s represented for several Latin American countries, Brazil in particular, a remarkable period. New international scenario and changes in the traditional way of economic policymaking have led to an unprecedented economic environment, with low inflation rates, broader access to imported goods and reduced interference from the State, among other characteristics.By the end of such a unique period the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a United Nations agency, sponsored a regionwide project of growth and equity in Latin America in the 1990s, as an effort to improve the knowledge of the economic reforms undertaken in Latin America during that decade. This book presents the main results of the project for the Brazilian economy, with systematic information and analysis of several aspects of those unprecedented changes. The works published here were made by well-known Brazilian experts, several of them with previous high-ranking experience in the public sector.

This text is about transformation in the framework of European integration. The Balkan countries have acquired particular importance since the 1990s due to their domestic destabilisation and have been looking for good examples and ideas to pursue development in ethnically complex and conflicting areas.

A banking system emerged in Brazil during the early 20th century that was efficiently and productively supported by economic development. However, it also contained the seeds of its future limitations. This banking system did not equalize conditions across sectors or regions as existing theory and historiography anticipated. Deeply embedded institutional constraints limited banking's contribution to long-term development. The three most important institutional constraints were insecure property rights, continual tension between the system's public and private sector functions, and competition between the Federal State and the states. Nevertheless, the banking system was an effective tool in the consolidation of an economy of national scope during these crucial years. As a modern banking system emerged, its use in national consolidation both magnified and reflected its limitations.

The book investigates the EU preferential trade policy and, in particular, the impact it had on trade flows from developing countries. It shows that the capability of the "trade as aid" model to deliver its expected benefits to these countries crucially differs between preferential schemes and sectors. The book takes an eclectic but rigorous approach to the econometric analysis by combining different specifications of the gravity model. An in-depth presentation of the gravity model is also included, providing significant insights into the distinctive features of this technique and its state-of-art implementation. The evidence produced in the book is extensively applied to the analysis of the EU preferential policies with substantial suggestions for future improvement. Additional electronic material to replicate the book's analysis (datasets and Gams and Stata 9.0 routines) can be found in the Extra Materials menu on the website of the book.

While the economic opportunities offered by globalization can be large, a question is often raised as to whether the actual distribution of gains is fair, in particular, whether the poor benefit less than proportionately from globalization and could under some circumstances be hurt by it. This book examines the various channels and transmission mechanisms, such as greater openness to trade and foreign investment, economic growth, effects on income distribution, technology transfer and labour migration through which the process of globalization affects different dimensions of poverty in the developing world.

The essays in this book examine the role of education and the university in economic development. It is the contention of the contributors that knowledge--ideas and skilled and educated people--are increasingly important for economic development. How to promote inclusive development--the process of development that includes every citizen in any country--has become a wide-ranging puzzle.

After framing the problems associated with globally integrated learning processes from the perspective of science and technology policies, the essayists look at the role of the university in the knowledge economy drawing examples from the United States, Japan, and Portugal. They then review the role of innovation in the industrial policies of a variety of countries, look at systems of knowledge creation and diffusion, and conclude with commentary on the roles of public planning and policy in the achievement of sustainable development. This wide-ranging examination of knowledge and development issues will be of value to scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with economic growth and development.

This unique text has as its main themes the development of Greek regions and the impact of the structural policies of the European Union on their progress and prosperity. By analyzing the regional policy of the country during the last decades and presenting the current trends, the book provides evidence on the gradual reduction in regional disparities in Greece. Emphasis is given to the geographic and socio-economic characteristics of the 13 regions of Greece and the objectives of the Community Support Framework for the period 2000 - 2006. Separate chapters are devoted to the development prospects of the Greek islands, the big cities and the mountainous areas. Original maps, tables and graphs together with a comprehensive text make this book a valuable reading for administrators, diplomats, regional scientists, geographers, planners, economists, sociologists, as well as for students of social sciences.

This book offers a unique analysis of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). By developing a new, power-focused paradigm for understanding the international investment framework, the author illustrates why there was no paradoxical behaviour when developing countries agreed to the BIT regime, and what has spurred their reaction against it now. She also examines how attempts to regulate investment at a multilateral level have failed, and why the rules of the framework are evolving. Inspired by the work of Susan Strange, Gwynn fills a significant lacuna in our understanding of these issues by demonstrating how power determines the actions of all those involved. This holistic reinterpretation of international investment focuses in particular on Latin America, but has wider implications for the negotiation of new treaties, including such controversial provisions as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It will appeal to lawyers, economists, political scientists and scholars of Latin America.

