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Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Development economics
Foreign Direct Investment from emerging economies reached $130 billion in 2005, the highest level ever recorded. The number of multinationals from emerging economies in the global Fortune 500 has increased from 19 in 1990 to 47 in 2005, with about ten of them coming from Latin America. This book focuses on understanding this new phenomenon.
Development is not an all-powerful machinery imposing its will upon powerless actors. Rather, it is a complex process that brings together multiple actors with diverse agendas. Participants' power in affecting outcomes results from their ability to mobilize discursive and material resources and to control and manipulate time and spatial contexts. This work critically examines development practices and various forms of collective action based on detailed ethnographical analysis of the Yacyreta hydroelectric project. The story unfolds in the borderlands of Paraguay and Argentina in the heart of the Latin American Southern Cone where local political cultures are responding to global forces that now dictate economic integration. Although relatively unknown today to the world, this area promises to exert a strong global impact in the near future. The saga of the Yacyreta hydroelectric project on the Argentina-Paraguay border not only illustrates the radical change in the power dynamics of the Latin American Southern Cone region, but also reflects the transformation of development discourse and practice during the last decades. It examines the relationship between the weakened role of the nation-state in decision making and the emergence of nongovernmental organizations and grassroots movements as key development actors. Because the Yacyreta dam is being built in the borderlands of two countries as a binational undertaking, it threatens the boundedness of nation-states precisely where sovereignty is traditionally guarded--the national frontiers. Under these and other global challenges of deterritorialation such as processes of regional integration encouraged by Mercosur (Common Market of the South), popular conflicts have become spatialized, reflecting both the resilience of national imaginings and histories of exclusion and exploitation. This study demystifies populist and romanticized academic constructions of subaltern groups. It shows that the outcomes of popular struggles can be one of accomodation and cooperation and not resistance. Nonetheless, they constitute serious threats to planned development. It challenges current approaches in development that advocate participation, empowerment, and communication.
This book sets out to develop a new framework for the analysis and understanding of large natural disasters occurring in developing countries in the last three decades, and their effects on the economy and society. In doing so, it challenges many of the accepted wisdoms of disaster theory upon which policy prescriptions are built. A number of important issues are addressed and analysed within this framework. The reliability of current statistics about disasters is questioned, and the effects of disaster situations on the main economic aggregates are examined. The author also looks at the importance of indirect disaster effects, the motivations of disaster response, and the impact of both capital loss and disaster response on output. He assesses the minimum level of additional investment required to secure a balanced recovery, and the extent to which a society's structure and dynamics determine people's vulnerability to disasters. Finally, the overall effects of disaster situations on economy and society are considered. The author concludes that although disasters are primarily a problem of development, they are not necessarily a problem for development. What we should be looking at are the underlying social and economic processes within developing countries which structure the impact of natural disasters, rather than at disasters as unforeseen events requiring large scale intervention. An important feature of the book is the deconstruction of the notion of disaster. Disasters, the author points out, cannot be analysed in isolation from the particular social and political setting in which they occur.
As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution and usher in Globalization 4.0, it is more urgent than ever to commit to social and environmental goals such as those outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The theory, research, and practice of concepts such as shared purpose, shared value, and corporate social responsibility have evolved rapidly in order to respond to change and transformation in society, but only in a scattershot, poorly understood way, with no single study offering an integrated view of these dramatic transitions. Emphasizing a global perspective, CSR for Purpose, Shared Value and Deep Transformation takes long-overdue stock of how such transformations are integrated within the trajectory of CSR's core concepts. Taking a deep dive into social entre- and intrapreneurship, innovation, shared value, social impact, stakeholder engagement, and the development of the UN SDGs beyond 2030 Virginia Munro provides a framework for understanding the evolving role of the corporate dollar in the pursuit of a global ecosystem that is more inclusive of all stakeholders. For its theoretical rigor as well as its easily digestible case studies, this book is a must-read for both researchers and students of innovative 'preneurship' and CSR-related concepts, and for those struggling to understand the 'new normal' in a setting for 'new responsibility'. The foreword for this book is written by acknowledged CSR guru and Emeritus Professor Archie Carroll. Additional endorsements supporting this book are supplied by various practitioners and academics including ex-Deputy-Director General of UNESCO and Emeritus Professor Colin Power.
