This timely Research Agenda examines the ways in which public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure continue to excite policy makers, governments, research scholars and critics around the world. It analyzes the PPP research journey to date and articulates the lessons learned as a result of the increasing interest in improving infrastructure governance. Expert international contributors explore how PPP ideas have spread, transferred and transformed, causing supporting markets to develop and mature. Providing a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic, this thought-provoking Research Agenda proposes a range of future research directions, pointing towards the potential of fresh research approaches to PPP, the adoption of new theories and intellectual lenses, better balancing of public-private interests, and stronger public governance across what has now become a global phenomenon. It lights the way to diverse research frontiers ranging from financialization to psychology and behavioural science, as well as the continuing prominence of public administration, politics, economics, planning and law. A Research Agenda for Public-Private Partnerships and the Governance of Infrastructure will be an enticing read for students and scholars of regulation and governance, public management and administration, politics and economics as well as industry professionals across the domains of public policy, infrastructure and city planning.

This timely book is an innovative look at how blockchain technology will transform the structure of social and economic life. The security of blockchain supports the provision and maintenance of reliable databases and the creation of rule-based governance protocols. Leading contributors expertly review the impact of blockchain on existing structures of law, monetary systems, supply chains and business organizations. Using economic and institutional theory, the book presents a vision for understanding the future development of blockchain technology and outlines the likely path of transformation that blockchain will drive in industry, supply chains and firms. Furthermore, it answers key questions such as: will Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency become the money of the future? How has blockchain already begun transforming economic activity? How can we evaluate the likely trajectory of technological development and application? This informative book is an excellent resource for academics or professionals interested in a theoretically sound perspective on blockchain. Written in an accessible prose, it provides an introduction for non-experts looking to learn more about the wide-ranging implications of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

This timely book addresses the key debates and challenges surrounding the future of work, covering the macro, meso and micro levels of gig work. It provides a consideration of the ways in which technology is shaping the lives of those working in the gig and digital platform economy within the 21st century. Written by leading experts in their respective fields, chapters cover a range of global issues concerning not only technology but the social relationships of gig work, management by algorithm, and how to regulate individual and collective voice in the remote gig economy. Utilising leading research and case studies from companies such as Uber and Deliveroo, the book considers what governments and the law can do to shape a better future for the worker voices and employment conditions of atypical and non-standard workers which, in turn, can help to better impact society. Missing Voice? will be a key resource for scholars and students researching employment conditions, worker and human rights, employment, and labour relations in the fields of business and human resource management, industrial relations and sociology. It will also be of interest to policy-makers, trade unions and think tanks who are interested in labour market changes and issues of worker voice and management practice in the gig economy more broadly.

This Modern Guide explores central ideas, concepts, and themes in the Austrian school of economics, with a focus on how both the school and the overall theory have evolved over recent decades. Leading scholars offer their insights into potential directions of future research in the field, pointing towards contemporary debates and their potential conclusions, underdeveloped aspects and extensions of theory, and current applications of interest. Spanning theories of entrepreneurship to the theory of the business cycle, from methodology to sociology, and from cryptocurrencies to culture, this clear and concise Modern Guide provides an expert curation of the topic. Chapters offer an overview of the present state of scholarship in the field, including discussions on praxeology, the function of entrepreneurship in the market process, spontaneous orders, the Austrian theory of money, and banking. Written in an accessible style, this will be an invigorating read for economics scholars looking for an alternative to mainstream approaches. It will also be useful for scholars and practitioners seeking an introduction to Austrian economics.

The Handbook of Experimental Game Theory offers a comprehensive analysis of the field, discussing foundational topics that are at the core of applied game theory. It highlights the nuances that scientific experiments have delivered to our understanding of strategic interactions among decision makers. Leading experts explore methodological considerations and games of complete and incomplete information to offer new directions for research in experimental game theory. Chapters demonstrate transformative behavioral research focused on classic topics in game theory such as cooperation and coordination games. Taking a scientific approach to the study of game theory, this innovative Handbook provides an insight into laboratory and field experiments that test game theoretic propositions and suggests new ways of modeling strategic behavior. It takes a forward-thinking position, addressing the challenges inherent in innovations surrounding the measurement of strategic behavior using experimental methods. This Handbook will prove to be a valuable resource for scholars and students who are looking to gain a broader understanding of experimental game theory and how to contribute to its advancement. It will also be of particular interest to researchers in experimental and behavioral economics.

