The timeliness of this book is beyond question. Since the crisis erupted in Thailand in mid-1997 and spread, with varying degrees of severity, to the rest of Asia, the export-led industrialization strategy that has driven economic growth in East and Southeast Asia over the last 50 years has come into question. Is this model still applicable to latecomers such as Vietnam? The Asian financial crisis has highlighted the dangers of implementing export-oriented industrialization through government subsidies and protection. This book finds that the strategy followed by the Asian economies in the last half-decade remains a valid model for Vietnam. In order to avoid grave damage to its financial institutions, the strategy needs to be implemented in conjunction with the development of a sound financial system and a robust private sector. Based on a detailed analysis of the causes and nature of the Asian financial crisis as well as the Vietnamese economy, this book concludes that it is unlikely that Vietnam will face a banking and currency crisis in the short term, but Vietnam could be plagued by balance of payments difficulties for some time to come unless major structural reforms are undertaken soon. This timely book will be of great use to Asian studies scholars and those interested in the role of the financial sector in economic management and development.

Foreign capital has played a fundamental role in China's development and economic reconstruction during the past two decades. China is now the world's second largest host for foreign direct investment, outside the United States. This important new book, by a distinguished group of contributors, offers insights into the impact of foreign investment on China's growth and regional economic development. The book features: * an examination of China's investment policy * an analysis of the most recent industrial surveys * case studies from selected regions * applications of modern econometric techniques to data on foreign direct investment in China Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in China will be of interest to those working in the areas of international business, finance and international economics as well as Asian development and Chinese economic studies.

Privatization investment funds are the key feature of mass privatization programmes in transitional economies. This book offers a thorough survey of mass privatization programmes in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, supported with extensive empirical analysis. The study of 'top-down' privatization funds in Poland and 'bottom-up' funds in the Czech Republic and Slovenia offers different solutions to the problem of how to improve the governance of privatization funds. The authors argue that the institutional structure of closed-end investment companies and open-end mutual funds has not provided the right incentives to maximize the value for the shareholders. In addition too many regulations are in place in underdeveloped markets to protect new shareholders unaccustomed to exercising their ownership rights. Instead, the authors argue that they need to promote adjustment in fund portfolios and ownership structures in order to spur the development of capital markets and effective mechanisms of corporate governance.

At the beginning of the 1990's the first encouraging results on GDP growth combined with the fulfilment of international requirements led many to believe that Albania was a 'shining star' in Central and Eastern Europe. But in 1997 this progress was reversed by unprecedented institutional, political and social turmoil leading to a spiral of violence and chaos. This book presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the different factors behind the 1997 political, economic and social upheaval in Albania. It shows that the crisis was both predictable and complex, and not simply a matter of a disgruntled population attempting to regain their money. Using extensive and detailed evidence Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead identifies the major reasons for the growing discontent and final explosion: - the increase in unemployment, collapse of industrial production, inefficiency of the banking system, limitations and drawbacks of foreign investment, failure of mass privatization, falling living standards, and rising poverty. He examines the consequences of the crisis at the enterprise level, by region, sector, industry and property form using a unique survey of over 1,000 enterprises. In conclusion he offers a series of policy recommendations with a view to regenerating production whilst avoiding a new social explosion in a destroyed economy, weakened by political instability and the conflict in Kosovo. This unique book will be essential reading for all academics working in the area of transition as well as policymakers from international organizations involved in transition economies.

This book shows that research contributions from different fields-finance, economics, computer sciences, and physics-can provide useful insights into key issues in financial and cryptocurrency markets. Presenting the latest empirical and theoretical advances, it helps readers gain a better understanding of financial markets and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to use a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending and to control its issue without the need for a central authority, and it has attracted wide public attention since its introduction. In recent years, the academic community has also started gaining interest in cyptocurrencies, and research in the field has grown rapidly. This book presents is a collection of the latest work on cryptocurrency markets and the properties of those markets. This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers from disciplines such as finance, economics, financial engineering, computer science, physics and applied mathematics working in the field of financial markets, including cryptocurrency markets.

Since the demise of communism, Russia has become increasingly disparate. Some regions have grown in strength while others have been less successful. This book examines regional patterns of economic change in Russia by addressing questions such as: * Is Russia a single economic area? * Why are regional economic inequalities increasing? * Are there significant regional differences in the economic regime? * What influence do leaders have in their own regions, and on federal economic policies? * To what extent do central policymakers affect regional outcomes? * How are Russian regions affected by their new openness to foreign trade and investment? Based on research carried out by an international and interdisciplinary group of experts, this book analyses case studies from eight regions as well as testing hypotheses on data for the 77 main administrative regions. It will be of immense value to academics, those working for government and non-government agencies, and business people.

