Measurement of intangible benefits is a major problem for governments, commercial organizations, academics, and professionals involved in such disciplines as accountancy and economics. But it doesn't have to be difficult.

"Measuring Intangible Value" brings clarity and understanding to this complex issue. Utilizing more than seven years of research into the concept of intangible value measurement, David I.W. Taylor attempts to bring two theories of intangible measurement together through the application of a redefined concept of value. These two theories include Michael Porter's value chain research and Thomas Saaty's structured decision-making method, analytical hierarchic process, and analytical network process.

This study also develops the use of Porter's value chain theory to develop a process by which value can be categorized and then measured, and also considers identification of intangible benefits through categorization. These categories are then formulated as to the least amount of groupings necessary to assist in the options appraisal of project outcomes through the quantification of structured decision-making.

"Measuring Intangible Value" brilliantly forges a relationship between academic theories to create a practical business model perfect for those in any type of organization

The book focuses on how microfinance institutions can be the alternative way to supply funds to combat different phases of global economic recessions. Also, it emphasizes upon their capabilities in reducing poverty and inequality as the countries of the world today aim to attain the goal of sustainable development. The book further deals with the challenges that the micro financial institutions may face while sustain in the competitive and vast changing global business environment. Finally, the book analyses the effectiveness of micro financial services for the emergence of micro, small and medium enterprises with new technology and innovations which, in turn, can be instrumental in ensuring new relocation of global supply chains.

This proceedings volume presents new methods and applications in applied economics with special interest in advanced cross-section data estimation methodology. Featuring select contributions from the 2019 International Conference on Applied Economics (ICOAE 2019) held in Milan, Italy, this book explores areas such as applied macroeconomics, applied microeconomics, applied financial economics, applied international economics, applied agricultural economics, applied marketing and applied managerial economics. International Conference on Applied Economics (ICOAE) is an annual conference that started in 2008, designed to bring together economists from different fields of applied economic research, in order to share methods and ideas. Applied economics is a rapidly growing field of economics that combines economic theory with econometrics, to analyze economic problems of the real world, usually with economic policy interest. In addition, there is growing interest in the field of applied economics for cross-section data estimation methods, tests and techniques. This volume makes a contribution in the field of applied economic research by presenting the most current research. Featuring country specific studies, this book is of interest to academics, students, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in applied economics, econometrics and economic policy.

Joseph Stiglitz examines the theory behind the economic downturns that have plagued our world in recent times. This fascinating three-part lecture acknowledges the failure of economic models to successfully predict the 2008 crisis and explores alternative models which, if adopted, could potentially restore a stable and prosperous economy.

This book introduces a new approach in the field of macroeconomic inventory studies: the use of multivariate statistics to evaluate long-term characteristics of inventory investments in developed countries. By analyzing a 44-year period series of annual inventory change in percentage of GDP in a set of OECD countries, disclosing their relationship to growth, industry structure and alternative uses of GDP (fixed capital investments, foreign trade and consumption), it fills a gap in the economic literature. It is generally accepted that inventories play an important role in all levels of the economy. However, while there is extensive literature on micro- (and even item-) level inventory problems, macroeconomic inventory studies are scarce. Both the long-term processes of inventory formation and their correlation with other macroeconomic factors provide interesting conclusions about economic changes and policies in our immediate past, and present important insights for the future.

In the aftermath of the stock market crash, Irving Fisher pointed to the electrification of the U.S. industry as one of the underlying causes of the stock market boom. Earlier, in 1927, Brookings Institution economists had lamented the scant attention energy had received from economists. Today, some 60 years later, power remains the forgotten factor input. In this book, the author incorporates energy into the corpus of economic analysis. Unlike previous attempts, which were mostly theoretical, this work generates testable predictions. The result is a model of production based on the two universal factor inputs--broadly defined energy and broadly defined organization.

Once the model of production is developed, the book then tests an empirical model with data from U.S., German, and Japanese manufacturing. The results are used to reexamine the role of energy in productivity slowdown. When the empirically and theoretically correct model of production is used, the Solow residual disappears: growth in manufacturing value added is fully accounted for by growth in energy, capital, and labor.

