Offering the first scholarly analysis of the economic nature of blockchains and the formation of the blockchain economy, this timely book explores the future of global capitalism. Applying the institutional economics of Ronald Coase and Oliver Williamson, the authors highlight how blockchains are poised to reshape the nature of firms, governments, markets and civil society. Chapters apply basic economic principles to explore blockchains and distributed ledger technologies through the framework of institutional economics. The book suggests ways in which cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin may develop further in the future, bringing us back to a barter economy which removes the need for a third person in economic transactions. Outlining a ledger-centric view of the economy, the authors explore how blockchains and dehierarchalisation will reduce the demand for government regulation. Institutional economists and scholars will greatly appreciate the thorough analysis of the development of institutional cryptoeconomics and insight into the future of blockchains that this book offers. Computer and technology scientists will also find this book to be a valuable read, as well as those working specifically in the blockchain industry.

This book puts human beings back at the heart of the economic process. It shows how this classical, human-centred tradition, stretching from Adam Smith onward, gives us a much better understanding of economic events - and what to do about them - than the mechanistic, mathematical models of too many economists and planners today.' - Eamonn Butler, The Adam Smith Institute, UK'David Simpson writes about key economic issues with admirable lucidity. He draws deeply on experience as well as on his knowledge of economic theory.' - Asa Briggs David Simpson skilfully argues that a market economy can be best understood as a human complex system, a perspective that represents a continuation of the classical tradition in economic thought. In the classical tradition, growth rather than allocative efficiency is the principal object of enquiry, economic phenomena are recognised to be elements of processes rather than structures, and change is evolutionary. The book shows the common principles that connect the early classical school, the Austrian school and complexity theory in a single line of thought. It goes on to show how these principles can be applied to explain the characteristic features of a market economy - namely incessant change, growth, the business cycle and the market process itself - and argues that static equilibrium theory, whether neoclassical or neo-Keynesian, cannot satisfactorily account for these phenomena. This fascinating book will provide a stimulating read for academics, postgraduate students and all those with an interest in economic theory and economic policy. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. Human Behaviour 3. Qualitative Change and Quantitative Growth 4. Adaptation, Emergence and Evolution 5. Self-organisation and Complexity 6. Markets, Competition and Entrepreneurship 7. Specialisation and Growth 8. Prosperity and Recession 9. Government 10. The Rediscovery of Classical Economics Bibliography Index

Alec Hogg is one of South Africa's leading financial journalists, and the founder of Moneyweb and Biznews.

Here he helps us to learn how the investment genius of Warren Buffett can be applied to South African investing. This book is packed with invaluable lessons and insights from the world's greatest wealth creator. Useful charts and graphics are included in the book to provide more details about concepts and shares.

Packed inside the book you'll find:

• What $10'000 invested in Berkshire in 1965 looks like today
• Buffett's Top 4 Companies
• Stock charts of important South African companies

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. City-regions are regeneration economies, or in other words, places that are experiencing on-going processes of recovery, adaptation or transformation. This Research Agenda provides both a state-of-the-art review of existing research on city-regions, and expands on new research approaches. Expert contributors from across the globe explore key areas of research for reading city-regions, including: trade, services and people, regional differentiation, big data, global production networks, governance and policy, and regional development. The book focuses on developing a more integrated and systematic approach to reading city-regions as part of regeneration economics by identifying conceptual and methodological developments in this field of study. Students in geography, urban studies and city and regional planning will greatly benefit from reading this, as it provides a wealth of stimuli for essays and dissertation topics. Advanced business and public policy students will also benefit from the focus on translating research into practice, an approach that this Research Agenda takes in several chapters. Contributors include: L. Andres, J.R. Bryson, J. Clark, G.J.D. Hewings, N. Kreston, M. Nathan, P. Nijkamp, J. Steenbruggen, R.J. Stimson, E. Tranos, A. Weaver, D. Wojcik, G. Yeung

In recent decades, due to unprecedented technological advancements, Europe has seen a move towards on-demand service economies. This has allowed the growth of self-employed professionals who are able to satisfy an increasing demand for flexible and high-skilled work. This book explores the need for reform of regulations in Europe, studying the variance in legal status, working conditions, social protection and collective representation of self-employed professionals. It provides insights into ways that policy could address these important challenges. Presenting the results of a wide-reaching European survey, this book highlights key issues being faced across Europe: the implementation of universal social protection schemes; active labour market policies to support sustainable self-employment and the renewal of social dialogue through bottom-up organisations to extend the collective representation of self-employed professionals. With its theoretically-informed, empirical and interdisciplinary comparative analysis, this book identifies and explains key strategies to resolve these challenges. This book will be of great benefit to both advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of labour and economic sociology, political science, industrial relations, human resource management and social law. It will also appeal to scholars, practitioners and policymakers concerned with the labour market and self-employment in the European context.

Since the first edition of Who Shall Live? (1974), over 100,000 students, teachers, physicians, and general readers from more than a dozen fields have found this book to be a reader-friendly, authoritative introduction to economic concepts applied to health and medical care.Health care is by far the largest industry in the United States. It is three times larger than education and five times as large as national defense. In 2001, Americans spent over $12,500 per person for hospitals, physicians, drugs and other health care services and goods. Other high-income democracies spend one third less, enjoy three more years of life expectancy, and have more equal access to medical care.In this book, each of the chapters of the original edition is followed by supplementary readings on such subjects as: 'Social Determinants of Health: Caveats and Nuances', 'The Structure of Medical Education — It's Time For a Change', and 'How to Save $1 Trillion Out of Health Care'.The ten years following publication of the 2nd expanded edition in 2011 were arguably more turbulent for US health and health care than any other ten-year period since World War II. They span the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the deepening opioid epidemic, and the physical, psychological, and socio-economic traumas of the Covid-19 pandemic.An important new contribution to this book is to describe and analyze the changes in five sections: 'The Affordable Care Act and the Uninsured', 'Health care Expenditures', 'Health Outcomes', 'The Covid-19 Pandemic', and 'Health and Politics'. This part includes 24 tables and figures.This book will be welcomed by students, professionals, and life-long learners to gain increased understanding of the relation between health, economics, and social choice.