As a prospective economic giant in the next century, developments in the Chinese economy are of significance to the global economy. This book consists of contributions concerned with analysing contemporary developments and issues facing the country after two decades of economic reform, and key policies which will exert a profound influence upon the country's prospective growth and development momentum into the next millennium. This well-researched book, although comprehensive in its coverage, is succinct and very readable, and will be of interest to scholars and students of developing and transitional economies, business practitioners and policy-makers.

This book provides perspectives on the latest developments and pertinent issues in the Indian financial sector in current times. The reforms initiated in the nineties in the financial sector have transformed the way financial markets and institutions function today. However, certain sectors like banking, and markets like the capital market have undergone sea changes. The research contributions in this book focus on the issues pertaining to such sectors like banking, NBFCs and the stock market. The opening up of financial markets and emergence of institutional investors have been a significant phenomenon in the Indian context. At this backdrop of increasing financial integration, the impact of financial liberalisation on the overall development of the sector, and how the global policies and events influence the Indian financial sector, are analysed in the book. The emergence of new regulations in the capital markets to instill more discipline and transparency, have also changed the way corporates take financing decisions. For example, regulatory authorities are continuously reviewing norms pertaining to issues like promoters' shareholding owing to risks arising from excessive leverage and the linkages between financial intermediaries. Corporate governance, environmental aspects are some important additions in corporate financing norms in the recent past. The book incorporates a discussion on this, too. Apart from these, the book also has incorporated several aspects on an emerging concept called financial inclusion, its measurement and constraints to achieve the same. And finally, at the backdrop of the disruption created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on the Indian capital market is also discussed. Contributions are based on rigorous empirical research and incorporate the perspectives of renowned academicians in the field of finance and financial economics across the country. Apart from the research community, this book will also be helpful for financial analysts working in the financial sector to have some idea about the current issues, the direction of research on those issues and different perspectives on them.

The book addresses the truly interdisciplinary and highly controversial subject of international financial regulation and supervision, which has been at the center of academic, political, and public attention since the start of the current economic and financial crisis. Drawing on international financial regulatory and supervisory experience and in line with the European Monetary Union's gradual transformation into a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union, it proposes the transformation of the European financial supervisory framework into a hybrid twin-peaks model to create the previously missing necessary legal foundation for the adoption of the so-called Group Support Regime (GSR). The latter is a relatively simple and transparent capital management tool for (re)insurance groups operating in a parent-subsidiary structure proposed by the European Commission under the new Solvency II insurance supervisory framework, which despite lengthy consideration was eventually rejected by Member States.

Although it is agreed that the dual development of monetary integration and territorial enlargement are likely to generate profound effects on European spatial structure, in both West and East, much uncertainty centres around the question of what changes will be brought about. This book furthers our economic understanding of the opportunities and challenges offered by these developments. The emphasis is primarily on the economic agenda associated with European integration. Part A reviews the debate on European monetary unification. Economic integration raises many issues, one which is dealt in depth is the issue of convergence versus divergence. Part B centres around the dynamics of cohesion in the EU and the associated regional policies, reflecting on experience from the past and challenges for the future. Part C sheds some light on the complexities of transition and integration of Central and Eastern European countries, the second major challenge being faced by the EU at the turn of the century.

This book tests the critical potential of happiness research to evaluate contemporary high-performance societies. These societies, defined as affluent capitalist societies, emphasize competition and success both institutionally and culturally. Growing affluence improves life in many ways, for a large number of people. We lead longer, safer, and more comfortable lives than previous generations. But we also live faster, and are competition-toughened, like top athletes. As a result, we suspect limits and detect downsides of our high-speed lives. The ubiquitous maximization principle opens up a systematic gateway to the pleasures and pains of contemporary life. Using happiness as a reference point, this book explores the philosophical and empirical limits of the maximization rule. It considers the answer to questions such as: Precisely, why did the idea of (economic) maximization gain so much ground in our Western way of thinking? When, and in which life domains, does maximization work, when does it fail? When do qualities and when do quantities matter? Does maximization yield a different (un)happiness dividend in different species, cultures, and societies? "