This is an especially impressive study, one really without equal in terms of its coverage and sophistication. . . . While the analysis is predominately neoclassical, it is sensibly and sensitively done, and there is much to be learned from these pages on the immense difficulties involved in designing and implementing appropriate small-state economic policy. The tug of economic reality facing small economies in an open-world economy make the push coming from internal interests a real balancing act, as Worrell appreciates. There are other points one might have liked Worrell to have touched upon, but this work is really in a class by itself; there is no other general economic study of the region that is even remotely comparable. "Choice"

Dr. Worrell has been Director of Economic Research at the Central Bank of Barbados for over ten years. During this time he has observed firsthand the economic fluctuations in the Caribbean, advised the Barbados Government on policy, and written about the issues. "Small Island EconomieS" offers the author's reflections on the English-speaking Caribbean's economic performance during the last fifteen years. This insightful volume will be of use to specialists of developing and comparative economies and third world scholars, as well as those concerned with present-day international relationships.

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's major macroeconomic variables. Since July, 2006, twenty-six quarterly reports on China's macroeconomic outlook have been presented and thirteen annual reports have been published. This report, the twenty-sixth quarterly report, has been presented at the Forum on China's Macroeconomic Outlook and Press Conference of CQMM on February 26, 2019. This conference was jointly held at Beijing by the CMR and the Economic Information Daily at Xinhua News Agency

For Eastern European and other countries, market democracy offers an organizing principle for reform, a model on which to base movement toward a market economy. Macesich stresses the importance of such an organizing principle, asserting that without it the state will again assume dominance and the political and economic structure will be taken over by well-organized special interests to the detriment of the rest of society. In such a scenario, reform simply perpetuates the interests of the ever-active political elite and bureaucracy. Market democracy, the culmination of more than three hundred years of economic and political thought, is centered on a pluralistic democracy with a free-market-oriented society. Proponents of market democracy do not share the Marxist pretention that commandeering society is the one way to assure prosperity and freedom; they are equally skeptical of the nationalism which has replaced Marxism in many of these countries as the guiding spirit of government. This study draws on the experience of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demonstrating the futility of promoting narrow nationalism in the ethnic hodgepodge that constitutes the population in this part of Europe.

The volume's eight chapters look at the organization of a market democracy and the historical and theoretical principles involved. Then Macesich zeroes in on the key role of money, the constraints of nationalism; bureaucracy and market democracy; and property rights, privatization, and other issues. The volume closes with two chapters devoted to the politics of reform and a re-examination of Europe's past. This timely volume will be especially valuable to scholars in the areas of development economics, international finance and trade, political economy, political science, and socialism.

The second of two works resulting from the author's extensive study of energy and the world economy, this book examines the international macroeconomic aspects of energy adjustment. Specifically, the author analyzes the ways in which economies adjust to external shocks, particularly the oil price shock and other energy market changes of the 1970s and early 1980s. He seeks to put the recessions experienced by industrial countries during the last decade in historical and analytical perspective, arguing that with the increasing openness of the world economy, the effects of the domestic policies of the industrial economies are increasingly relevant to the economic prospects of developing countries. He argues further that the apparent problems of the global economy during the post-1973 era--stagnant growth, inflation, the international debt crisis, and rising protectionism--are in part the result of a deterioration in the economic performance of industrial countries.

The author begins by examining the effects of energy supply disturbances on the world economy. Subsequent chapters explore such issues as challenges to economic stabilization policy; the impact of external shocks on the economies of less developed countries, especially with regard to inflation and balance of payments problems; the relationship between world payment imbalances and recycling problems; and the link between energy markets and the international debt crisis. Finally, the author provides a theoretical framework for the international adjustment to energy shocks, focusing on flexible exchange-rate policy responses to exogenous shocks in the 1970s and the contribution of exchange rate misalignment to the international debt crisis of the 1980s.

