Contemporary law and economics has greatly expanded its scope of inquiry as well as its sphere of influence. By focussing specifically on a comparative approach, this Handbook offers new insights for developing current law and economics research. It also provides stimuli for further research, exploring the idea that the comparative method offers a valuable way to enrich law and economics scholarship. With contributions from leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook sets the context by examining the past, present and future of comparative law and economics before addressing this approach to specific issues within the fields of intellectual property, competition, contracts, torts, judicial behaviour, tax, property law, energy markets, regulation and environmental agreements. This topical Handbook will be of great interest and value to scholars and postgraduate students of law and economics, looking for new directions in their research. It will also be a useful reference to policymakers and those working at an institutional level. Contributors: G. Bellantuono, Y.-c. Chang, R.K. Christensen, E. Colombatto, T.F. Cotter, A. Foddis, N. Garoupa, D.J. Gerber, W.J. Gordon, V.P. Hans, K.A. Houghton, K.-C. Huang, R. Ippoliti, A. Jolivet, A. Kreis, E. Marelli, N. Mercuro, T.J. Miceli, H.T. Naughton, I.P.L. Png, G.B. Ramello, F. Revelli, M. Signorelli, H.E. Smith, J. Szmer, T.S. Ulen, Q.-h. Wang, P.K. Yu

China has traditionally viewed her frontier regions--Zxinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Yunnan--as buffer zones. Yet their importance as commercial and cosmopolitan hubs, intimately involved in the transmission of goods, peoples and ideas between China and it west and southwest has meant they are crucial for China's ongoing development. The resurgence of China under Deng Xiaoping's policy of 'reform and opening' has therefore led to a focus on integrating these regions into the PRC (People's Republic of China). This has important implications not only for the frontier regions themselves but also for the neighbouring states, with which they have strong cultural, religious, linguistic and economic ties. China's Frontier Regions explores the challenges presented by this integrationist policy, both for domestic relations and for diplomatic and foreign policy relations with the countries abutting their frontier regions.

This book is a course in methods and models rooted in physics and used in modelling economic and social phenomena. It covers the discipline of econophysics, which creates an interface between physics and economics. Besides the main theme, it touches on the theory of complex networks and simulations of social phenomena in general.
After a brief historical introduction, the book starts with a list of basic empirical data and proceeds to thorough investigation of mathematical and computer models. Many of the models are based on hypotheses of the behaviour of simplified agents. These comprise strategic thinking, imitation, herding, and the gem of econophysics, the so-called minority game. At the same time, many other models view the economic processes as interactions of inanimate particles. Here, the methods of physics are especially useful. Examples of systems modelled in such a way include books of stock-market orders, and redistribution of wealth among individuals. Network effects are investigated in the interaction of economic agents. The book also describes how to model phenomena like cooperation and emergence of consensus.
The book will be of benefit to graduate students and researchers in both Physics and Economics.

This book is jointly compiled by Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Over the past several years, Chinese scholars have contributed numerous research works on the development of Chinese scientific information and technology, and produced a range of outstanding achievements. Focusing on the main topic of e-Science, this book explores the forefront of science and technology around the globe, the major demands in China and the main fields in China's economic development. Furthermore, it reviews the major achievements and the typical cases in China's e-Science research. It provides a valuable reference source for future technological innovations and will introduce researchers and students in the area of e-Science to the latest results in China.

For the first time since the Great Depression, financial market issues threatened to derail global economic growth. This global financial crisis forced a reconsideration of systemic vulnerabilities with knowledge of numerous investment options and portfolio management strategies becoming more critical than ever before. A complete study of investment choices and portfolio management approaches in both the developing and developed worlds is required to achieve stability and sustainability. The Handbook of Research on Stock Market Investment Practices and Portfolio Management gives a thorough view on the recent developments in investment options and portfolio management strategies in global stock markets. Learning about the many investment options and portfolio management strategies available in the event of a worldwide catastrophe is critical. Covering topics such as AI-based technical analysis, marketing theory, and sharing economy, this major reference work is an excellent resource for investors, traders, economists, business leaders and executives, marketers, students and faculty of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

This book presents in one volume Professor Wiseman's seminal work on the theory of costs and the economist's treatment of the role of government. The major themes concern the subjectivity of costs and the unknowability of the future. From an initial scepticism about pricing rules, the arguments develop into a comprehensive critique of mainstream economic theory and, more positively, an exposition of the fundamentals of a new political economy grounded in choice-as-opportunity-cost.

