Hungary: Towards a Market Economy, first published in 1998, offers a comprehensive assessment of the Hungarian economy, and follows its evolution in the immediate aftermath of the revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Part I describes the macroeconomy, the evolution of monetary policy, the link between the exchange rate and inflation, the inability of fiscal policy to come to terms with public debt and deficits and the evolution of the underground economy. Part II focuses on the microeconomy; the consolidation of the banking sector, the evolution of corporate governance and an analysis of the profitability of export-orientated firms. The final part assesses the labour market and the system of welfare. Hungary: Towards a Market Economy is part of the successful sequence of volumes on major topics in international economics published under the auspices of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, of interest to both policy-makers and specialists.

Why do markets exist? How are they maintained? What are market systems and how are they formed? This book addresses these fundamental questions and challenges the traditional view that markets and market systems are 'natural', asserting instead that they are ideologically coloured and of dubious scientific value.

In this landmark work, Neil Gilbert addresses the long-standing tensions between capitalism and the progressive spirit. Challenging the contemporary progressive outlook on the failures of capitalism, Capitalism and the Progressive Spirit analyzes the empirical evidence for conventional claims about the real level of poverty, the presumed causes and consequences of inequality, the meaning and underlying dynamics of social mobility, and the necessity for more social welfare spending and universal benefits. A careful reading of the research reveals that these issues are far less serious than contemporary progressive claims would have the public believe. Progressive leaders, however, remain firmly wedded to the established social agenda, which conveys a vision of the good society that disregards the historically unprecedented and wide-spread abundance in the advanced post-industrial countries. Meanwhile, the progressive agenda inadvertently caters to the corrosive effects of insatiable consumption and the commodification of everyday life, from which modern capitalism profits. The analysis suggests that it is time to resist the material definition of progress that stands so high on the current agenda and envision alternative ways for government to advance society.

This book, a third edition, has been significantly expanded and updated. It revisits the process of institutional change: its characteristics, determinants and implications for economic performance. New chapters address the significance of Post-Communist transition, the differences and importance of initial conditions in institutional building, and, social norms, values, and happiness. Other chapters have been expanded to include, for example, a focus on the Washington consensus, commentary on the 2008 financial crisis, state capacity and corruption, and new findings on redistribution and inequality. With specific focus on Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, this revised edition examines the process of development, and its interdependence with institutions.

An influential sociologist revives materialist explanations of class, while accommodating the best of rival cultural theory. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, analysis of class and other basic structures of capitalism was sidelined by theorists who argued that social and economic life is reducible to culture-that our choices reflect interpretations of the world around us rather than the limitations imposed by basic material facts. Today, capitalism is back on the agenda, as gross inequalities in wealth and power have pushed scholars to reopen materialist lines of inquiry. But it would be a mistake to pretend that the cultural turn never happened. Vivek Chibber instead engages cultural theory seriously, proposing a fusion of materialism and the most useful insights of its rival. Chibber shows that it is possible to accommodate the main arguments from the cultural turn within a robust materialist framework: one can agree that the making of meaning plays an important role in social agency, while still recognizing the fundamental power of class structure and class formation. Chibber vindicates classical materialism by demonstrating that it in fact accounts for phenomena cultural theorists thought it was powerless to explain. But he also shows that aspects of class are indeed centrally affected by cultural factors. The Class Matrix does not seek to displace culture from the analysis of modern capitalism. Rather, in prose of exemplary clarity, Chibber gives culture its due alongside what Marx called "the dull compulsion of economic relations."

This book tries to integrate the different arrangements devised in the MTS for small and large NMEs into one analytical framework and explores two sets of rules (GATT/WTO-minus and GATT/WTO-plus) along three historical stages (shaping, weakening and strengthening). The focal point of this book is to uncover the composition and structure of the NME treatment in the MTS, its evolving logic and process, and the nature and trend of the political-economic relations between NMEs and the MTS.

