This book addresses the different forms of austerity, contestation and resistance, in order to understand how they relate to one another and the impact they have on the democratic quality of public debates, the trust in public institutions and the legitimacy of law. Contestation of austerity includes not only traditional activism strategies such as human rights litigation and direct democracy instruments, but also new forms of collective action and collaborative resistance. Most importantly, many of the new anti-austerity initiatives also aim to renovate existing modes of democratic decision-making on the European, national, regional and local levels. The book focuses on different types of contesting austerity measures and the interaction between institutional and civil society actors. It will enhance understanding of how the various actors frame not only their goal but also the underlying social conflict to contest austerity and through which means they try to achieve political and legal changes. With 16 chapters written by contributors from Spain, Germany, Greece, Portugal and the UK, the book approaches 3 crucial areas of austerity policies: cuts in payment and pensions, labour law reform, and old and new poverty. In each field, the contributors analyse the processes of decision-making and contestation from 3 perspectives: institutions, democratic theory and societal responses.

This work on environmental planning focuses on open-cast mining. It addresses the issues around open-cast mining that are central to the context of social science debate: risk; the division of public and private; environmental protest and politics; and new social movements.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution revolves around cyber-physical systems and artificial intelligence. Little is certain about this new wave of innovation, which leaves industrialists and educators in the lurch without much guidance on adapting to this new digital landscape. Society must become more agile and place a higher emphasis on lifelong learning to master new technologies in order to stay ahead of the changes and overcome challenges to become more globally competitive. Promoting Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a collection of innovative research that focuses on the role of formal education in preparing students for uncertain futures and for societies that are changing at great speed in terms of their abilities to drive job creation, economic growth, and prosperity for millions in the future. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics including economics, higher education, and safety and regulation, this book is ideally designed for teachers, managers, entrepreneurs, economists, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, and professionals in the fields of human resources, organizational design, learning design, information technology, and e-learning.

Following the positive impact of microfinance on poverty reduction, women empowerment, and microenterprise development in some countries in Asia and Africa, a huge amount of time has been devoted by researchers to understanding how this concept can be used as a catalyst for transforming and sustaining the economies of developing and emerging countries. Though there are a few books on the role of microfinance in reducing poverty in developing countries across world, there is no specific book that explores the role of microfinance in transforming and sustaining economies of developing and emerging countries. Transforming Economies Through Microfinance in Developing Nations seeks to explore how the provision of microfinance to individuals and groups can contribute to the economic transformation and sustainability of the economies of developing and emerging countries. Covering key topics such as climate change, entrepreneurship, and rural development, this reference work is ideal for government officials, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, instructors, and students.

Government is a major player in the development of an economy. Government's public financial operations involving mobilization of revenue, and its spending has considerable implications on the growth, distribution and stability necessitating a careful study to enable informed mid course policy corrections to the macroeconomic developments. A critical review of public expenditure is imperative in ensuring optimal use of public resources for the maximization of welfare. The book provides an empirical understanding of historical trends and composition of public expenditure at the central and the sub national levels; the effectiveness of public expenditure control systems and accountability issues; the political economy of spending decisions; public expenditure reforms undertaken in India and international best options that can guide the corrective process in India. Given the global shift in focus from 'outlays' to 'outcomes' it is important to put in place a sound framework to track the results of government expenditure programs to guide the informed expenditure decision making process. The book documents the features of useful frameworks and steps involved in adopting a robust results framework. Fiscal management of Covid-19 is an important component of the book. The purpose of this volume is to reach out a comprehensive and updated understanding of empirical issues in public expenditure and its management in India to the students of Public Finance.

Behavioral finance challenges the traditional assumption that individuals are rational by focusing on the cognitive and emotional aspects of finance, which draws on psychology, sociology, and biology to investigate true financial behavior. The financial sector requires sound understanding of market dynamics and strategic issues to meet future challenges in the field. Behavioral Finance and Decision-Making Models seeks to examine behavioral biases and their impact on investment decisions in order to develop better future plans and strategies in the financial sector. While highlighting topics including behavioral approach, financial regulation, and globalized sector, this book is intended for policymakers, technology developers, managers, government officials, academicians, researchers, and advanced-level students.

The scholarly value of the proposed publication is self-evident because of the increased emphasis placed on the role of creativity and innovation in critical thinking and problem-solving, newly emerging skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility, education, a sustainable planet , the prevention of a 6th extinction event, the new normal caused by COVID-19, the future and challenges of collective and green creativity, eco-innovation and sharing creativity and innovation globally. Creativity is a crucial cognitive skill and innovation is a requirement to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, and therefore it should be celebrating its value as it is often misunderstood and underestimated. Hence understanding creativity and innovation and how education can develop these cognitive abilities and skills, AS WELL AS, how education can be improved to meet future challenges and demands using creativity and innovation are the key objective of this publication. There is a relationship between education, creativity and innovation, with an important link to technology and how this relationship can be enhanced. The proposed topic for publication will not only facilitate in identifying the important creativity, innovation and education mechanisms, frameworks, competencies, and skills, which is imperative for a sustainable planet and economic development. It will increase the development, knowledge and understanding of creativity, innovation and education needed now and in the future and help policymakers in designing and implementing policies that are more effective in the post-pandemic era that can stimulate creativity, innovation and better education. The primary intended audience is scholar-practitioners who have the need for qualified Reference material regarding the subject matter of the proposed publication as outlined above. The secondary intended audience is managers, organization development specialists, consultants, educationalists, policymakers and undergraduate/graduate business students who require the same Reference material. At the same time, while having academic rigor, the writing of the book will be in a way such that non-academics and non-specialists can understand it; it will be appealing to the public, while celebrating global creativity, innovation and education.