Starting from the premise that learning and career development happen naturally and optimally through collaboration and social relationships, this book challenges the dominant employability skills discourse by exploring socially connected and networked perspectives to learning and teaching in higher education. With 10 empirical case studies of educational practice, chapters investigate the development of learner capabilities, teaching approaches, and institutional strategies to foster lifelong graduate employability through social connectedness. The book argues that higher education institutions have placed themselves at a disadvantage in learning and teaching by limiting and prescribing interactions that prevent multidisciplinary and cross-functional collaboration, and embeddedness into wider industry and community networks. The book offers new strategies and pedagogic approaches that can support learners to build, maintain and make the most of social connections for purposeful participation in life and work. It also demonstrates how universities can forge effective partnerships internally as well as with industry and community partners to ensure the relevance and vibrancy of university learning. Offering an alternative perspective on learning and teaching in higher education with international relevance, this book is a practical resource that can be used by educators to inform teaching practice and curriculum development. It will be essential for university leadership, as well as academics and researchers focused on education policy and university management.

Identifying customer loyalty as a crucial success factor in contemporary marketing thinking and practice, this innovative Handbook incorporates a rich collection of perspectives on the current topics and research-driven practices in the field. Leading scholars offer an insightful reimagining of the research methods, metrics, and designs for the future of measuring and predicting customer loyalty. The Handbook recognises loyalty as a strategic asset, and analyses incentive structures such as loyalty-based learning, gamification, and automaticity to track the evolution of customer loyalty programmes. Examining the impacts of globalization and cutting-edge technologies on the customer loyalty journey, it identifies an increase in customer defection and a rapid erosion of single-brand loyalty. Forward-thinking, it concludes by reflecting on how trends like voice technology, augmented reality, and influencer marketing will shape the domain of customer loyalty in the future. Gathering together contemporary concepts, practice, measures and challenges to inform future research, this Handbook will prove an enlightening read for students and scholars of marketing, business and management, and psychology. Its illustrative case studies will also prove invaluable for practitioners in a diverse range of fields looking to future-proof and reimagine their loyalty strategies.

This timely and perceptive book addresses the issues surrounding the adequacy of old age income for future pensioners worldwide. It highlights how today's young people are confronted with the simultaneous challenges of increasing employment uncertainty and declining pension generosity - topics which are highly relevant in contemporary welfare states. This pivotal study of the relationship between the current labour market and future pensions explores the ways in which public policies relating to education, employment, and welfare work to sustain a decent living standard during retirement. Using a diverse range of comparative studies across a multitude of countries and nation-specific case studies, chapters consider the influence of institutions and social, cultural, and economic norms on public pensions and retirement saving behaviours in young adults. Providing a valuable insight into contemporary research findings, this innovative book will be essential reading for students and scholars in the areas of welfare states, labour economics, pensions, and the sociology of youth. Policymakers in these fields will also benefit from its analysis of sustainable pension policy development.

Opening novel avenues of knowledge in the study of African philanthropy and development, this incisive book provides a critical assessment of philanthropic responses during crisis and non-crisis periods. It explores how collaboration between multilateral institutions and philanthropic organisations during a crisis can be harnessed and replicated to address the continent's developmental challenges during non-crisis periods. Combining empirical insights with cutting edge theory, this forward-thinking book investigates the activities of high-net worth individuals, foundations, and corporate actors working with governments to create shared value. Through individual case studies and comparative analyses across diverse sectors and geographies, chapters demonstrate how shared value is crucial to building resilience in societies through philanthropy. The book ultimately makes a call for deeper and more meaningful forms of collaboration among the key actors in society: governments, the private sector, high-net worth individuals, and multilateral institutions. This highly innovative book will be an essential resource for researchers and academics interested in development studies, the sociology of organisations, and social policy in developing countries. Its empirical grounding will also inform policy responses in crisis and non-crisis periods.