This volume will bring together international and national scholars and activists to provide historical overviews of the main efforts to date to pass unconditional basic income guarantee legislation in their respective countries and/or across regions of the globe. Each contributing author will be asked to address a specific set of issues or substantive content. Such issues will include who are or were the main people and groups involved in support or against such legislative efforts, what are or were the main theoretical and pragmatic reasons for the success or failure of BIG-related initiatives to date, what legislative alternatives compete with BIG for political favor, what if any relationship is there between a country's level of economic development and factors affecting the legislative fate of BIG measures, what the prospects are for the future. Ideally, each contribution or chapter would be country or region specific, although several contributors will make international or cross-country comparisons. A concluding chapter will identify commonalities and differences across countries and possibly regions to the extent contributing sufficiently address a common set of question as suggested above and it will draw lessons for advancing social policies in general and BIG policies in particular.

'Jha is the right scholar and economist to take readers through the development of the Indian economy. Readers will be in good hands.' -Edmund Phelps, Columbia University, USA, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics 'This is perhaps the best and most scholarly contribution to understanding the Indian Economy and Society. Its rich historical perspective and a profound understanding of how India has evolved into a major economic power set standards of scholarship and analytical rigour that will be hard to surpass". -Raghav Gaiha, University of Manchester, UK 'Linking of economy and society is increasingly recognised as essential for addressing policy challenges by the current phase of globalisation. As such this study should be valuable not just for those studying India, but also for those interested in global developments.' -Mukul Asher, National University of Singapore, Singapore 'This book is a tour-de-force review of the fundamental topics on the Indian political economy and society that are relevant for any committed social scientist to be aware of.' -Sumit K. Majumdar, University of Texas at Dallas, USA This two-volume work provides an account of how India has been meeting its myriad of economic, political and social challenges and how things are expected to evolve in the future. Despite enormous challenges at the time of independence, India chose to address them within a secular, liberal, democratic framework, which guaranteed several fundamental rights. Challenges included intense mass poverty and hunger, very poor literacy and educational abilities of the population, the task of uniting a country with scores of languages and ethnicities ruled by different entities for decades and persistent threats of external aggression, to name just a few. Over time, incomes and opportunities have expanded enormously and India has regained her self-confidence as a nation. In this first volume, Jha presents a long view of the performance of the Indian economy and discusses key aspects of India's population, land and labor. In addition, the Indian Constitution and basic structure of governance are analysed within the context of major economic and political developments in independent India.

This book explores the history of leisure in Chinese culture by tracing the development of Chinese philosophy and leisure values in Chinese tradition and civilization. It addresses the tremendous changes in Chinese society brought about by the country's rapid economic development and the impact on Chinese culture and leisure. It considers the social, political and economic challenges facing China, from corruption to sharpening inequalities, from ecological crisis to the need for a revival of Chinese culture and for political democratization. It suggests that leisure can exert an invisible and formative influence on people's lifestyle and value system and considers ongoing trends in the development of leisure activities as they relate to modern Chinese society and social reform.

The Arab Spring constitutes perhaps the most far-reaching political and economic transition since the end of communism in Europe. For too long, the economic aspirations of the people in the region, especially young people, have been ignored by leaders in Arab countries and abroad. Competing views as to how best to meet these aspirations are now being debated in the region. The outcome will shape Arab societies for generations to come.
The authors of this book argue that significant economic reforms must accompany the major political transitions that are underway. Although each country has a different economic structure and history and must make its own way forward, there are spill-overs from trade and investment linkages, the contagion of news cycles, interaction of people and sharing of expectations that are too great to ignore. Some common foundation of the new Arab economies is needed. Towards that end, this volume addresses four central challenges of economic reform in the Arab world. First, with two-thirds of the population under the age of 30, the disproportionate burdens of unemployment and poor education can no longer be heaped on youth. Second, while some government policies may have improved the living standards of Arab citizens in the past, they have also entrenched cronies, enriched a small elite, and become unaffordable. Third, if Arab economies are to compete in the 21st century they cannot depend solely on oil and gas money, remittances, and tourism, but will require active, independent private sectors. And finally, the relative isolation of Arab economies--both from each other and from the world--must end.
Rather than providing specific lists of recommendations, this book sets forth a set of guidelines and priorities for reformers who will begin creating new opportunities for youth, rebuilding the institutions of the state, diversifying the private sector, and cooperating with each other and integrating with the world economy.