Most policy makers readily acknowledge the economic, environmental, and social benefits of moving freight and passengers by waterways. However, why do many countries struggle to develop and revive their inland waterways transportation (IWT)? One reason is because of the dearth of successful examples of IWT revival. Aside from the United States and Europe, which have been relatively successful, the experience of many emerging countries has been a tale of intensive use followed by total collapse of the IWT sector. However, the combination of societal, economic, and environmental imperatives is motivating reassessment, as countries look to develop sustainable transport systems and to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. China's experience has similarities to the experience of many countries and offers valuable lessons. This report is the result of an in-depth retrospective study of IWT in China and fills a gap in global knowledge. From an IWT system that carried less than 150 million tons in 1978, IWT in China carried 3.74 billion tons of cargo in 2018—six times more than either the European Union or the United States. China now has the busiest IWT system in the world. China's leadership in IWT development started with years of investment in infrastructure that transformed lowgrade waterways, allowing larger vessels to use the waterways, which resulted in higher transport efficiency and lower cost. China also invested in development of skills and technical know-how. To date there are 127,000 km of inland waterways in China that have high-quality navigability and a good safety record. During the period of rapid economic development, China also adopted or developed internationally recognized technical innovations for river classification, vessel replacement, navigation technology, and environmental protection. What China achieved is informative. In particular, how and why China improved IWT provides valuable lessons for other countries

Professionals are constantly searching for competitive solutions to help determine current and future economic tendencies. Econometrics uses statistical methods and real-world data to predict and establish specific trends within business and finance. This analytical method sustains limitless potential, but the necessary research for professionals to understand and implement this approach is lacking. Applied Econometric Analysis: Emerging Research and Opportunities explores the theoretical and practical aspects of detailed econometric theories and applications within economics, political science, public policy, business, and finance. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as cointegration, machine learning, and time series analysis, this book is ideally designed for economists, policymakers, financial analysts, marketers, researchers, academicians, and graduate students seeking research on the various techniques of econometric concepts.

International trade is a key dimension of the world economy, it is a critical factor in raising living standards, increasing employment, and providing a larger variety of goods to consumers around the world. Despite the strong focus that international trade research has received in theoretical terms, the empirical aspects of trade are less clear and justify further research. In this context, it is essential for studies to focus on shedding light on the most important methods used to evaluate the multiple dimensions of trade within this international context. Trade has a myriad of direct and indirect effects, therefore touching several fields of research, including economics, management, finance, international relations, political science, and sociology, which makes it essential to explore. The Handbook of Research on the Empirical Aspects of Strategic Trade Negotiations and Management provides a systematic overview of the latest trends in the empirical analysis of trade from international perspectives. It provides a survey on the methods used to evaluate a specific topic in international trade, enhance knowledge about the multiple facets of international trade around the world, and grant in-depth surveys of previous empirical findings on specific topics in international trade. Important topics covered within this book include trade diversification, regional centrality, ethical pricing, globalization, cultural impacts, and open economies. This book is a valuable reference tool for government officials, policy makers, managers, executives, economists, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students.

A Great Leap Forward: Heterodox Economic Policy for the 21st Century investigates economic policy from a heterodox and progressive perspective. Author Randall Wray uses relatively short chapters arranged around several macroeconomic policy themes to present an integrated survey of progressive policy on topics of interest today that are likely to remain topics of interest for many years.

This book provides a novel approach to the understanding and realization of the values of art. It argues that art has often been instrumentalized for state-building, to promote social inclusion of diversity, or for economic purposes such as growth or innovation. To counteract that, the authors study the values that artists and audiences seek to realize in the social practices around the arts. They develop the concept of cultural civil society to analyze how art is practiced and values are realized in creative circles and co-creative communities of spectators, illustrated with case-studies about hip-hop, Venetian art collectives, dance festivals, science-fiction fandom, and a queer museum. The authors provide a four-stage scheme that illustrates how values are realized in a process of value orientation, imagination, realization, and evaluation. The book relies on an interdisciplinary approach rooted in economics and sociology of the arts, with an appreciation for broader social theories. It integrates these disciplines in a pragmatic approach based on the work of John Dewey and more recent neo-pragmatist work to recover the critical and constructive role that cultural civil society plays in a plural and democratic society. The authors conclude with a new perspective on cultural policy, centered around state neutrality towards the arts and aimed at creating a legal and social framework in which social practices around the arts can flourish and co-exist peacefully.