This comprehensive and far-reaching book describes the growth and economic integration of the European economy from 1500 to 1913. The authors apply macroeconomic techniques to identify growth rates, inflation, product markets, trade networks and business cycles across a set of countries over the period. The book demonstrates that growth was the natural state for European economies throughout the period although, under the impetus of the industrial revolution, growth rates generally accelerated by the end of the nineteenth century. Similarly, business cycles in the modern sense seem to have been in evidence at the beginning of the period but by the eighteenth century there is no doubt that modern cycles affected these countries, sometimes simultaneously. Inflationary episodes are both distinct and shared in this long period, with the long inflation of the sixteenth century attesting to the integration of European markets. Finally, the authors find abundant quantitative evidence to support the argument that economies linked by international trade in 1500 came close to achieving global integration by 1913. The European Macroeconomy will be of interest to scholars of economic history, international economics and macroeconomics.

Toseef Azid, Murniati Mukhlisin, Nashr Akbar, and Muhammad Tahir bring together leading researchers to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the monetary policy, corporate governance, their legal and regulatory issues and procedures that structure Islamic banks (IBs) and other Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). Monetary policy and corporate governance are integral to macroeconomics and microeconomics while interest rates are a key part of monetary policy. Given negativity associated with interest rates, Islamic economists have sought alternative instruments. Focusing on the populous Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Bangladesh and Indonesia this book explains how corporate and shari'ah governance structures work together under the umbrella of Islamic monetary policy, and in the process, provides guidelines that how such structures improve corporate social responsibility in order to serve the best interests of all stakeholders. The chapters included here cover various features of IBs and IFIs, corporate performance and strategic analysis of microfinance shari'ah based non-banking institutions, in order to investigate the role that these processes play in shaping broader global financial systems. For instance, it portrays different governance models of central bank of a country like Iran having a shari'ah based financial system. In conclusion, Monetary Policy, Islamic Finance, and Islamic Corporate Governance: An International overview explores the interrelationships between corporate governance from the perspective of shari'ah, banking industry and Islamic monetary policy. This is a must-read for the corporate sector, banking experts and monetary authorities including academics and postgraduate students.

Since the rational expectations revolution in macroeconomics, the subject has evolved in a major way, adopting the principles behind the revolution and building on them in spectacular fashion. In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition, the authors provide a complete and up-to-date textbook designed to guide students through the mathematical and conceptual maze of modern macroeconomics. The updated second edition includes: Explanation of the historical development of the subject Introduction to traditional macro-classical/adaptive expectations Demonstration of how rational expectations are handled in macro models and in finance An explanation of the importance of structural, micro-founded models Key examples of structural models examined in detail, and with extension to the open economy Discussion of policy implications throughout Methodology for testing models against macro data behaviour, complete with the latest evidence on these models' success Coverage of key topics, including the supply-side, unemployment, growth and the open economy. By explaining the basics of each topic, and providing the solid grounding for students to tackle more complex and detailed material, this textbook will be an invaluable resource for both postgraduate and upper level undergraduate students of macroeconomics alike.

This compelling research review touches on the contemporary debates in macroeconomics that have consequentially emerged as a result of government debt. Should governments tolerate high public debt or become more indebted given the now prevailing low interest rates? Or is high public debt bad for private sector confidence and growth, by feeding uncertainty, expectation of future tax hikes and an imminent collapse in the wake of the next crisis? This review presents a collection of articles reflecting on these complex and intriguing topics. This review will be useful for policy makers and academics alike, while being particularly suited for those wishing to explore this exciting research area further.

This important book focuses on the impact of home countries on the international competitiveness of transnational corporations (TNCs). It seeks to explain the geographic concentration of the most internationally competitive TNCs in a single or very few countries, and their uneven performance at these concentration points. The theoretical framework for this analysis is based on a link between the location advantages of countries and the ownership advantages of firms. The book focuses on professional service TNCs as the competitive advantages of these firms are based entirely on intangible, often mobile assets, and they thus provide a striking illustration for the ways in which such assets shape the competitiveness of firms. Analyses of TNCs in several professional service industries based in various countries reveal the dynamic balance between the home and the foreign countries in which the TNCs operate, as well as the combination of country- and firm-specific attributes in shaping the competitiveness of TNCs and the subsequent patterns of global competition. The Origins of the International Competitiveness of Firms extends our knowledge of the determinants of the international competitiveness of TNCs, and will be of interest to scholars and students of international business and business strategy, and to those working in the fields of international competition, trade and investment.

