The profound economic crisis of 1931-33 undermined the process of industrialisation and the stability of the regime. In spite of feverish efforts to achieve the over ambitious first five-year plan, the great industrial projects lagged far behind schedule. These were years of inflation, economic disorder and of terrible famine in 1933. In response to the crisis, policies and systems changed significantly. Greater realism prevailed: more moderate plans, reduced investment, strict monetary controls, and more emphasis on economic incentives and the role of the market. The reforms failed to prevent the terrible famine of 1933, in which millions of peasants died. But the last months of 1933 saw the first signs of an industrial boom, the outcome of the huge investments of previous years. Using the previously secret archives of the Politburo and the Council of People's Commissars, the author shows how during these formative years the economic system acquired the shape which it retained until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Reviews of previous volumes:; The Soviet Economy in Turmoil will be read avidly by all specialists on the Soviet economy; it should also be consulted by anyone

This book describes how the rapid advancement in encryption and network computing gave birth to new tools and products that have influenced the local and global economy alike. One recent and notable example is the emergence of virtual currencies (such as Bitcoin) also known as cryptocurrencies. Virtual currencies introduced a fundamental transformation that affected the way goods, services and assets are exchanged. As a result of its distributed ledgers based on blockchain, cryptocurrencies not only offer some unique advantages to the economy, investors, and consumers, but also pose considerable risks to users and challenges for regulators when fitting the new technology into the old legal framework. The core of this proposed book is to present and discuss the evidence on financial asset capabilities of virtual currencies. The contributors of this volume analyze several interesting and timely issues such as the particularities of virtual currencies and their statistical characteristics; the diversification benefits of virtual currencies; the behavior and dependence structure between virtual currencies and the financial markets; the economic implications of virtual currencies, their effects, their price risk, and contagion spillovers in a unified and comprehensive framework; the future of virtual currencies and their distributed ledgers technology.

Susan Sell's book reveals how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Agreement in Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states how they should regulate the protection of intellectual property. This book argues that TRIPS resulted from lobbying by powerful multinational corporations who wished to mould international law to protect their markets.

With substantial risks arising from resource constraints on global growth, serious questions are being posed about how a scarcity of finite resources may impact global social and political fragility. The research which forms the core of this book focuses on how this scarcity will impact the financial sector, especially through insurance, pension and banking activities. The UK finance sector, which is considered to be amongst the most globalised, is placed under the microscope, and its approaches to food and oil are particularly noteworthy. Interviews with senior financial experts are analysed alongside more traditional quantitative economic analysis to explore potential future impacts, the scope of natural resource constraints and their impact on the economy.

Methods and techniques adopted in teaching, training, learning, research, professional development, or capacity building are generally standardized across most traditional disciplines, particularly within developing countries. This is not the case, however, when it comes to the Islamic disciplines, and, in particular, in relation to the study of Islamic economics and finance, which is influenced by conventional standards and techniques. This is primarily due to the lack of availability of the requisite standards and mechanisms designed within the spirit of Maqsid al-Shari'ah. This book offers a unique resource and a comprehensive overview of the contemporary methods and smart techniques available for teaching, learning, and researching Islamic eco-finance, and it presents solutions to the challenges in implementing them. Further, the book gives deep insight into the most appropriate methodologies that could be employed empirically to explore, model, analyze, and evaluate Islamic finance theories and models, respectively. It also gives recommendations for improving learning, teaching, and research outcomes in Islamic eco-finance. The book also addresses how, in this advanced technological era, smart tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, Zoom, and the internet of things can be adapted to help equip students, researchers, and scholars with smart skills. The book will enable those studying Islamic economics and finance to grasp the appropriate tools for research and learning. Additionally, the Islamic economics and finance sector is growing at a significant rate and therefore requires the upskilling and capacity building of its human resources; thus, the book will also be highly beneficial for practitioners involved in the industry.