This book acts as a welcome foil to current thinking on the concept of globalisation, which tends to be divided into two distinct camps: one which suggests that the neo-liberal model has triumphed and has no realistic alternative, and another which argues that globalisation, in its most extreme form, does not really exist, rather having evolved gradually from the very beginnings of industrialisation. Bob Milward presents an alternative view of globalisation and argues that indeed there has been a continuum in capitalist development, but that this has been forged by historical processes and the dynamism of the competitive forces of capitalism. He identifies the emergence of monopoly capitalism as an important shaping factor, and in so doing sheds light on issues of underdevelopment, multinational imperialism and crises in advanced capitalist economies. This radical, multidisciplinary account of the condition of the global economy, encompassing a critique of the neo-liberal foundations of orthodox global analysis, will appeal to an extensive audience. Students, researchers and academics in the fields of economics, heterodox economics, economic geography, politics, sociology, development studies, international relations and public policy will find Globalisation? Internationalisation and Monopoly Capitalism to be an engaging read.

This book addresses core questions about the nature and structure of contemporary capitalism and the social dynamics and countervailing forces that shape modern life. From a robust and self-consciously sociological framework, it analyzes and interrogates such issues as the nature of the social, the power of the sacred, the nature of authority, the problem of representation, reification, alienation, utopia, and collective resistance. Historical materialism reveals that the scope of productive functions is broader than the crude realism of economism. Marx's critical theory of the commodity and his analysis of the capitalist regime of accumulation remain as vital as ever and serve as a guiding light for the continued exploration of the philosophical underpinnings of critical inquiry and praxis.

In the context of the continuous advance of information technologies and biomedicine, and of the creation of economic blocs, this work analyzes the role that data protection plays in the integration of markets. It puts special emphasis on financial and insurance services. Further, it identifies the differences in the data protection systems of EU member states and examines the development of common standards and principles of data protection that could help build a data protection model for Mercosur. Divided into four parts, the book starts out with a discussion of the evolution of the right to privacy, focusing on the last few decades, and taking into account the development of new technologies. The second part discusses the interaction between data protection and specific industries that serve as case studies: insurance, banking and credit reporting. The focus of this part is on generalization and discrimination, adverse selection and the processing of sensitive and genetic data. The third part of the book presents an analysis of the legislation of three EU Member States (France, Italy and UK). Specific elements of analysis that are compared are the concepts of personal and anonymous data, data protection principles, the role of the data protection authorities, the role of the data protection officer, data subjects' rights, the processing of sensitive data, the processing of genetic data and the experience of the case studies in processing data. The book concludes with the proposal of a model for data protection that could be adopted by Mercosur, taking into account the different levels of data protection that exist in its member states."

The selected papers in this volume were prepared under the research project on "EU Eastern Neighborhood: Economic Potential and Future Development (ENEPO)" funded by the EU Sixth Framework Program. They discuss the broad spectrum of development issues in the EU Eastern Neighborhood and economic relations between the enlarged EU and its Eastern neighbors in the former USSR. Individual chapters address areas of economic and social development, trade, energy, investment, migration, costs and benefits of economic reforms, development assistance and political economy of policy reforms. In particular, they examine interrelations and mutual synergies between trade liberalization, inflow of foreign investment, economic and institutional reforms and a reduction of income and development disparities. The publication thus closes an important knowledge gap in respect to the economic, social and institutional development of the CIS region and its economic relations with the EU.

This book explores how successful the various tenets of economic thought have been in prognosticating or remedying economic crises. Examining key episodes in economic history, from famines in antiquity to present-day financial collapse, the author finds that several theories failed to cope with a crisis and lost their academic impact. The author also presents cases in which major theoretical innovations were achieved after the experience of a crisis as well as cases where a completely new theory was needed to explain and face the events. This book will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in understanding how theoretical developments in economics are affected by real-world economic crises.