One of the basic issues of accounting is to augment, or extend the conventional net national product measure so as to obtain a better indicator of welfare. This book extends the usual analysis of social accounting by including technological change, externalities and uncertainty. This important new book analyses welfare measurement, sustainability and 'green accounting' within general equilibrium models. A large part of the book is devoted to welfare measurement in the presence of technological change and external effects which complicate 'green accounting' to a considerable extent. In addition to environmental externalities, the authors also discuss external effects arising from investments in human capital and their implications for welfare measurement. Other areas examined are welfare measurement under uncertainty and examples of cost-benefit analyses of environmental and other policies. The book will be required reading for graduate students and professional economists interested in macroeconomics, environmental and resource economics.

Income distribution is one of the most important issues related to social change and is a central question in public policy. Despite this, income distribution is often neglected by mainstream economics. This important book seeks to rectify this by presenting a number of heterodox approaches to income distribution. The book approaches the subject from a variety of different schools of thought and focuses on some of the broader topics within income distribution as well as its significance for national policy. It addresses the social order of society as dictated by income, as well as institutional arrangements and their impact on income distribution theory and policy. The authors discuss current thinking as well as considering empirical findings on income distribution and how these are affected by different stages of economic development. The Economics of Income Distribution will be welcomed by economists, sociologists and political scientists interested in public policy issues relating to income distribution.

This important and accessible book focuses on the problems confronting public authorities in transitional economies. It is based on a large, diversified and first-hand body of empirical research, which is analysed in terms of mainstream industrial economic theory.A distinguished group of authors explores the long-term prospects for industrial growth, the accumulation of technology and the overall framework of economic restructuring and industrial reform. They cover the role of government in emerging market economies and agencies such as the Treuhandanstalt in Germany. They also trace other major issues such as restructuring and privatization, industrial strategy and trade policy, tax reform and incomes policy and productivity growth. Industrial Economics for Countries in Transition will be essential reading for policymakers in developing countries and will also appeal to students and economists concerned with economic and industrial development.

This important textbook offers a comprehensive look into the two main traditions in contemporary macroeconomics ? New Classical and Keynesian ? and examines the work of economists who have drawn on principles from both traditions to form a new, integrated approach known as New Neoclassical Synthesis. Importantly, this provides the theoretical foundation for much of current mainstream economics and the work done by central banks around the world. With a dual focus on research methods and policy applications, this book bridges the gap between intermediate macroeconomic and advanced graduate-level texts, making it an ideal resource for senior undergraduate and Masters students in applied economics programs. Key topics include:? a concise summary of intermediate macroeconomics, including the foundational ideas of both the New Classical and Keynesian traditions? the Lucas critique of standard methods for evaluating policy design? debt sustainability and austerity vs. stimulation debate? optimal inflation rates? tax reform and growth analysis? alternative monetary policies for pursuing price stability? theories of unemployment.Students and instructors will find additional useful resources on the book?s companion website, including practice questions for each chapter.

From Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events-and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses Stories people tell-about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin-can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril-and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior-what he calls "narrative economics"-may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions.

With a population of 1.2 billion and nearly two decades of spectacular growth, China promises to become one of the world's largest economic powers and consumer markets in the next century. A salient feature of the contemporary Chinese economy is the significance of state intervention toward business in the form of 'preferential policies'. Thanks to these policies, a firm's location, ownership type and area of business largely determine whether it should receive privileges of disadvantages in the regulated business environment. The fast changing preferential policies have had great influence on a wide range of economic activities, including foreign direct investment. The extent, complexity and variety of these policies are bewildering to both investors and academics who study the Chinese economy.State Intervention and Business in China is a systematic study of China's preferential economic policies. Dr Lu and Dr Tang present these policies in three categories, namely, the investor-oriented, the region-oriented, and the industry-oriented policies. The authors give a clear account of policies including: preferential tax rates, state bank loans, trade protection and subsidies, and licensing schemes. The book provides the in-depth political economy analyses that reveal the sources and functions of these policies. By offering empirical observations on the impact of state intervention on regional development and economic structures, this book sheds new light on the prospects for China's economic policy making. State Intervention and Business in China will be indispensably for scholars and specialists who are interested in contemporary Chinese economy and society. It is also a valuable guide for doing business in China.

This unique book focuses on the central issues in macroeconomics - examining some of the lively theoretical controversies troubling contemporary economists - in order to establish a genuine basis for communication between the alternative theoretical traditions.The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of several competing approaches to macroeconomic analysis: post Keynesian economics, Kaleckian analysis, neo-Ricardian theory, the neo-Austrian school, the Rational Expectations School etc. This book presents new work by 14 respected economists from nine different countries who address a series of unresolved yet well-defined issues in monetary theory and policy, market structure and accumulation, and problems of effective demand and the theory of distribution. The main purpose of Macroeconomic Theory is to identify areas of common ground among the various theoretical approaches. The excitement of that dialogue and the intellectual vitality generated are captured for the reader in a volume that will be essential for an understanding of modern macroeconomic theory.