This book argues that the theory of sustainable development lost some of its rigor because of two main reasons. The first manifests itself as an inflation of concepts that hampers the correct understanding of sustainability's essence. The second one consists of a departure from the traditional scientific sources of the classicists and, in part, neoclassicists. Exploiting relevant areas of their works, the authors outline the theoretical framework necessary to promote a healthy version of sustainability. Of utmost interest prove to be areas such as: the formation process of natural prices and natural rate of interest; placing growth before employment and placing production before distribution, consumption, and social justice. The main idea of the book consists of a call for breaking away from the impure forms of the theory of sustainable development and its reconstruction through the reconciliation with the laws of healthy growth as they are highlighted in the works of the founders. The authors make the case for an approach to sustainable development that is holistic, macroeconomic, and institutionalist, where social, ecological, and economic components are reconciled. This work presents a fresh perspective in the context of current works on sustainability, serving as an accessible research resource and public policy decision guide.

This book is a quarterly forecast and analysis report on the Chinese economy. It is published twice a year and presents ongoing results from the "China Quarterly Macroeconomic Model (CQMM)," a research project at the Center for Macroeconomic Research (CMR) at Xiamen University. Based on the CQMM model, the research team forecast major macroeconomic indicators for the next 8 quarters, including the rate of GDP growth, the CPI, fixed-asset investment, resident consumption and foreign trade. At the same time it focuses on simulation of current macroeconomic policies in China. In addition to helping readers understand China's economic trend and policy guide, this book has three main goals: to help readers understand China's economic performance; to forecast the main macroeconomic indicators for the next 8 quarters; and to simulate the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia, accompanied by the emergence of new borders, is paradigmatically highlighting the relevance of borders in processes of societal change, crisis and conflict. This is even more the case, if we consider the violent practices that evolved out of populist discourse of ethnically homogenous bounded space in this process that happened in the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990ies. Exploring the boundaries of Yugoslavia is not just relevant in the context of Balkan area studies, but the sketched phenomena acquire much wider importance, and can be helpful in order to better understand the dynamics of b/ordering societal space, that are so characteristic for our present situation.

Confident in the knowledge that the U.S.was the dominant world economic power, state leaders paid little attention to economic development after World War II. Then, with increasing competition from Asia, Germany, and South America, the recession of the 1980s, and the Reagan cutbacks in assistance to states, they began to place more emphasis on state economic development, finding that earlier policies did little to help their states develop economically. Today, the pursuit of state economic development is so intense it pushes other issues to the back burner. Examining the impact of interest groups on state economic development policies, this book helps to account for some of the forces that have molded development policy during this crucial time.

With the reemergence of economic development as a policy issue, state policy makers have developed over 300 distinct policies. What causes state officials to adopt or modify specific policies is open to debate. Investigating a series of variables believed to influence variations in state economic policies, the author finds that contemporary theories do not adequately explain the relationship between the lobbying efforts of interest groups and differences in economic development policies.

This book is devoted to the analysis of the three main financial crises that have marked this century: 2001 Argentina's defaulting on its external debt, the American subprime crisis in 2008, and the current European debt crisis in Europe. The book pursues three major objectives: firstly, to accurately portray these three financial crises; secondly, to analyze what went wrong with mainstream economic theory, which was unable to foresee these types of economic turmoil; and thirdly, to review macroeconomic theory, re-evaluating Keynes' original contribution to economic analysis and pointing out the need to rebuild macroeconomics with a view to studying economic illness rather than trying to prove the non-existence of economic problems.

William G. Martin's Semiperipheral States in the World-Economy diverges sharply from past international labor division interpretations of semiperipheral development. Martin emphasizes the importance of each country's individual conditions. Linking each example, however, is the theory that there is a relatively rare set of conditions that make economic, political, and social advancement of the semiperipheral states successful or even possible. Martin and the contributing writers present the thesis that mobility of semiperipheral states to the core world-economy is a very rare phenomenon. Indeed, they even go so far as to suggest that it is the very set of social and institutional ruptures that were necessary to achieve semiperipheral status which often create the social and political forces that prevent any further advance. Economic pressure from core nations and intense competition within the semiperiphery are cited as being foremost among these factors. Such general topics occupy the first few chapters of the book, while the later chapters examine specific semiperipheral countries in depth. The final interpretation provides a better understanding of this segment of the world-economy and of the transformational possibilities of the capitalist world itself. Students of both world-economy and the social and political conditions of the semiperiphery will find this an invaluable study.