Informal sector has emerged as a critical element in the development process of theentiredevelopingworld.Itisnowwellrecognisedthatsuchasectorprovides employmenttothemajorityoftheworkforceinthepoorcountries.Sometimesthe shareofemploymentintheseactivitiesgoeswaybeyond50%oftotalemployment. Informalusuallyreferstoextra-legalandnon-recordedeconomicactivitiesandcan captureawholearrayofdiverseoccupations, productsandservices.Development Economicsasadisciplinehasnottreatedsuchtopicswithadequatereverence.Text booksdealingwitheconomicdevelopmentdonothaveexclusivesectionsdevoted to the discussion of growth, dynamics and sustenance of informal activities. In particular how informal transactions in?uence employment, output, productivity, wagesandenvironmentisseldomdiscussedformallyintermsofanalyticalm- els. Informal sector does not operate in a vacuum. Thus the general equilibrium linkages involving the informal and formal activities also need to be explored in detailifdevelopmentpoliciesaretobeproperlyevaluated.Thisvolumesuccessfully addressesboththeseissuesanddoesitwithcompetenceandrigour. Authorsofthisvolumehavebeenworkingonthefrontiersofdevelopmentpolicy researchinthecontextofopendevelopingeconomies, focusingmainlyongeneral equilibriumimplicationsofsuchpolicies.Infactoneoftheauthorshaswrittenat length on informal credit market. Sustained research programme on such a topic ofgreatsigni?cancelendscredibilitytothisvolume.Itisalsohightimethats- eralinternationalpublicationsoftheauthorsinrelatedareasareputtogetherina comprehensivemonograph.Iamde?nitesuchavolumewillbeveryhelpfultos- dents, researchers, policy makers and anyone seriously interested in development economics. CentreforStudiesinSocialSciences, Calcutta, India SugataMarjit vii Preface In the last few decades informal sector has drawn serious cognizance among economists in view of its role in developing economies. The earlier contention that the informal sector epitomises the 'residual' sector or a sector of last resort has been belied by a plethora of evidences indicating its dynamic character and its instrumental role in ameliorating unemployment and in propelling the dev- oping economies towards growth and prosperity. This conceptual metamorphosis regarding the informal sector has stimulated revived interest in the phenomenon amongdevelopmenteconomists.Thereexistmanybooksthatdealwiththesector analyticallyorempirically. However, the theoretical analysis of the different aspects of the sector is equally important, especially for formulation of appropriate policy prescriptions. Comparativestaticresults, inmanycases, divergefromtheconventionalresults.We noticedthatalthoughvariousauthorshavepublishedtheoreticalpapersindifferent journals, there are very few books that try to understand the informal sector in a theoreticalframework.Thislacunainculcatedinusaninteresttowritethisbook.
This book highlights strategies for poverty reduction in developing countries, with emphasis on the power of the market mechanism and vigor of the private sector, focusing ODA on a few longer term challenges and leveraging advances in technology to the fullest, and underlining the importance of human rights and security.
Global poverty continues to be a major problem, one that has received much attention and resources for the last 60 years. The developed countries, international institutions such as the World Bank and United Nations, various aid agencies, and civil society have contributed trillions of dollars to fight poverty yet there are more poor today than there were a decade ago. In this hard-hitting polemical Karnani demonstrates what is wrong today's approaches to reducing poverty. He proposes an eclectic approach to poverty reduction that emphasizes the need for business, government and civil society to partner together to create employment opportunities for the poor arguing that the only way they will ever be truly lifted out of poverty is to create jobs that provide financial support for entire local communities in developing nations.
This definitive work mixes case law, public policy, economic strategy, and examines the wide range of issues facing efforts to improve the American economy, to illustrate how economic growth is driven through strong public-private partnerships, and how successful growth strategies from the state and local level operate to grow jobs.
In an age of rising environmental concerns, it has become necessary for businesses to pay special attention the resources they are consuming and the long-term effects of the products they are creating. These concerns, coupled with the current global economic crisis, demand a solution that includes not only business, but politics, ecology, and culture as well. Developing Sustainable Value in Economics, Finance, and Marketing provides the latest empirical research findings on how sustainable development can work not just for organizations, but for the global economy as a whole. This book is an essential reference source for professionals and researchers in various fields, including economics, finance, and marketing; operations management; communication sciences; sociology; and information technology.
The debate on whether high standards of labour market legislation affect economic growth and the rate of employment is topical and important. The contributors to this book address three main issues: how Taiwan's labour market was able to work so well prior to 1996, maintaining full employment for the last 40 years, regardless of the rapid change of industrial structure in the 1980s; what factors can be attributed to the rapid deterioration of Taiwan's labour market performance since 1996; the measures adopted by the Taiwan government in tackling the recent high unemployment rate, how effective these policies are and what lessons scholars and public policy makers in other countries can learn from Taiwan's experience. An integrated labour-market model (a revision of the Harris-Todaro dualistic labour market model) is presented which can be used to analyze labour market operation in other developing countries. The effectiveness of various policies adopted by the Taiwanese government in tackling high unemployment rate is examined and the findings shed light on public policies in other developing and newly industrialized countries.The Labour Market and Economic Development of Taiwan will appeal to scholars of Asian studies, public policy, economic development and labour economists.