The Consumer Welfare Hypothesis in Law and Economics is a compelling account of market relations with firm roots in economic theory and legal practice. This incisive book challenges the mainstream view that allocative efficiency is about total welfare maximisation. Instead, it argues for the consumer welfare hypothesis, in which allocating resources efficiently means maximising consumer welfare, and demonstrates that legal structures such as antitrust and consumer law are in reality designed and practised with this goal in mind. Using this paradigm, Fabrizio Esposito overcomes the opposition between efficiency and distribution and provides a firmer basis for debates about the foundations of contract law, antitrust law and consumer law, particularly in the European Union. The outcome is a bilateral view of the connection between the law and the economy and a rich research agenda to further understanding of the legal-economic nexus. Scholars and students of law and economics, as well as contract, consumer and antitrust and competition law will find this book a thought-provoking study. Its innovative yet straightforward conceptual framework will also be of interest to practitioners, policymakers and stakeholders in these fields.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was one of the brightest stars of the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was his most important book. First published in London in March 1776, it had been eagerly anticipated by Smith's contemporaries and became an immediate bestseller. That edition sold out quickly and others followed. Today, Smith's Wealth of Nations rightfully claims a place in the Western intellectual canon. It is the first book of modern political economy, and still provides the foundation for the study of that discipline. But it is much more than that. Along with important discussions of economics and political theory, Smith mixed plain common sense with large measures of history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and much else. Few texts remind us so clearly that the Enlightenment was very much a lived experience, a concern with improving the human condition in practical ways for real people. A masterpiece by any measure, Wealth of Nations remains a classic of world literature to be usefully enjoyed by readers today.

Utilizing extensive research in economics, psychology, political science, neuroscience and evolutionary theory, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a critical perspective on the role of cognitive biases in decision-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The extensive use of, and support for, stringent social distancing measures in particular is explored in depth. Nudged into Lockdown? provides clear explanations of complex scientific information regarding Covid-19, vaccines, and policy responses, to highlight issues at the center of policy-making during the pandemic. With a comprehensive overview of the policy debates around Covid-19, the book offers an alternative thought-provoking perspective on the topic, as well as suggestions for policy-making during future pandemics and other crises. It further highlights applications of a range of concepts from heuristics and biases literature, including priming, framing, anchoring, Prospect Theory, and loss aversion. Providing directions for future research in the area, this book will be an invigorating read for established academics, as well as postgraduate students looking to undertake research in Covid-19 related decision-making. It will also be a critical read for economics, political science, and public policy scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the topic.

Examining the ways and extent to which systemic factors affect health outcomes with regard to quality, affordability and access to curative healthcare, this explorative book compares the relative merits of tax-funded Beveridge systems and insurance-based Bismarck systems. The Law and Policy of Healthcare Financing charts and compares healthcare system outcomes throughout 11 countries, from the UK to Colombia. Thematic chapters investigate the economic and legal explanations for the relevant similarities, variations and trends across the globe. Concluding that systemic factors may be less significant than previously believed, this comprehensive book notes that no one system consistently outperforms the others, yet incentives and funding improvements may lift performances across all curative healthcare systems. Analytical and comparative, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of health law and health economics. Public authorities including health ministries, policymakers and international health organisations will also find this to be an invaluable resource. Contributors include: F. Bachner, J. Bobek, J. Boertjens, P. Bogetoft, J.M. Burke, F. Dewallens, I. Durand-Zaleski, A. Geissler, C. Gongora Torres, M. Guy, T. Haanpera, J. Janus, S. Jerabkova, L. Lepuschutz, J. Lombard, M. Mikkers, G. O'Nolan, M.J. Perez-Villadoniga, H. Platou, K. Polin, W. Quentin, W. Sauter, V. Shestalova, K.H. Sovig, V. Stephani, A. van den Heever, J. van Manen, J. Vermeulen

This comprehensive book synthesizes research from the past 50 years of innovation studies, addressing the main elements and providing a connected perspective on innovation within organizations. It explores the generation and adoption of both technological and nontechnological innovations, offering a coherent and systematic view of the process. Fariborz Damanpour examines innovation activity and internal mechanisms and processes in both business and nonbusiness organizations, providing an overview of key concepts, terms, and theory. Insights from behavioral, economic, and structure-based perspectives are used to explain existing findings and help the reader navigate current research on the management of innovation, as well as offering ideas and frameworks to guide new studies. Organizational Innovation will be an invaluable resource for researchers and graduate-level students of management and organization studies, particularly those working on the management of innovation and technology. It will also prove useful to educators in the field as a reference work for students.