This report is a partial result of the China's Quarterly Macroeconomic Model (CQMM), a project developed and maintained by the Center for Macroeconomic Research (CMR) at Xiamen University. The CMR, one of the Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China, has been focusing on China's economic forecast and macroeconomic policy analysis, and it started to develop the CQMM for purpose of short-term forecasting, policy analysis, and simulation in 2005.Based on the CQMM, the CMR and its partners hold press conferences to release forecasts for China' major macroeconomic variables. Since July, 2006, twenty-three quarterly reports on China's macroeconomic outlook have been presented and twelfth annual reports have been published. This report, the twenty-fourth quarterly report, has been presented at the Forum on China's Macroeconomic Outlook and Press Conference of CQMM on February 27, 2018. This conference was jointly held at Beijing, China by Center for Macroeconomic Research at Xiamen University, and Economic Information Daily at Xinhua News Agency.

Interest has always been a part of humans' daily economic life, and the concept of interest has attracted intense attention from economists, philosophers, religious scholars and lawmakers. This book analyses the issue of prohibition of interest through the lens of conventional economics and then makes a comparison with the position of Islamic economists. It evaluates the theory of interest presented by Boehm-Bawerk, which is the most respected and applicable theory at present. It provides an in-depth analysis of the current literature, and it is the first book to scrutinize the interpretation of Islamic economists on the concepts of time preference and interest rate control. This book will be of interest to academics and students of economics and Islamic economics.

This edited volume analyses the channels through which EU membership contributed to the convergence process of member countries in the Baltics, Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. These channels include trade, investment, finance, labour, and laws and institutions. Global integration has certainly played an important role. A large part of FDI flows and financial integration in the world have been persistent features of globalization. Have these countries experienced more intensive integration through these channels because of EU membership, with its much tighter institutional and political anchorage, than their fundamentals and global trends would suggest? Contributions by lead researchers of the area address different aspects of this question. .

Developing countries undergoing economic crises have traditionally followed economic restructuring programs that are based on the premise that private investment recovery is assured once the market is allowed to prevail. There is little regard for the micro-level unit - the 'investing-firm' - in this process, the conditions that characterize the product and factor markets and the positioning of the firm at the outset of adjustment. This book focuses on the firm and its experience in the restructuring process within the context of a heterogeneous private sector.

How did the American media and entertainment industries decline from their global ascendancy after World War II to their present condition of instability and uncertainty? How will trends in the delivery of information affect their future? These are some of the questions Steinbock asks in this comprehensive, thoroughly researched analysis. Starting with a description of shifts in the U.S. economy and ending with the coming revolution in U.S. media and entertainment--attributable to government policies, strategic alliances, and technological convergence-- Steinbock's book is no less than a Baedeker to all facets of these interlocked industries, and a provocative critique to their stengths and weaknesses in the world economy. Media and entertainment professionals will find Steinbock's views challenging and cautionary. For academics in schools of communication, the book will be a necessary source of history, data, and analysis.

In the mid-1980s, America lost its global economic leadership. The information revolution has added to uncertainty. Despite the coming electronic superhighways, the future remains clouded in the American media and entertainment industries. Steinbock's comprehensive, thoroughly researched analysis is no less than a Baedeker to all facets of these interlocked industries, and a provocative critique of their strengths and weaknesses in the world economy. The book opens with a discussion of the American economy and its macro-affects on media and entertainment, vis-a-vis the twin deficit, a stock market dominated by institutional investors, troubled banking industry, deregulation and antitrust policies, as well as the fourth national mergers and acquisition wave.

In Part I, Steinbock looks at broadcasting (tv, radio) and cable (basic and pay, pay-per-view, home shopping), exploring the former's winding fortunes and the latter's consolidation. Then, he moves to examine the Hollywood studios and talent agencies and their market multiplication: theatrical exhibition, home video and syndication, theme parks, toys, video games, licensed merchandise, record and music industry, newspapers, magazines, and books, as well as interactive multimedia, from CD-ROM to virtual reality. Each industry analysis inludes a full section devoted to all major corporate players, from networks (Capital Cities/ABC, General Electric/NBC, Loews Corp./CBS) and cable operators (TCI, Viacom, Turner) to the studios (Time Warner, Paramount, Disney, News Corp., Sony, and Matsushita). In Part II, Steinbock discusses the coming electronic superhighways and government-initiated policies that have already had a significant impact on strategic alliances (direct broadcast satellites, computers, Baby Bells, and long distance carriers). The book concludes with an assessment of how the technological, economic, and political convergence is dramatically remolding the media, entertainment, computer, and telco industries, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.