This book applies regional analysis to the challenges facing global investment agencies seeking to enhance trade in lagging regions. It shows how spatial interaction and agent-based modelling can be used as the basis for developing new plans and policies. An in-depth analysis of trade routes is presented, which can be used to develop policies for increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Landlocked Uganda and the sea-locked South Pacific Islands serve to illustrate the problems of covering sizable distances, accelerating export flows and improving supply chain efficiency. These examples also provide an excellent illustration of the power of regional science, from assembling data bases in difficult situations to developing and applying models of the trade system.

"This book investigates issues related to health inequality with a particular interest on developing countries. It provides rigorous empirical work on both trends and causal factors behind health inequality, analyzes the implications of health deprivations on poverty traps and suggests practical policies which can be implemented"--

Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa analyzes the extent to which, how, and how fast the infrastructure needs of the poor have been met in Sub-Saharan Africa. Estache and Wodon explore the extent to which some key policies have hurt or helped progress in trying to speed the expansions of coverage so clearly needed in the region. They focus on electricity, water, sanitation, and other services at the core of the day-to-day needs of the population, examining the extent to which reforms of the last 15-20 years have managed to reduce the infrastructure gap. They anchor their analysis on the evidence available about the macroeconomic importance of infrastructure for the region, the policies that have been adopted to accelerate coverage, and a detailed assessment of the poverty dimensions of infrastructure.

Provides an updated view of knowledge management strategies of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) by focusing on how those firms manage innovation in their value chains and at the territorial level. Offers an original analysis of key processes of KIBS, specializing in design, professional firms and information technology.

This volume investigates the specific role of transnational corporations in the process of globalization and economic development. While it draws on a long history of academic research, it also shows new ways forward. It makes headway both in conceptual as well as empirical terms. Topics covered include locational clustering, research and development partnering, productivity spillovers, privatization, disinvestment, terrorism, and the role of and impact on transnational corporations. A future research agenda is also put forward.

This book investigates how environmental qualities can be managed through social capacity development in developing countries. To this end, the book proposes a concept of social capacity assessment (SCA) and presents empirical tools for the SCA which can be used for the analysis in developing countries. This book also presents applications of the SCA for other problems under scrutiny in developing countries, including poverty reduction, infrastructure management and protection of endangered species.

In the late 20th century, structural adjustment policies became the West's received wisdom as a solution to the economic problems of the South. Based on detailed empirical research, the contributors to this volume take a more heterodox and even critical approach. Many of the issues raised here are now being assimilated into a new post-Washington Consensus. The range of geographical coverage matched with the coherence of the approaches taken by the contributors allows striking comparisons to be made.

With the concessional lending operations of the World Bank and IMF having expanded dramatically in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, Liam Clegg provides a timely analysis of the institutional dynamics shaping this aspect of the institutions' operations. Drawn from staffs' own understandings of their operational environments, the volume explores the dynamics of power surrounding these activities. As shareholder states continue to push the institutions to demonstrate their effective contribution to global poverty reduction, they alter the opportunities available for a range of stakeholders to shape operational practice in these key arenas of global economic governance. By demonstrating that current developments are serving to tilt the balance in the 'asymmetric accommodation' between shareholders and stakeholders towards the former, the author highlights some of the most controversial areas of World Bank and IMF operations.

This book first shows that the past 40 years of China's economic reform and opening up represents the greatest magnitude of economic growth in history. Based on field trips, extensive and intensive interviews and literature surveys, this book argues that there are five general lessons for a rapid growing economy from China's economic reform and opening up, all in the area of the relationship between the government and the economy. First, the local governments need to be incentivized to help rapid entry and development of enterprises. Second, local governments need to be incentivized to help rapid land conversion from agricultural to non-agricultural. Third, financial deepening is vital; that is, inducing households to hold more and more financial assets in local currency. Financial deepening is essential to convert savings into investments. This requires financial stability, which is crucial. Fourth, the learning through opening up is the key to endogenous economic growth. The fundamental benefit of opening up is learning rather than enjoying comparative advantage. The fifth and final lesson from China is that the central government must proactively manage the macroeconomy. The rationale is that enterprises compete with each other in games of industrial organization. In order to resolve this problem, proactive measures including market-oriented means, administrative orders and reform measures should be implemented. Overall, the main lesson from China's past 40 years of reform and opening up is that proper incentives and behavior of the government, local and central, are important for economic growth. China has been conducting reforms in this regard and as a result, the government more or less has been playing the role of a "helping hand" regarding economic growth, although China's economic system is far from perfect and many reforms are still needed.