This cutting-edge Handbook puts economic nationalism in its historical context, from early industrialization to globalization. It explores how economic nationalism has emerged to new prominence in the post-globalization era as states are trying to protect their economies, societies, and cultures from unwanted external influences. Drawing together contributors from a wide range of disciplines, the Handbook demonstrates the many ways in which nationalisms and national cultures affect and are affected by the economy, paying attention to the different contexts in which they emerge. Chapters consider key topics including economic nationalism and climate change, resource nationalism, economic nationalism in left-wing ideologies and far-right party discourse, and dimensions of economic nationalism in the US, Russia, India and Japan. Providing a comprehensive analysis of the historical, theoretical, and geographical dimensions of economic nationalism, this Handbook will be a key resource for scholars and students of political economy, international economics and the history of economic thought. Its use of case studies from a range of countries will also be beneficial for policy makers and practitioners in these fields.

Offering an in-depth overview of the field's past, present, and future, this Handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of the current topics, methodologies, findings, and breakthroughs in research conducted with the help of experimental finance methodology. Suggesting innovative ways of navigating and structuring financial markets, it also showcases the diversity and promise of using experiments in finance. With contributions from leading experts, the Handbook begins with a series of investigations into human behavior in financial decision-making, asking methodological questions regarding subject pool choice, cognitive finance, physical and physiological measurement, and research directions. Stressing the dual nature of experimental finance, chapters then relate to market experiments by exploring applied topics, including bank runs, financial accounting and nudging. Finally, it examines experimental tools and methodologies, critical perspectives, roadmaps for implementation, and empirical testing of finance theories. With examples of experiments that test the fundamental theoretical constructs in finance, this Handbook will prove a vital resource to students and scholars of finance, financial economics, and experimental methodology. It will also prove useful to practitioners and policymakers looking to innovate and experiment with their approaches to financial decision-making.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction provides a critical review and discussion of research concerning spatial statistics, differentiating between it and spatial econometrics, to answer a set of core questions covering the geographic-tagging-of-data origins of the concept and its theoretical underpinnings, conceptual advances, and challenges for future scholarly work. It offers a vital tool for understanding spatial statistics and surveys how concerns about violating the independent observations assumption of statistical analysis developed into this discipline. Key Features: A concise overview of spatial statistics theory and methods, looking at parallel developments in geostatistics and spatial econometrics, highlighting the eclipsing of centography and point pattern analysis by geostatistics and spatial autoregression, and the emergence of local analysis Contemporary descriptions of popular geospatial random variables, emphasizing one- and two-parameter spatial autoregression specifications, and Moran eigenvector spatial filtering coupled with a broad coverage of statistical estimation techniques A detailed articulation of a spatial statistical workflow conceptualization The helpful insights from empirical applications of spatial statistics in agronomy, criminology, demography, economics, epidemiology, geography, remotely sensed data, urban studies, and zoology/botany, will make this book a useful tool for upper-level students in these disciplines.

This Handbook provides readers with an expert overview of the key theoretical approaches to governance and development, covering a broad range of policy areas and domains. Utilising a critical approach to assess issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, the contributions in this Handbook review different social contexts and policy areas, governance arrangements, and processes relating to issues of development. Chapters illustrate at global, regional and national levels how the specific forms of governance impact development and how ongoing trends of development can influence governance concerns. Further insights are also offered regarding the functioning of the state and the transformation of the role of the state in modern society, illustrating the place for governance in future development policies. Researchers in governance and development will find this comprehensive Handbook an excellent resource for their area of specialisation, and scholars in governance, political science, social sciences and economics will be provided with a useful entry point into the literature. Practitioners will also welcome this as an informative read for updating their knowledge and accessing the latest research findings.

This timely book investigates the EU's multi-faceted development as a global actor, unpacking its legal mission to be a 'good' actor as well as exploring the complexities of fulfilling this objective. It elicits critical reflections on the question of 'goodness' in EU external relations from descriptive, analytical and normative perspectives, and examines which metrics of actorness are useful in tackling this subject. Featuring contributions from more than 20 leading EU scholars and emerging voices, the book develops four themes through which it advances a research agenda for the study of the EU as a good global actor. The book begins by unpacking the complexities of the EU as a global trade actor, before discussing 'good' trade governance and a deeper trade agenda, the issue of data governance in digital trade and in other regulatory frameworks, and finally the institutional dimension of EU actorness. Understanding the EU as a Good Global Actor will be a crucial read for scholars and students in EU law and politics, particularly those with an interest in EU governance, trade and external relations. It will also prove useful for policy makers both within and outside the EU.