This edited volume examines the development path of eight Central and Eastern European countries with an overlapping historical background that joined the European Union between 2004 and 2013, and identifies the main similarities and differences between the countries concerned. Based on wide comparative data analysis of Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, each chapter in the volume provides detailed information about the state of the economy in a specific area preceding the pandemic shock. The book offers a detailed snapshot of the state of the different areas of the economy, starting from the time when the countries concerned came out of the 2008 financial crisis, up to the date when COVID-19 hit. Further, each chapter analyzes the effects of this unprecedented shock on a particular field, which is followed by highlighting the main problems the countries are facing at present and in the near future, together with identifying the available policy options. Finally, before concluding and making general and country-specific policy recommendations, some thoughts will be given to longer-term prospects. More specifically, the question of how the subject area could contribute to avoiding the "middle-income-trap" that this region may be facing will be addressed. The comprehensive approach makes this volume a must-read for scholars and students of economics, as well as policy decision-makers in Europe, interested in a better understanding of the region's economic development.

This open access book presents an alternative to capitalism and state socialism through the modelling of a post-market and post-state utopia based on an upscaling of the commons, feminist political economy and democratic and council-based planning approaches. It discusses the left's need to explore non-capitalist modes of production, the inability of green or socialist market economies to produce real social and ecological change, and the need to look beyond traditional ideas of reform and revolution. The book discusses how a socio-economic organisation beyond money, wage labour, patriarchal division of work and centralised state planning may look like. It develops an approach to societal transformation based on seed forms of commons practices and social movements. This book will be relevant to activists, students and researchers interested in fundamental social change, political economy and feminist and Marxist economics. This is an open access book.

In recent years, the accounting profession has been faced with a number of unresolved problems. One of the most crucial has been the failure to distinguish between two separate sectors of the economy, the core and the periphery. This work offers a comprehensive study of this dual economy in which large organizations are clustered at the center while smaller organizations are arrayed on the periphery. At least two sets of accounting standards are required to adequately serve this structure, Monti-Belkaoui and Belkaoui argue, and just what these standards are, and how they would affect such issues as financial reporting, is the subject of this book.

The work explores the nature of the dual economy and provides a perspective on the way in which the concept operates. The authors begin their study with a survey of the theories and implications of the dual economy, and the issues of accounting validation in such a structure. In a number of succeeding chapters, they then analyze some fundamental accounting problems and their relation to economic dualism, including income smoothing, auditor switching, and bond rating changes. The work concludes with an examination of public policy and standard-setting solutions to the dual economy situation. "Accounting in the Dual Economy" will be a useful resource for a wide variety of professionals, including practicing accountants, financial managers, and legislators. It will also be an important supplementary text for courses in accounting and public policy.

This is the first study that puts together a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the drivers of the labor income share across a number of countries in Asia. This book provides an insightful companion to the study of labor income shares that plays a vital role in understanding the relationship between national income and personal income, and the relationship between wage inequality and wealth inequality. The timing of the book is ideal, as the ongoing debate over a global decline in the labor income share is far from settled. To this extent, evidence from the Asian countries is mixed. The labor income share in some Asian countries has been rising since the 1990s. The purpose of this edited volume is to gain more insights on the potential drivers of the Asian experience. The first half of the book pays attention to the measurement problems related to the earnings of self-employed and workers in the informal sector. Then it puts together country case studies examining a wide range of factors driving the labor income share in Asia.

This book records the first success stories of a new form of financial intermediation, the hometown investment fund, that has become a national strategy in Japan, partly to meet the need to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The hometown investment fund has three main advantages. First, it contributes to financial market stability by lowering information asymmetry. Individual households and firms have direct access to information about the borrowing firms, mainly SMEs, that they lend to. Second, it is a stable source of risk capital. The fund is project driven. Firms and households decide to invest by getting to know the borrowers and their projects. In this way the fund distributes risk but not so that it renders risk intractable, which was the problem with the originate and distribute model. Third, it contributes to economic recovery by connecting firms and households with SMEs that are worthy of their support. It also creates employment opportunities, at the SMEs as well as for the pool of retirees from financial institutions who can help assess the projects. Introduction of the hometown investment fund has huge global implications. The world is seeking a method of financial intermediation that minimizes information asymmetry, distributes risk without making it opaque, and contributes to economic recovery. Funds similar to Japan s hometown investment fund can succeed in all three ways. After all, the majority of the world s businesses are SMEs. The first chapter explains the theory behind this method, and the following chapters relate success stories from Japan and other parts of Asia. This book should encourage policymakers, economists, lenders, and borrowers, especially in developing countries, to adopt this new form of financial intermediation, thus contributing to global economic stability.