An extremely timely contribution to the business and economic literature, this is a comprehensive study of the principal issues surrounding the negotiation and operation of joint ventures in the Soviet Union. The contributors include both Soviet and Western trade experts and economists, making this the most complete and balanced treatment of the subject available to date. Their aim is to combine a strong theoretical base with practical analysis of the problems that Soviet and Western business people have encountered in the Soviet economic environment. To that end, the study maintains a historical perspective but places primary emphasis on presenting realistic visions of present and future policy directions in this area.

Divided into five parts, the volume begins by focusing on the motivations for Western businesses to invest in the Soviet Union and the steps that Soviet officials and managers can take to help satisfy and strengthen these motivations. Part II examines the lessons that can be drawn from joint venture experiences in Eastern Europe and China. In the third section, Soviet and Western contributors explore the painful process of economic reform in the Soviet Union and its implications for Western trade and investment. Specific attention is given to the legal framework within which Western firms would be required to operate. The contributors next examine the practical problems encountered by joint ventures in the Soviet Union, drawing upon both the latest data from Soviet central government and their own extensive questionnaire mailing. Finally, the authors provide recommendations on how the Western and Soviet governments and business communities can structure their approaches to optimize the chances for successful joint ventures. Students of international business as well as executives and managers involved in planning joint ventures in the USSR will find this book an indispensable resource.

By 2000, Ireland had achieved a remarkable macroeconomic performance: 10% economic growth annually, a budget surplus, and a very low debt to GDP ratio. Emigration had disappeared and there was significant immigration from Eastern Europe. Yet, by November 2010, output had collapsed to an extent unprecedented among post war industrial countries, the budget deficit was out of control, and the debt to GDP ratio had soared to around 100%. In an unprecedented development, Ireland was forced to apply for an emergency bail-out package from the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund). This book examines how the Celtic Tiger, a high growth performing economy, fell into a macroeconomic abyss. It is a story that shows how the Irish economy moved from a property market crisis to a banking crisis and fiscal crisis, and how these three crises led to a fourth crisis, the massive financial crisis of 2010. Against the backdrop of the newly created Eurozone, the book demonstrates how a housing boom was transformed into a property market bubble through excessive credit creation. Accompanying the market bubble, buoyant property related taxes enabled a profligate government to over spend and under tax. Few, either in Ireland or Europe, recognised the danger signals because the prevailing economic ideology suggested that financial markets could self-regulate. The book analyses the roles of banks, builders, developers, regulators (the EU, the ECB, the Central Bank of Ireland, and the Irish Financial Regulator), politicians, economists, the media, and a property driven populace during the various stages of the downfall of the Celtic Tiger. It pays particular attention to the decisions to provide a highly controversial comprehensive guarantee for the covered Irish banks in 2008, and the subsequent events that left the government with no alternative but to request the 2010 bail out. Throughout the book, attention is devoted to the allocation of responsibilities for the unfolding crises. First, who or what was responsible for what happened and in what sense? Second, could specific actions have been taken at various stages to prevent the final recourse to the bail out? Finally, the book addresses the future of the Celtic Tiger. It discusses the impact of measures to help resolve the current Euro debt crisis as well as the underlying lessons to be learned from this traumatic period in Ireland's economic and financial history.

This book re-evaluates the regional organizations landscape and discusses how organizations with similar mandates can exercise strikingly different goals. Even economic organizations, which do not produce any outcomes in terms of economic cooperation, can be valuable for their members or individual stakeholders. The book's argument is supported by a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. It employs a novel dataset of 60 regional organizations to establish correlations between members' goals and their characteristics. More than a dozen case studies in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and post-Soviet Eurasia illustrate the theoretic arguments of how particular types of regional organizations come into existence and evolve. Finally, the book examines the remarkable resilience of regional organizations and considers the conditions under which the stakeholders are willing to abandon support.