There is a cognitive deficit between the holistic vision for human and societal development in Islam and the results achieved by Muslim societies. The authors begin by looking at the Western concept of development, which in recent years has recognized the wider dimensions of human development and the role of institutions. Thus Western thinking has moved toward the Islamic vision and path of development, emphasizing human solidarity, belonging, wellbeing, sharing, concern for others, basic human entitlements, and modest living. The authors illuminate the Quranic vision and the experience of the society organized by the Prophet, which together represent the Islamic paradigm.
One way to reduce the greenhouse gas from IT is green computing, which is the practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems for reducing the use of hazardous materials, maximizing energy efficiency, and promoting the recyclability or biodegradability of products. Sustainable ICTs and Management Systems for Green Computing focuses on information technology using sustainable green computing to reduce energy and resources used. While there are a wide variety of green computing topics, this book is a collection of IT articles using green computing techniques that will provide timely, important technologies and methods of green computing to IT workers, students, and researchers alike.
This collection of articles takes a long look at the dynamics of regionalism in Eastern Asia and shows how although the past limits the future, its hold on our possibilities for peaceful coexistence is not as strong as we think. What makes this volume unique is that Taiwanese scholars are brought together with Malaysian scholars to discuss a subject that is vital to the future of both East and Southeast Asians. Japan's diplomatic history as well as the heritage of its conquest of Eastern Asia is examined alongside China's cultural geography, paradigmatic dynamics, and intra-regional economics. Ties between East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as the influence of American military power and European integration are also thoroughly dealt with. The end result is that the reader is offered multidisciplinary perspectives on present and future regional trends.
Food safety concerns have boosted the Asian demand for quality food in general and products of geographical indications in particular. This book shows how Asian countries are empowering regions and enterprises involved in differentiation strategies, and the effects that this regulation can have.
This book looks at the provision of finance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by the IMF and World Bank in return for economic liberalization, exploring the political motivations of funding and geo-politics in recipients. The effectiveness of funding is questioned, with evidence from four MENA countries.
There are reasons for thinking that this is at last Indonesia's moment on the world stage. Having successfully negotiated its difficult transition to democracy after 1998, Indonesia has held three popular elections with a low level of violence by the standards of southern Asia. Recetly its economic growth rate has been high (above 6 per cent a year) and rising, where China's has been dropping and the developed world has been in crisis. Indonesia's admission in 2009 to the G20 club of the world's most influential states seemed to confirm a status implied by its size, as the world's fourth-largest country by population, and the largest with a Muslim majority. Some international pundits have been declaring that Indonesia is the new star to watch, and that its long-awaited moment in the sun may at last have arrived.
In 2020 the world found itself in a state of flux. A global pandemic disrupted the world order while the digital transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), with its challenges and huge potential benefits, presented a fundamental paradigm shift. How are Africa’s leaders to respond, today? In a crisis, decisive leadership is imperative for the public good, but as we move beyond the pandemic and confront the changes of the 4IR, we must determine how we will adapt. What is clear is that leadership will have to be grounded in scientific and mathematical thinking and in good governance. It follows, then, that for South Africa to succeed as a nation in the 21st century we must be able to provide our people with an all-embracing education – not just science and technology but human and social sciences as well. Leading in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive overview of how the world is changing and lessons we can draw from leaders, particularly in the African context. From Charlotte Maxeke and the Rain Queen Modjadji, to Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, Eric Molobi and Richard Maponya, there is much to learn from great leaders. The challenges of the 21st century are immense – from climate change to social media and the digital divide that deepens our understanding of inequality, particularly in the ‘new normal’. South Africa faces not only a shifting global context but a fraught local context of stagnant growth, rising unemployment and deep-seated inequality, worsened in 2020 by the national lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. The 4IR offers solutions to many of our most pressing problems and we cannot afford to be left behind. The certainty is that the 4IR has arrived. The debates lie in how we respond to it. Tshilidzi Marwala deciphers it all, while providing a framework for navigating these shifts.