This book offers a comparative analysis of credit cooperative systems across 23 European countries. Cooperative banking has an important place in the financial, economic and social life of most European countries, and while cooperative banks, credit mutuals, credit cooperatives and credit unions share the spirit of cooperation and mutuality, they often have very different features, history and development. The book examines the evolution and current model of each credit cooperative system, its importance for the national and local banking markets, as well as the impact of the financial crisis on cooperative banking, and also presents the sharp contrasts between these systems throughout the EU. It is of significant scientific and practical interest and enables policymakers, practitioners and academics at European and national levels to deepen their understanding of the evolution of the system and its governance.

As decisively as the collapse of the Soviet Union signaled a most definite conclusion to that utopian undertaking gone mad, so has NAFTA ended an economic counterpart in Mexico. The United States and Canada are embarking on a grand experiment, incorporating Mexico into their very own economies, creating the largest trading bloc in the world consisting of more than 360 million consumers in an economy that will surpass seven trillion American dollars. For corporate America, an enormous opportunity lies in the integration of the Mexican nation into the economic and social fabric of North America. International business consultant and economist Louis Nevaer explains what these opportunities are and offers sage advice on how U.S. corporations can capitalize on them.

The implementation of NAFTA heralds the final conclusion of the Mexican Revolution, and Mexico is now embarked on a race against time to make up for lost decades. Ernesto Zedillo, who will deliver Mexico to the 21st century, confronts enormous challenges as the authoritarian hegemony that characterizes the political economy of the Mexican nation-state is dismantled. NAFTA constitutes a blueprint for the systematic surrender of the Mexican economy. There is, however, no blueprint for the transformation of Mexico into a democracy. Herein lies the greatest risks to corporate America, for there is always the danger of self-destruction, as witnessed in some of the republics of the former Soviet Union. The discussion presented in this book examines the present realities of the Mexican nation in the age of free trade. In Part I opportunities and risks for corporate America are analyzed, not only within an economic context, but also within a cultural and historical one, as well. Presented in Part II are the processes that have shaped Mexico over the centuries--Spanish rule, Native American civilizations, the trauma of conquest--which have given rise to the Mexican persona and character. With this understanding as background, the American reader gains a strategic advantage in understanding how the Mexican psyche works and which buttons to push. Finally, Part III presents a practical approach to conducting business in Mexico, which ranges from the legal requirements of opening a subsidiary, to a warning about the prevalence of corruption in Mexican society, as well as the existence of racism in Mexican culture.

This book offers a critical perspective on the issues related to women's empowerment, microfinance, and entrepreneurship in India. Written by distinguishing experts in this field, this book highlights women's empowerment, which is a process of entrusting power to an individual on the control over resources and decisions. However, these two factors are less effective in a society where religion and cultural dominance is high. The book sheds light on the social security measures undertaken by the government aiming to the right to work helped women who are bounded by social restrictions. Over time there is a shift in rural occupational structure towards non-farm activities, which is largely distress driven self-employment. Access to credit is a great source to provide self-employment that develops self-esteem among women and uplift their position. The book highlights the discrimination against women entrepreneurs in access to credit led to gender biased entrepreneurial society. Association with self-help groups (SHGs) has made women more socially empowered. SHG members help them to change their life in a positive manner through micro-entrepreneurial activities. The book has emphasized on the role of microfinance, which has served the poor to become financially self-reliant. It is observed that for second generation borrowers, the impact of microfinance seems to fizzle out, where MFIs who are gaining efficiency are diverting their objective of servicing poor, signalling a sign of mission drift.