This book investigates why Austrian economists fail to apply the spontaneous order framework to cooperative relationships - such as a dynamic and evolving public sector - that might complement a thriving market. In direct response to Israel Kirzner's The Driving Force of the Market, Nell challenges traditional Austrian economics by proposing "democratic process theory" as a parallel to market process theory, highlighting the possibilities for an economic organization that harnesses the power of transparent and effective democracy. Keeping in mind the central problems experienced in socialist and capitalist countries due to self-interested political and economic actors, The Driving Force of the Collective highlights the public sector advantages of allowing culture and institutions to evolve endogenously as a spontaneous public sector order.

This book advocates a holistic reform of the current monetary and financial system dealing with the issues of money creation, central banks, loans, stock markets, tax justice, pension security and the international monetary system - "Bretton Woods II". Its innovative approach presents several alternatives for each cornerstone, in addition to introducing a participatory democratic process whereby sovereign citizens can themselves determine the rules governing the new financial and monetary system. With "democratic money conventions" in each municipality, where the elements of this new money system are discussed and decided on in a participatory manner, and a federal money covenant which then elaborates a template for a referendum about the future "money constitution", a true "sovereign" could progressively convert money from a financial weapon into a democratic tool. The envisaged democratic monetary system, by providing equal opportunities for every member of society to participate in the development of the "new rules of the game", turns money progressively into a public good which increases the freedom for all. The new system furthermore drives the enhancement of constitutional and relational values such as human dignity, solidarity, justice, sustainability, or democracy. Money should serve life and should serve the common good. The "Bank for the Common Good" Project, which was initiated in Austria by the author Christian Felber, represents a practical example of his proposals.

"Really up-to-date...gives a fantastic overview of the financial crisis" Fabian Kreutzer, University of Applied Science Niederrhein, Germany "Extensive references to and content regarding crises. It's really amazing" Yioryos Georgios Makedonis, Queen Mary University of London Using real-world case studies and examples, this comprehensive text offers intermediate and applied macroeconomics students a truly European and global perspective. Continuing to successfully combine theory with application, Macroeconomics has been fully updated in this fifth edition to keep students up-to-date with the ever changing macroeconomic environment we are experiencing today. This book presents macroeconomics as an applied science designed to improve our understanding of current and past policy issues. The unique mix of theory, analysis and policy issues takes students from macroeconomic basics to cutting-edge research topics Includes case studies addressing major policy issues in detail, supported by a wealth of economic data Moves beyond standard intermediate macroeconomics content by discussing liquidity traps, quantitative easing, price bubbles, multiple equilibria, self-fulfilling prophecy, ratings agencies, debt brakes and austerity Self quizzes, road map, glossary and other content also available for mobile devices Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/gartner for a comprehensive companion website featuring interactive macroeconomic models equipped with guided exercises, state of the art data display and analysis, quizzes and more.

Executive decision makers are coming to understand that strategic management, national government policies, and the international public sector are all related, often in subtle ways. Foreign markets now have even more influence on corporate performance. Dr. Beenhakker familiarizes readers with a multifaceted approach to decision making in an international context, focusing on the interactions between the private and public sectors. In doing this he shows how macroeconomic issues affect the global economy, specifically their impact on international financing.

Though drawing upon a wide range of sources in economics, finance, accounting, and statistics, among other fields, this work requires no special grounding in any of these fields to be read, grasped, and applied. Dr. Beenhakker's analytical techniques help translate the often vague rules of thumb used by international finance executives into specific decision making criteria. With numerous examples and illustrations, plus a clearly defined conceptual framework to analyze, predict, and respond to changes in the financial environment and world trade, Dr. Beenhakker's book is an essential resource for executive-level decision makers throughout today's globalizing organizations.