International migration and urbanization are potential solutions for stabilizing the global economy and bolstering local and regional economies. However, if unregulated, they can also put market stability at risk and cause new social problems in both developed and developing countries. Urbanization and Migration as Factors Affecting Global Economic Development takes a close look at the impact of urbanization and international migration on the global economy. Studying the dynamics of these two phenomena in countries across the world, as well as the varying successes of regional regulations, this publication is a valuable resource for academics interested in further research in urbanization, migration, and global economic efficiency, as well as policymakers involved in regulating international migration and urbanization.

Wal-Marts' ubiquity presents a potential problem for policymakers confronting local issues (zoning, infrastructure, taxation, etc.) which influence the location of new stores. Despite a proliferation of Wal-Mart related writing, the consensus among researchers writing peer review work is far less conclusive than either the critics or advocates of the retailer contend. This makes disentangling the effect of Wal-Mart on local economies increasing difficult. While there have been other books on Wal-Mart, none has provided scholarly economic analysis of the impact of this retail giant. The Local Economic Impact of Wal-Mart is the first to fill this gap with a critical review of the existing literature; it also provides significant empirical evidence which highlights important questions. This book will be a critical addition for all collections in Business, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. "The author is interested in facts. He asks the right questions and provides the answers that thorough research suggests. He surveys the weight of evidence and analysis in the existing literature, and adds some informed insights of his own. This is what good economists are supposed to do. There are no wild claims or hidden agendas here. This book is a triumph of empiricism over mysticism." - Lawrence W. Reed, President, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Midland, Michigan

Productivity growth is a keyword for sustainable economic growth in a knowledge-based society. There has been significant methodological development in the literature on productivity and efficiency analysis, e.g. SFA (Stochastic Frontier Analysis) and DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). All these methodological developments should be matched with applications in order to provide practical implications for private and public decision-makers. This volume provides a collection of up-to-date and new applications of productivity and efficiency analysis. In particular, the case studies cover various economic issues in the Asia-Pacific region. The authors analyze the performance of manufacturing firms, banks, venture capital, broadcasting firms, as well as the issues of efficiency in the education sector, regional development, and defense industry. These case studies will shed light on the potential contribution of productivity and efficiency analysis to the enhancement of economic performance.

Over the last thirty years, China has been reforming its economy at breakneck speed. However a surge in nationalism is threatening China's relations with its neighbours and its rise to regional leadership. This book addresses a wide range of factors influencing the development of China's model and its influence on the rest of the world.

This book, a second edition, includes new data from the 2010 Census of India and NSS reports on consumer expenditure (2011-12), health and education (2014) to examine poverty in China and India, and how it connects with minorities. Poverty has generally become less acute in both China and India, thanks to an impressively rapid growth especially between 2010 and 2015 when the rest of the world including the US and the EU slowed down following the economic recession of 2008. But the issues of income and non-income inequalities (especially malnutrition in India), marginalization and social exclusion remain as acute as ever in both countries. As well as the use of new primary material in every chapter, the book also critically examines new relevant studies and responds to global perspectives on minority issues. It canvasses a broad range of subjects from global terrorism and civil wars in Libya and Syria, to the Arab Spring and the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism and the Islamic State (ISIS).

Challenging the Emerging Aid Paradigm critically examines central aspects of Western international aid policy, while at the same time exploring non-western especially Chinese aid and assesses to what extent these may be competitive or complementary.

Scholars in the science and technology field have not collectively questioned, much less proposed, an agenda for policy makers. Now is an appropriate time for such an undertaking. First, there is a growing belief that the U.S. national research and development system, like that of many industrial nations, is changing due to global competitive pressures and advancements in information technology and electronic commerce. Second, industry's R&D relationship with the academic research community is changing not only because of the global competition but also because of alterations in the level of government support of fundamental research. As a result, policy makers will need to rethink their approaches to science and technology issues. This volume is a collection of essays by scholars about innovative policy in the knowledge-based economy. By knowledge-based economy we mean one for which economic growth is based on the creation, distribution, and use of technology. As such, innovation policy in such an economy must enhance the creation, distribution, and use of knowledge that leads to the creation, distribution, and use of technology. This volume considers elements of an innovation policy: innovation policy and academic research, innovation policy in electronic commerce, and innovation policy and globalization issues.

This book examines India's new economy -- its strengths, weaknesses and potential. The book covers three key areas of growth in India's economy -- the IT (information technology) sector, export trade (with its externality effects) and the financial sector (in particular, banking reforms).