The Great Recession has prompted a reassessment of the specific mode of capitalist accumulation that achieved dominance in the era of globalization. Yet just about all of this literature has focused on one of two issues: why things went wrong, and what we need to do in order to return the system to stability. Outside of a contingent of radical socialists on the fringes of the debate, virtually no one questioned whether capitalism could continue. In Does Capitalism Have a Future?, the prominent theorist Georgi Derleugian has gathered together a quintet of eminent macrosociologists to assess whether the capitalist system can survive. The prevalent common wisdom, for all its current gloom, nevertheless safely assumes that capitalism cannot break down permanently because there is no alternative. The authors shatter this assumption, arguing that this generalization is not supported by theory but is rather an outgrowth of the optimistic nineteenth-century claim that human history ascends through stages to an enlightened equilibrium of liberal capitalism. Yet as they point out, just about all major historical systems have broken down in the end (e.g., the Roman empire). In the modern epoch there have been several cataclysmic events-notably the French revolution, World War I, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc-that came to pass mainly because contemporary political elites had spectacularly failed to calculate the consequences of the processes they presumed to govern. At present, none of our governing elites and very few of our intellectuals can fathom an ending to our current reigning system. Considering whether a collapse is possible is the task that the quintet-Derleugian, Michael Mann, Randall Collins, Craig Calhoun, and Immanuel Wallerstein-sets out to explore. While all of the contributors arrive at different conclusions, they are in constant dialogue with each other and therefore able to construct relatively seamless-if open-ended-whole. For instance, Wallerstein (who accurately predicted the collapse of the Soviet system in 1979) and Collins, identify fatal structural faults in twenty-first century capitalism. Mann, on the other hand, does not think that there is any serious alternative to the market dynamic, but he does identify other serious threats to the system, including environmental degradation. Calhoun and Derluguian are more circumspect and focus on the role of politics in steering the system toward either revival or collapse. This most ambitious of books, written by the highest caliber of sociologists, asks the biggest of questions: are we on the cusp of a radical world historical shift or not?

Human Capital, Trade and Public Policy in Rapidly Growing Economies argues that only two centuries ago, no society had ever enjoyed sustained growth in living standards. The contributors to this book aim to discover why the world today exhibits a predilection for perpetual self-improvement.In particular, the book focuses on the forces underlying long-lasting growth in East Asia's Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). Drawing from the experiences of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, it questions whether public policy can contribute to removing barriers towards accumulation of wealth, and if so, what development policy should be put in place to remedy the existing distortions or market failure problems. Theoretical and empirical analyses are also used to broach other important issues, such as: Why do some economies experience growth while others decline? What are the major determinants of long-term growth and development? Is human capital the main driving force? Does international trade play a crucial role? This book will appeal to those with an interest in development and public policy.

This thought-provoking monograph analyzes long- medium- and short-term global cycles of prosperity, recession, and depression, plotting them against centuries of important world events. Major research on economic and political cycles is integrated to clarify evolving relationships between the global center and its periphery as well as current worldwide economic upheavals and potential future developments. Central to this survey are successive waves of industrial and, later, technological and cybernetic progress, leading to the current era of globalization and the changes of the roles of both Western powers and former minors players, however that will lead to the formation of the world order without a hegemon. Additionally, the authors predict what they term the Great Convergence, the lessening of inequities between the global core and the rest of the world, including the wealth gap between First and Third World nations. Among the topics in this ambitious volume: * Why politics is often omitted from economic analysis. * Why economic cycles are crucial to understanding the modern geopolitical landscape. * How the aging of the developed world will affect world technological and economic future.< * The evolving technological forecast for Global North and South. * Where the U.S. is likely to stand on the future world stage. Economic Cycles, Crises, and the Global Periphery will inspire discussion and debate among sociologists, global economists, demographers, global historians, and futurologists. This expert knowledge is necessary for further research, proactive response, and preparedness for a new age of sociopolitical change.

Over the past fifteen years, the optimal enforcement of EU competition law has become a major concern. This book contains a unique collection of articles by lawyers and economists on current issues in the public and private enforcement of competition law. Public enforcement has been strengthened in numerous ways for example, through the introduction of a leniency programme and a substantial increase in fines for competition law violations. At the same time the EU Commission has been promoting private enforcement for example, by developing a legal framework that grants victims of EU antitrust law infringements access to compensation.

The contributions in this book address a range of topics in the area of competition law enforcement, including the role of fines and leniency programmes in public enforcement; access to evidence and the quantification of damages in private enforcement; and the interaction between public and private enforcement of competition law in Europe."