The focus of the global economy has increasingly shifted toward China and emerging countries. However, despite their high growth prospects, emerging economies often lack the sound capital market and corporate governance systems necessary to promote the efficient allocation of financial resources to maintain the confidence of capital providers. As China becomes more prominent economically, the development of its capital market becomes an increasingly important issue. This book presents some of the latest academic research on China's capital markets, demonstrating some of the major issues currently being faced. Preeminent researchers in the field examine key topics such as the performance of commercial banks, dividends and ownership, financial constraints and firm performance, the role of political networks, stock price decomposition, stock return predictability, and the role of media coverage. In this book, the authors use the country's institutional background to offer useful insight into policy implications for the development of China as well as other emerging economies.

The long-term sustainability of the euro and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) depends heavily on their ability to attract widespread public support. The support shown for the euro throughout its first two decades has helped to shield it against populist attempts at the national level to dismantle the common currency. It has granted political legitimacy to the presidents of the European Central Bank to do "whatever it takes" whenever a serious crisis has threatened the viability of the euro. Public Support for the Euro is the second of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This second volume brings together eleven of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on public support for and the economics and political economy of the euro and EMU.

This book offers a unique, in-depth, and up-to-date overview of Islamic banking and finance, capital markets, and sukuks at the grassroots level. It deals with one of the most potent and increasingly popular financial instruments. It defines and explores the differences between conventional and Sukuk bonds and also examines the integration of Sukuk in various country contexts and both Muslim and non-Muslim economies. The book consists of five core topics. First, it describes the evolution of the Islamic finance industry and capital markets; second, it discusses the basic features and instruments of Islamic banking; and third, it illustrates the current state of capital markets and Islamic finance. The book then examines the development of Sukuk in Islamic capital markets and Shariah perspectives and, finally, briefly discusses the structure of Sukuks and its development in the context of Pakistan. In a nutshell, this book provides a basic understanding of Islamic financial instruments, their implementation in different regions, and their points of differentiation from conventional modes of finance; therefore, it will be a useful addition to the literature for scholars, researchers, and students of Islamic banking and finance.

How do market participants construct stable markets? Why do crises that seem inevitable after-the-fact routinely take market participants by surprise? What forces trigger financial panics, and why does uncertainty lead to market volatility? How do economic elites respond to financial distress, and why are some regulatory interventions more effective than others? Social Finance: Shadow Banking during the Global Financial Crisis answers these questions by presenting a new, economic conventions-based model of financial crises. This model emerges from a theoretical synthesis of several intellectual traditions, including Keynesian epistemology, Hyman Minsky's asset market theory, economic sociology, and international relations theory. Social Finance uses this new paradigm to explain instability in the global shadow banking system during the global financial crisis. And it presents the results of interviews with some of the world's leading investors - who saw over $2 trillion in annual order flows and managed over $160 billion in assets - to provide first-hand accounts of markets in crisis. Written in accessible prose, Social Finance will appeal to a broad audience of academics, policymakers, and practitioners interested in understanding the drivers of financial stability in the twenty-first century.

Economic methodology typically focuses on microeconomic theory. The Methodology of Empirical Macroeconomics breaks new ground by focusing instead on the genuine problems that arise for macroeconomists trying to relate theory to data. It demonstrates that with careful attention to actual macroeconomic practice, economic methodology and the philosophy of science help to resolve problems faced by working macroeconomists. Some issues addressed are: the relationship between theoretical models and empirical observations; microfoundations for macroeconomics; the scope and nature of economic laws, the role of idealizations, methodological individualism, and the problem of causality.

Growth theory provides a rich and versatile analytical framework through which fundamental questions about economic development can be examined. This book is an introduction to the newer features of growth theory that are particularly useful in examining the issues of economic development. Structural transformation, in which developing countries transition from traditional production in largely rural areas to modern production in largely urban areas, is an important causal force in creating early economic growth, and as such, is made central in this approach. Towards this end, the authors augment the Solow model to include endogenous theories of saving, fertility, human capital, institutional arrangements, and policy formation, creating a single two-sector model of structural transformation. Based on applied research and practical experiences in macroeconomic development, the model in this book presents a more rigorous, quantifiable, and explicitly dynamic dual economy approach to development. Common microeconomic foundations and notation are used throughout, with each chapter building on the previous material in a continuous flow. With its single model and focus on data and policy analysis, this text is intended for beginning graduate students and policy makers interested in economic development.