Income Distribution in a Corporate Economy offers a skilful examination of the influences of financial markets and imperfect competition on the distributive process. Unlike much of the earlier literature, it concentrates upon the short-run, making it suitable for empirical appraisal.After a thorough review of the theoretical and empirical literature of the past 30 years, Russell Rimmer uses a series of models to synthesize results from post Keynesian macroeconomics, investment theory and industrial economics. The final chapters contain an analysis of the short-run effects of changes in pricing strategies and increases in industrial concentration on income shares accruing to households and corporations. By presenting in one place the neo-classical and post Keynesian approaches, the book will serve both as a text and a foundation for future work on distribution. Students new to income distribution will be able to read the text as an introduction to the neoclassical and post Keynesian approaches. A novel contribution is the gathering together of early extensions of post Keynesian theory to the short run, including accounts of attempts to synthesise the major theoretical strands.

Capitalism With a Human Face is a carefully edited selection of Samuel Brittan's most important recent essays. It covers topics ranging from utilitarianism and the ethics of self-interest, to the principles of macroeconomic policy and how to price people into work without throwing them into poverty. The book will be controversial, for the individualistic ethic, which it is so fashionable to attack, is not merely defended but celebrated. This collection will be of special interest both to readers of Samuel Brittan's articles who would like a more extended treatment and those new to his work. A notable feature is a specially written introduction explaining how the author came to take up political economy and how he arrived at the positions elaborated in this book.

The great recession is changing the way many people live and the way they perceive their prospects for the near and more distant future. Its longer term consequences will not be known for some time, but something can be learned from the effect on individuals and households who experienced financial hardship. This volume is the first to use innovative survey data on the lives of Europeans to investigate the long term impact of financial hardship on earnings, standards of living, and health. The data provide a detailed account of the key events that have taken place over the course of the recession. It compares the well-being of individuals who were lucky to escape negative shocks to their income or their circumstances to the less fortunate who may have lost their job, faced divorce, or serious illness. The wide array of welfare state and social support provisions across different European countries adds an important policy angle to the analysis: has the welfare state, currently under heavy pressure, been able to provide an adequate safety net in the face of extended periods of financial difficulties, or has the family instead proven the ultimate source of support in difficult times?

The Chinese Economy in Transition provides an analysis of the economic reforms introduced under Deng Xiaoping. It attempts to answer the question: what was the economic system that the Chinese were trying to reform and what approach have they adopted to reform it?Whilst the book focuses primarily on economic issues, it also explores the political and social environment and concentrates on three broad areas of the Chinese economy: agriculture, industry and macroeconomic management. Within these broad areas the focus is on two major themes: competition and cooperation, and central authority and regional autonomy. This book will be of special interest to senior undergraduate and postgraduate economics students, academics and China analysts.

The theory of monopoly capital is central to any satisfactory analysis of accumulation and stagnation in advanced capitalist economies. This major new book presents in one volume recent discussions of monopoly capitalism to emphasize the centrality and vitality of this tradition in modern political economy.Following the work of Kalecki, Steindl and Baran and Sweezy, a number of leading economists address key issues such as the calculation of the economic surplus, the division of income between labour and capital, oligopoly collusion over output and pricing, the growth of unproductive activity, the degree of monopoly, surplus absorption and stagnation and the history of the present crisis.

Wicksteed's classic work, The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution, has a central place within the development of marginal productivity theory. It claimed to explain all 'factor returns' on a unified basis and to show how 'marginal productivity factor pricing' just exhausted the total product. It is presented here with a long introduction by the editor, Ian Steedman, who provides both a careful analysis of the text and an assessment of Wicksteed's place within the development of modern economics. This important new edition will make The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution accessible to a fresh generation of economists.

Oskar Lange was one of the few economists able to observe first hand the three major economic systems that have been the hallmark of the 20th century. He learned about the economic backwardness of peripheral capitalism in pre-war Poland. Later he spent more than twelve years in the bastion of modern capitalism, the United States. After returning to Poland in 1948 he linked his fate to the creation and then reform of the Communist system.This important collection of Professor Lange's work, prepared by his disciple and close friend Tadeusz Kowalik, presents his most important work on the economic theory of socialism, economic planning, Marxism and 'bourgeois' economics. The volume makes an important contribution by improving access to the papers of an economist whose work was at the very heart of the intellectual conflict between socialism and capitalism in the late twentieth century.