This work focuses on researching and establishing the importance of human capital and innovation as determinants of competitive advantages in international trade in the context of rapidly evolving technological advancement, globalization, and economic integration.The processes that accompany the shift from industrial economics to a knowledge-based economy are currently the object of interest of both scientists, politicians, investors and entrepreneurs. In many countries, the traditional sources of socioeconomic development, such as low labor costs, availability of inexpensive raw materials, and favorable geographic location are waning. These economies are searching for new sources of competitive advantage that will allow for maintaining growth, among other things by boosting participation in international trade. The book explores non-traditional drivers of competitiveness in both theory and practice.First, chapters 1 through 4 present theoretical and methodological aspects of the relationships among international trade, human capital and innovation. Here the authors address the controversy associated with the concept of competitiveness itself and its measurement, while paying special attention to the political development of comparative advantages related to international trade. The second part of the monograph, chapters 5 through 8, is of empirical nature. This section contains case studies of selected countries that represent models of various national innovation systems.Finally, the theoretical and practical aspects are integrated, allowing policymakers and financial and business leaders to consider how their decisions can influence their countries competitive positions through their investments in innovation and human capital."
The knowledge economy is the added non-monetary value that society accrues from increased access to data, information, and knowledge in the new, globally connected world. ICT and technology innovation are paving the way for significant economic development opportunities for countries that have embarked in a concerted effort to model their economies according to the knowledge economy principles. Among developing countries, knowledge economy principles are being applied mostly in a sector-wise level, where government intervention with enabling policies coupled with joint efforts by the private sector, academia, and other actors are resulting in durable and sustainable benefits. Cases on Applying Knowledge Economy Principles for Economic Growth in Developing Nations examines cases from developing countries in order to derive an adapted model of knowledge economy that could be applied to developing country conditions. This book contributes to the change of paradigm on how to help developing countries in advancing to better conditions by using ICT-related technology. Covering topics such as learning organizations, green technology, and sustainable organizations, this is a dynamic resource for emerging economies, researchers, students, professors, academicians, and multilateral organizations helping developing countries.
By carefully analyzing a comprehensive data base of questionnaire responses gathered over the past two decades in the developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America, this book arrives at a series of powerful conclusions regarding the determinants of well-being and happiness of all sectors of society. The book explores the relative importance of health and education, as well as addressing social and demographic issues surrounding happiness, and the effect of ageing. Psychological factors are also discussed, such as the effects of a belief in social mobility in the less well-off. The authors explore why income poverty is not the only form of poverty, and focus on other factors that uplift the well-being and happiness of the underprivileged.
This book assesses the challenge to the dominance of Euro-American political and economic liberalism from China’s emergence as a global presence. It does so by exploring China’s search for a balance between competition and integration in the global community. The paradox of resistance to global domination lies in the requirements of accumulating power locally in order to resist power globally. China presents the most significant present-day example of this dual process of participation and resistance, and so Jeremy Paltiel’s work in this book offers intriguing insights into the elusive prospect of equality in a system of global power.
In attaining economic globalization, China needs world economy, world economy also needs China. This book outlines the foundation of an analytically oriented public finance that intends to promote sound development of China, and discusses various contemporary topics, including the impacts of the tradition, the mechanisms of economic policies and operations, the modernization perspective and international trade conflict, as well as current rural issues and the legal environment in China. The book focuses on explaining China's special phenomena, and trying to provide answers to questions on 'why'. The intent of this book is to share the knowledge and experience that author has gained from working in China and the United States of America and to serve as an intellectual bridge for global investors, economists and market watchers in general to understand China better. "This Book is the story of an economic revival unlike anything seen before. It is the story of a "Mixed Economic System" that to date has achieved remarkable economic gains. It is a story of how directed investment with a purpose which combines Government to kick start free enterprise can work. It is also a story of trial and error and practical applications of capital flows based on measured results. It is a story that accentuates the value of pragmatism and flexibility to change course instead of slavish adherence to ideology. It is also a story of how much more needs to be done to spread the economic resurgence across all segments of the population and all regions of the Country. The Book is a "must study" for graduate students in economics and finance." A. Robert Abboud, former Chairmen of the First National Bank of Chicago, Chairman of First City Bank of Texas and President of Occidental Petroleum.
Political Institutions and Development challenges the cliche that 'good institutions' are essential for sustainable socio-economic development by focusing on the need to adapt potential solutions to local conditions. The authors argue that there is no one optimal institutional design that can be successfully applied to any country. The macro- and micro-level studies contained in this book demonstrate that institutions are highly context-dependent and time-sensitive and must be tailored to local conditions. Specifically, law and order, effective governance, ethnic sensitivity, a supporting political culture, civil rights, and individual opportunities to participate in decision-making are also necessary. With its global perspective, this book explores the relationship between political institutions and development from such diverse regions as the Commonwealth of Independent States, East and South Asia, and Latin America. This book will appeal to scholars and researchers in political science, economics, political economy, development studies and globalization. It will also find a wider audience amongst policymakers, development agencies and policy communities throughout the world.
With six essays exploring different aspects of economic growth, poverty, inequality and social security, this book offers a critical perspective on India's development experience since independence. Incisive and empirically rich, the book opens up new vistas in development discourse and informs current policy debates. |
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