This book provides a multidimensional analysis of Iran's struggle for development between 1970 and 2020, focusing on fundamentals, institutions, and socioeconomic trends. The past several decades in Iran have been a period of sluggish and noninclusive economic growth, ill-fated social engineering with an Islamic template, political repression, and extensive environmental degradation. The intellectual discourse surrounding the impediments of growth in Iran has been dominated by an exaggerated notion of the role of ideology, class struggles, imperialism, and historical contingencies, overlooking the profound impacts of institutions and fundamental socioeconomic trends. This book aims to fill this gap using positive economics and data-driven analysis to cover a wide array of topics, such as governance, corruption, macroeconomy, population dynamics, labor, financial systems, energy, water scarcity, and food security. Illustrating clearly the complex interactions among different dimensions of Iran's development, this book will be essential for researchers, policy makers, and journalists.

David takes as his point of departure the orthodox rational paradigm of public policy-making--which, he argues, does not adequately reflect real-world process--to present an integrated model for economic policy formulation and execution. By juxtaposing the theoretical foundations of the rationalist model with insights drawn from alternative systems of political economy, he shows how economic decisionmaking is both more complex and less idealistic than the rational paradigm assumes. In constructing his argument, David systematically integrates ideas drawn from moral philosophy, politics, sociology, systems theory, institutional and neo-Marxian economic thought, and international dimensions of poitical economy. He suggests a reorientation of theory and analysis based on an approach emphasizing the role of values, conflicts, power, and divergent interests in the decisionmaking process. Focusing throughout on questions raised by the rationalist model, David builds his analysis around issues such as: the validity of the dominant theories of public economic decision-making; the logical vis-a-vis ideological foundations of economic policy postulates; the extent to which decisions can be made more responsive to values pertaining to human development.

Pandemic Economics applies economic theory to the Covid-19 era, exploring the micro and macro dimensions of the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic phases. Using core economic tools such as marginal analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and opportunity cost, this book explores the breadth of economic outcomes from the pandemic. It shows that a tradeoff between public health and economic health led to widespread problems, including virus infections and unemployment. Taking an international and comparative approach, the book shows that because countries implemented different economic policies, interventions, and timelines during the crisis, outcomes varied with respect to the extent of recession, process of recovery, availability of medical equipment, public health, and additional waves of the virus. Pedagogical features are weaved throughout the text, including country case studies, key terms, suggested further reading, and discussion questions for solo or group study. On top of this, the book offers online supplements comprising PowerPoint slides, test questions, extra case studies, and an instructor guide. This textbook will be a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on pandemic economics, macroeconomics, health economics, public policy, and related areas.

The forces that shape economic growth: --The size of markets. Large markets make economies of scale possible and thus encourage saving, investing, and the development of new products.--The availability of information and the literacy of the population. The spread of information gives people access to scientific and technical ideas, products, and productive farming, manufacturing, and marketing techniques.--Natural resources. These seem like primary requirements but are not: they depend on markets for their commercial value.--Surplus capital--savings--that can be used as investment.--Basic economic rights such as guarantees of property and contracts.--Entrepreneurialism, creativity, and the human drive for self-improvement.--Technology and invention. While commonly seen as primary (or even the only) requirements for growth, these are strongly dependent on other factors.

This modern and comprehensive book offers a broad survey of economic growth theory, with special emphasis on the impact of natural resources on long-term development. The book begins with the standard growth models of the 1950s and 1960s and extends its analysis to the so-called 'new' growth theory, in which the long-term growth rate of an economy becomes an endogenous variable. The impact of positive spillovers, human capital formation, public services and innovation on the growth process are carefully studied. Using models and empirical illustration, the author evaluates to what extent growth theory is able to explain the huge international differences in living standards prevailing in the world today. The theoretical foundation is then used to consider the issue of sustainable growth under stricter environmental regulation. Growth Theory and Sustainable Development shows that the understanding of growth theory is an important key to predict the sustainability of long-term development, making it required reading for students of economic development and environmental economics.