.Economic reform measures introduced in Poland have been the most radical and ambitious in the newly free countries of Eastern Europe. In a short time that country has moved from a centrally planned economy to a free-market system. The ramifications and implications of these economic reforms are influencing economic thought and planning in other recently liberalized, formerly communist societies.

Raphael Shen asserts that measures taken to transform the Polish economy should be implemented over time rather than overnight, and should be moderate rather than radical. Throwing the centrally planned system out and replacing it with the free-market system instantly means that, in the short term at least, Poland will have no smoothly functioning system in place. The necessary economic infrastructure and basic institutions have had no time to develop. The contrived market system cannot function in a meaningful way. The current experience in Poland has already led to extensive disillusionment among Polish consumers and doubts among academicians. The Polish experience will be a valuable lesson in economics for students and decision makers. Shen's book valuable to students, teachers, and researchers in the areas of comparative economic systems, economic development, and economic history.

James Tobin, 1981 Nobel laureate in economics, was the outstanding monetary economist among American Keynesian economists. This book, the first written about James Tobin, examines his leading role as a Keynesian macroeconomist and monetary economist, and considers the continuing relevance of his ideas.

Against the background of the globalization of private finance, the predominance of states in global affairs cannot be taken for granted. New actors, such as commercial banks or securities houses, have entered the global arena and, therefore, need to be included in any informed analysis of social reality. The actions of these institutions have to be regarded as influential forces impacting world politics. The theory of transnational regimes is advocated as a new way of structuring the global system.

This book explores the role of national fiscal policies in a selected group of Euro-area countries under the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In particular, the authors characterize the response of output to fiscal consolidations and expansions in the small Euro-area open economies affected by high public and private debt. It is shown that the macroeconomic outcome of fiscal shocks is strongly related to debt levels. The Euro-area countries included in the investigation are Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, over the sample period 1999-2016, i.e., the EMU period. The main econometric tools used in this research are structural vector autoregressive (VAR) models, including panel VAR models. The available literature relating to the subject is also fully reviewed. A further closely investigated topic is the potential spillover effects of German fiscal policies on the selected small Euro-area economies. Moreover, in the perspective of the evolution of the Euro Area towards a full Monetary and Fiscal Union, the authors study the effects of area-wide government spending shocks on aggregate output and other macroeconomic variables during the EMU period. The closing chapter of the book considers evidence on the consequences of austerity policies for European labour markets during recent years.

The development of the welfare state has been accompanied by greater freedom being granted to workers in industrialized capitalist countries. The themes of this probing volume concern how governments, employers, trade unions, and workers have acted to promote economic growth and accountability with active industrial policies and forms of co-determination, worker self-management, and/or employee ownership. The book's essays address the key dimensions of economic, social, and political change in five industrial democracies: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Sweden. A major focus of the volume as a whole is on economic management and workplace reform in a variety of national settings. Managing Modern Capitalism is divided into three sections, covering strategies for industrial renewal, workplace democracy in practice and theory, and future perspectives. In the first section, each of the five countries are compared and contrasted in light of their attempts to stimulate economic growth and reduce unemployment under conditions of international interpendence of capital and markets. Country-by-country profiles highlight the second section, which also examines various forms of employee consultation, participation in managerial decisions, and ownership. The third section and conclusion evaluate prospective economic trends and workplace democracy in the capitalist nations. This book will be of interest to policymakers, scholars, and journalists, as well as to advanced students in political science, economics, history, and sociology.

This book explores the universal and highly topical issues of ageing and retirement. It places a particular focus on the macroeconomic aspects of the ageing and retirement of college and university teachers, through a case study of teachers and professors in France and India. While the ageing of the population and the financing of the pension system are notoriously pressing issues in Western nations such as France, it has previously not been acknowledged that these issues are also critical to the development trajectory of emerging countries such as India. The book also highlights the importance of pensions for welfare, well-being and stability in all categories of workers, including workers in the informal sector and private companies devoid of pension schemes, where jobs are largely irregular and temporary in nature. It will be of great interest to researchers in the fields of comparative education, sociology and economics.