This book assesses the performance of banks in India over the past several decades, and discusses their current status after fifty years of nationalization. The performance of different categories of banks is evaluated by employing both the traditional ratio analysis and more sophisticated efficiency techniques. The book also explores the market conditions under which Indian banks operate. Going beyond a formal banking study, the book also investigates the causes of the widespread presence of informal credit in parallel to its formal banking counterpart. This approach makes it more comprehensive, unique and closer to the real world. After 50 years of nationalization, India's banking sector is at a crossroads, given the huge and unabated non-performing assets and talks of consolidation. This book, encompassing both the formal and the predominantly 'trust-based' informal credit system, provides essential insights for bankers and policymakers, which will be invaluable in their endeavours to implement meaningful changes. It may also spark new research in the fields of banking performance and efficiency analysis. Lastly, the book not only has significant implications for students of economics, banking, finance and management, but also offers an important resource to support training courses for banking personnel in India.

This book, first published in 1999, analyses the history and major economic features of the Vietnamese reform process. The attempt to establish a post-reunification centrally planned economic system, a collectivised agriculture and a capital-intensive and inward-oriented industrial sector had largely failed, provoking the development of a parallel economy which turned out to be the nucleus of an emerging private sector. The book focuses on the reform of enterprises and the financial sector and gives an overall picture of the reform efforts in the areas of rural development, the social sectors and environmental policy, and assesses the further changes and reforms needed in the country.

This book draws on a range of theoretical foundations, approaches and management practices that are culturally and jurisdictionally appropriate in several Muslim countries. As such, it contributes to an emerging specialism in comparative management and leadership theory that is oriented toward a broader and more diverse set of perspectives, particularly from the non-Western world, given that the importance of values, ethics, and culture have recently been recognized as a key contributing factor to management knowledge development. The author offers an in-depth overview of the Islamic management strategies that have successfully been implemented in selected Malaysian banking and non-banking financial institutions and then outlines how the application of such strategies leads to increased integrity, efficiency and performance. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the introduction, historical background and methods used in collection of data. The second part consists of a range of real-world case studies, while part three deals with the approaches to be used in the teaching of these cases followed by conclusions and recommendations. These cases studies map the strategic aspects of organizational structure and illustrate the motives that influence Malaysian managers' choices in seeking specific responses to the situations at hand, which are in harmony with the traditions in Islamic inquiry. As such, management scholars can build a foundation for conceptual and theoretical propositions relevant to Muslim culture and environment that will have practical significance. The book provides a wealth of information and enables researchers not only to identify the determinants of knowledge structure and its context but also the evolution of practice.

i) This title approaches the relationship between the government and the market from the perspective of mezzoeconomics in an effort to fill up some gaps in this regard by building a new economic model in theory and clarifying economic operation in practice. ii) This title offers first-hand information and practical suggestions for regional governance. iii) The author uses a number of figures and tables to illustrate the theoretical models.

Papers on regional integration and trade liberalisation in sub-Saharan Africa meant to apply new perspectives and approaches to an analytical framework and methodology for study of the region. The collaborative chapters are written by economists within and outside the region of sub-Saharan Africa who have specialized in international and trade economics. It creates a background for the next three volumes: Vol. 2: country studies, Vol. 3: regional studies and Vol. 4: syntheses written by leading international economists which concludes lessons as well as looks to the future.

This book explores the complex history of Catalonia in relation to Spain from an economic and political perspective. It begins in the Middle Ages and ends in the present day, analysing the intricate political problems of modern day Catalonia within a context of European integration and nationalism.

It was part of common wisdom that in the early stages of development inequality would rise, but it would, eventually, decline. As time passed and growth persisted, inequality has, however, continued to grow, casting doubt on the received wisdom.