Many Japanese and Germans endorse the shareholder-first assumptions dominant today in Britain and America. Yet in both countries there are articulate defenders of what they consider to be a better, more social-solidary way of life. Dore traces the fascinating debates which ensue on corporate governance, on worker rights, on supplier relations, on cartels and anti-trust, on pensions and welfare. He also analyses actual changes in economic behaviour. These accounts of the battle for the national soul in Japan and Germany constitute one of the finest contributions to the 'diversity of capitalism' debate. Dore's account should be read by anyone who is interested to know whether, for all the talk of globalization, that diversity is going to survive.

One of the most striking phenomena in all of economics is the absence of a deep tradition of criticism focused on Keynesian economic theory. There have been critics but they are few and far between, even though Keynesian demand management has been at the centre of some of the worst economic outcomes in history, from the great stagflation of the 1970s to the twenty-year 'lost decade' in Japan that has been ongoing since the 1990s, and now, once again, the dismal recoveries that have followed the Global Financial Crisis. This book brings together some of the most vocal critics of Keynesian economics of the present time. Each author attempts to explain what is wrong with Keynesian theory for those seeking guidance on where to turn for a more accurate explanation of the business cycle and what to do when recessions occur. The contributions are by scholars from a wide number of schools of economics, include but are not restricted to Austrian, monetarist and classical perspectives. Written not just for economists, this accessible book is one of the few anti-Keynesian texts available and explains the inability of public spending and lower interest rates to have restored robust economic growth and full employment after the GFC. The collection offers an antidote to contemporary macroeconomic theory. It is an essential text for anyone wishing to understand why no stimulus has been able to bring recovery to any economy in which it has been tried. Contributors include: P.Boettke, P.L. Bylund, T. Congdon, R.M. Ebeling, R.W. Garrison, S. Horwitz, S. Kates, A. Kling, A.B. Laffer, P. Newman, G. Reisman, D. Simpson, M. Skousen, P. Smith

Consistency and Viability of Islamic Economics Systems and the Transition Process has the crucial intention of stimulating interest in Islamic economics by studying the Islamic Republic of Iran using the analytical framework of consistency and viability. This text develops an original analytic framework to understand the relationship between the economic, political, and ideological structures, the external environment, and the process of reform that gives rise to certain economic systems by establishing consistency. Consistency, however, is not enough; a consistent economic system must be flexible and have the internal mechanisms to be able to adapt to changes in social reality, thus making possible its survival over time. In other words, the economic system is viable when it is able to encourage increases in labor productivity and there is popular support. The collapse of centrally administered socialism in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union resulted in what was commonly referred to as the transition problem.

This book addresses concerns with the international trade and investment dispute settlement systems from a statist perspective, at a time when multilateralism is deeply questioned by the forces of mega-regionalism and political and economic contestation. In covering recent case law and theoretical discussions, the book's contributors analyze the particularities of statehood and the limitations of the dispute settlement systems to judge sovereign actors as autonomous regulators. From a democratic deficit coupled with a deficit of legitimacy in relation to the questionable professionalism, independence and impartiality of adjudicators to the lack of consistency of decisions challenging essential public policies, trade and investment disputes have proven controversial. These challenges call for a rethinking of why, how and what for, are States judged. Based on a "sovereignty modern" approach, which takes into account the latest evolutions of a globalized trade and investment law struggling to put people's expectations at its core, the book provides a comprehensive framework and truly original perspective linking the various facets of "judicial activity" to the specific yet encompassing character of international law and the rule of law in international society. In doing so, it covers a large variety of issues such as global judicial capacity building and judicial professionalism from an international and domestic comparative angle, trade liberalisation and States' legitimate rights and expectations to protect societal values, the legal challenges of being a State claimant, the uses and misuses of imported legal concepts and principles in multidisciplinary adjudications and, lastly, the need to reunify international law on a (human) rights based approach.

"This book analyses privatisation in Ireland, a European economy that has experienced rapidly changing fortunes over the last 30 years. It examines the effects of privatisation in terms of corporate performance, public finances and the distributional aspects of privatisation including the impact on employment and share ownership"--