This Handbook features the best teaching practices in the Health Economics (HE) field over the past decade. HE is still considered a relatively new field in the world of economics. While most academic programs leading to HE specializations are housed in economics departments, many courses often reside elsewhere: in schools of public health, health professions, health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, business, or public/health administration. Teaching in these diverse, specialized curricula requires a customized subset of methods and materials developed for both the instructors and the students. The editors have sought to expand applicability beyond North America and Western Europe, and to address issues in both less developed health economies and more advanced ones. The chapters herein present new and innovative teaching methods. Instructors with or without professional training in HE will welcome the featured practical applications that encompass HE courses taught in various economics and non-economics undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.

In this timely book, Benjamin J. Cohen identifies and analyses a range of critical pathologies currently afflicting the field of international political economy (IPE) and offers remedies to restore the field's vitality. The book addresses the purpose of IPE as a field of study, highlighting the key questions posed by scholars since the modern field's inception, and explores how research seeks to engage with politics in practice. Tackling contemporary factionalism in the field, chapters consider IPE's remarkable diversity and fragmentation of research traditions across the globe and draw attention to the lack of clear methods and behavioural assumptions established as 'best practice' internationally. To rejuvenate the field, Cohen argues, reforms are needed that would both encourage more policy engagement by IPE scholars and maximize opportunities to enjoy the benefits of the field's diversity. The book offers a cutting-edge research agenda, emphasising the need for collaboration across scholarly divides and the obligations of leading professional associations and societies to countervail the forces that keep these groups separated. A powerful critique and a rousing call-to-arms, this book is crucial reading for scholars of IPE in search of innovative ways to develop new research and revitalise the field as a whole. It also offers key insights for students who need to understand the challenges facing IPE and its potential research trajectories.

Political leaders and institutions across the Global South are continually failing to respond to the needs of their citizens. This incisive book sets out to establish the pathways to and outcomes of accountability in a development context, as well as to investigate the ways in which people can seek redress and hold their public officials to account. Providing a timely complement to the current literature on accountability, the book features contributions from a diverse range of experienced and up-and-coming scholars and practitioners across the globe. Chapters explore questions of how improved accountability relations emerge, under what conditions they can be maintained, and what role civil-society actors, donors, and new ICT tools can and should play in developing countries. Integrating empirical case studies from Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia with a strong theoretical framework on accountability relations, the book delivers a comprehensive analysis of accountability initiatives across the Global South and ultimately reflects on how they contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. This insightful book will be an essential resource for academics, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide who are engaged in enhancing public sector accountability and implementing SDG 16. It will also help to guide social movements and citizen-led action.

Few international organizations embody the idea of historical progress as strongly as the European Union (EU). This book addresses the main shortcoming of treating EU as a vehicle of progress and political unity between European countries: the disregard of such an approach for the underlying diversity of the European continent. Critically examining the meta-ideology underpinning European integration, the author studies the implications of Europe's heterogeneity, disagreements over European policies, and of pluralism of values for the EU's governance. The book revisits legacies of post-communist transitions and the role played by international economic and political integration in Eastern Europe - as well as the implications of the EU's enlargements for the EU's governance. The result is a novel, polycentric perspective on the EU's governance. Policy practitioners, commentators, and other opinion leaders as well as academics and students interested in applied political economy and European studies will value this extensive exploration of Governing the EU in an Age of Division.

Providing a broad overview of the impact of COVID-19 on economic development, this timely book closely examines the macroeconomic aspects of economic development and the design of monetary policies including under extreme crises. Raghbendra Jha expertly introduces the subject, highlighting the links between economic growth and macroeconomic stability and illustrates a snapshot of economic development. Thoughtful discussions on measurements and limitations of the Human Development Index as well as the role of institutions and the design for monetary policy are also thoroughly reviewed. Furthermore, the book considers the open economy aspects of economic development and the challenges experienced following the global COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The insightful overview of this evolving subject will be crucial reading for scholars interested in economic development, undergraduate and graduate students of economics, as well as economics scholars more broadly. Policymakers, both nationally and internationally, will find the discussions surrounding the design of monetary policies informative and illuminating.