Toll Road Traffic & Revenue Forecasts: Chinese-language version.

How the Chicago School Overshot the Mark is about the rise and recent fall of American antitrust. It is a collection of 15 essays, almost all expressing a deep concern that conservative economic analysis is leading judges and enforcement officials toward an approach that will ultimately harm consumer welfare.
For the past 40 years or so, U.S. antitrust has been dominated intellectually by an unusually conservative style of economic analysis. Its advocates, often referred to as "The Chicago School," argue that the free market (better than any unelected band of regulators) can do a better job of achieving efficiency and encouraging innovation than intrusive regulation. The cutting edge of Chicago School doctrine originated in academia and was popularized in books by brilliant and innovative law professors like Robert Bork and Richard Posner. Oddly, a response to that kind of conservative doctrine may be put together through collections of scores of articles but until now cannot be found in any one book. This collection of essays is designed in part to remedy that situation.
The chapters in this book were written by academics, former law enforcers, private sector defense lawyers, Republicans and Democrats, representatives of the left, right and center. Virtually all agree that antitrust enforcement today is better as a result of conservative analysis, but virtually all also agree that there have been examples of extreme interpretations and misinterpretations of conservative economic theory that have led American antitrust in the wrong direction. The problem is not with conservative economic analysis but with those portions of that analysis that have "overshot the mark" producingan enforcement approach that is exceptionally generous to the private sector. If the scores of practices that traditionally have been regarded as anticompetitive are ignored, or not subjected to vigorous enforcement, prices will be higher, quality of products lower, and innovation diminished. In the end consumers will pay.

This comprehensive literature review presents key contributions to the topic of regional economic advantage. It helps the reader to understand how regions build advantage for industrial development through the use of endogenous and exogenous resources, how regional industrial development can be supported by place-based policy, and how the form and mechanisms of regional advantage change over time in a path dependent manner. Also analysed is research on industrial districts and new industrial spaces, as well as regional clusters and innovation systems, along with more recent discussion of global development impulses and evolutionary perspectives on regional development. Written by three experts in the field, this important review is an essential resource for those studying, researching or practicing in this area.

This examination of the fiscal health of local governments offers a "how-to" approach to identifying and solving financial problems. It will serve as a primer for readers interested in understanding financial processes and alternatives, and as a practical guide for those who need access to fiscal measurement tools. Its principal selling point lies in its assumptions: instead of using the vocabulary and research agendas of economists (such as Musgrave, Fisher), finance scholars (Ladd/Yinger) and political scientists (Peterson/Strachota), it will appeal to readers who lack sophisticated knowledge in these areas and nevertheless need practical advice.
The book stems from the "Fiscal Health Education Program," an applied economics program at the University of Minnesota. It uses three measures of fiscal health-financial condition, trend analysis, and financial trend monitoring system-as the basis for advocating particular fiscal strategies. The book examines the tools that can be used to assess the condition of a local government's fiscal health and some of the policy causes or remedies for certain situations, as well as some of the strategies governments can pursue to maintain and improve health.
*How-to approach will appeal to readers who lack sophisticated knowledge
* Contains discussion questions and anonymous case studies of actual cities and municipalities
* Presents practical methods for identifying and solving common fiscal problems

Ulrich F. Zwygart offers an essential insight to the financial crisis that provides ample food for thought. He criticizes homo oeconomicus, the model of individual rationality, and contrasts it with the ideal of critical reflective rationality. This is about reason-based thinking, that involves a limitation of one's own activities and the evaluation of the subsequent cost of decisions. The author introduces twelve famous managers from the financial services, such as Richard Fuld, Fred Goodwin, Jon Corzine and Marcel Ospel, analyzes their actions based on neurological findings, social- and cultural-science, psychological and economic insights and describes conflicting challenges such as egomania, eroticism, experiences, emotions, one-dimensionality, successes, agents and rapture. Subsequently he raises the question of responsibility: Who is accountable for the development of top managers and how can ethical conduct be implemented in the field of management?