This book develops new, original methods of welfare comparison and comparative dynamics between distinct and discretely positioned (rather than continuously related) socioeconomic situations. These methods are not only realistic but also extremely relevant to serious economic problems. Using them, the book sheds illuminating new light on the theoretical analysis of Keynesian economics and other important issues of political economy. For instance, it shows that the principle of effective demand applies exactly as Keynes put it to the unemployment equilibrium in the short run. It also shows that the equilibrium may change along the expansion path as the government chooses to vary its expenditure to maximize national welfare. The same methods are effectively employed theoretically to investigate modern trade policy issues such as gains from trade, the theory of tariffs, free trade agreements, and the role of the WTO. Those methods are also used to study the welfare and efficiency of various socioeconomic situations.

The emerging literature on experimental methods in connection with economic inequality has shed fresh light on how to think about inequality, how important issues of equality are in comparison with other economic objectives and how individuals incorporate criteria of equality and fairness into their own decisions.

This volume covers a wide range of topics in the field of income distribution and extends the approach to related issues such as mobility and attitudes to risk. The selection of papers includes both participatory experiments - where individuals respond to economic incentives - and questionnaire experiments designed to investigate the extent to which individuals' values and attitudes conform to the way that economists and others conventionally model inequality and welfare.

A volume in Research on Hispanic and Latino Business Series Editors Michael William Mulnix and Esther Elena Lopez-Mulnix Approximately 25% of Latin Americans live on less than $2 a day, and Latin America is the most unequal region of the world. Poverty and inequality cause suffering and slow development. The solution must include generating an inclusive development process through satisfying the basic needs of the poor that enhance their productivity, that enable them to contribute to the development process, and that enables them to earn the income necessary to live a full life. Decentralization of taxing and spending from the central government to lower levels of government can help to satisfy basic needs of the poor and create an inclusive development process. However, decentralization is a stepby- step process that must implemented by taking into account real-world circumstances such as a lack of administrative ability in local government, and by formulating policy accordingly. The book derives economic principles for implementing the process of decentralization, and it presents cases that illustrate the principles at work. It is an economic guide for policymakers and practitioners.

This edited collection is a critical evaluation of the impact of fiscal imbalances on the economy of industrialized and developing countries as prepared by a diverse group of scholars involved in advanced research on public finance. Technical issues, economic consequences and the political economy of budget deficits and government debt are covered in one succinct volume. The work provides a balanced presentation of neo-classical views on measures of government deficits; the budget process and major budgetary legislation in the United States; and the impact of deficits on economic activity, exchange rates, inflation, financial markets, trade balance, and economic growth. It also examines the political economy of government budgets in the OECD, select developing economies, and South Africa. From the 1950s to the 1980s, economic activity and growth were affected by fiscal imbalances and excessive government activity in many countries. Although many actors have made retrenchment attempts, economic research has not resolved the conflicting arguments about the impact of fiscal imbalances on the global economy. This book provides a balanced presentation of all major issues related to the impact of fiscal activity on the economy.

This book summarizes the evolution of modern macroeconomics (New Consensus Macroeconomics, NCM) and proposes a new approach to theoretical and empirical analysis, which is based on a recently developed dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. Dynamic macroeconomic analysis in emerging market economies is challenging, and of growing importance in the global economy, where emerging markets are becoming more and more influential. Clearly, a deeper understanding of the inner workings of emerging economies, particularly with respect to their socioeconomic structure and the urbanization process, is needed. The book's extends the NCM/DSGE model to better account for significant economic and social features in emerging market economies. In particular, household heterogeneities and social stratification are explicitly incorporated into the framework proposed here, substantially enhancing the comprehensiveness of the model economy, and allowing it to better account for underlying social structure in emerging economies. Furthermore, financial and housing markets have not been considered sufficiently in either the advanced or emerging economy literature, an oversight this book remedies. As such, it makes an original and valuable contribution to the field, and a direction for future research.