War Movies and Economics: Lessons from Hollywood's Adaptations of Military Conflict applies ongoing research in the relatively new genre of economics in popular media to Hollywood's war movies. Whether inadvertently or purposefully, these movies provide numerous examples of how economic principles often play an important role in military conflict. The authors of the chapters included in this edited collection work to illustrate economics lessons portrayed in adaptations such as Band of Brothers, Conspiracy, The Dirty Dozen, Dunkirk, Memphis Belle, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Spartacus, Stalag 17, and Valkyrie. Aspects of these stories show how key economic principles of scarcity, limited resources, and incentives play important roles in military conflict. The movies also provide an avenue for discussion of the economics of public goods provision, the modern economic theory of bureaucracy, and various game-theoretic concepts such as strategic moves and commitment devices. Where applicable, lessons from closely related fields such as management are also provided. This book is ideal reading for students of economics looking for an approachable route to understanding basic principles of economics and game theory. It is also accessible to amateur and professional historians, and any reader interested in popular culture as it relates to television, movies, and military history.

Small Is Beautiful is Oxford-trained economist E. F. Schumacher's classic call for the end of excessive consumption. Schumacher inspired such movements as "Buy Locally" and "Fair Trade," while voicing strong opposition to "casino capitalism" and wasteful corporate behemoths. Named one of the Times Literary Supplement's 100 Most Influential Books Since World War II, Small Is Beautiful presents eminently logical arguments for building our economies around the needs of communities, not corporations.

The goal of this publication is to provide basic tools of differential topology to study systems of nonlinear equations, and to apply them to the analysis of general equilibrium models with complete and incomplete markets. The main content of general equilibrium analysis is to study existence, (local) uniqueness and efficiency of equilibria. To study existence Differential Topology and General Equilibrium with Complete and Incomplete Markets combines two features. As a first step, first order conditions (of agents' maximization problems) and market clearing conditions, instead of aggregate excess demand functions, are used. As a second step, a homotopy argument, stated and proved in relatively elementary manner, is applied to that "extended systemof equations. Local uniqueness and smooth dependence of the endogenous variables from the exogenous ones are studied using a version of a so called parametric transversality theorem. In a standard general equilibrium model, all equilibria are efficient, but that is not the case if some imperfection, like incomplete markets, asymmetric information, strategic interaction, is added. Then, for almost all economies, equilibria are inefficient, and an outside institution can Pareto improve upon the market outcome. Those results are proved showing that a well-chosen system of equations has no solutions.
The target audience of Differential Topology and General Equilibrium with Complete and Incomplete Markets consists of researchers interested in economic theory. The needed background is multivariate analysis, basic linear algebra and basic general topology.

This Element on cost-benefit analysis provides a summary of recent theoretical and empirical developments and summarizes state-of-the-art stated-preference and revealed-preference valuation methods. The Element discusses how to assess small (or marginal) as well as large (or non-marginal) projects that have a significant impact on prices and/or other economic variables. It also discusses distortions like taxes, market power, and sticky prices. In addition, risk/uncertainty is considered. A novel feature is the elaboration on flexible evaluation rules for reasonably small projects. Conventional point-estimates of projects should be used with care, because they typically give biased results.

Dozens of judicial opinions have held that shareholders own corporations, that directors are agents of shareholders, and even that directors are trustees of shareholders' property. Yet, until now, it has never been proven. These doctrines rest on unsubstantiated assumptions. In this book the author performs a rigorous, systematic analysis of common law, contract law, property law, agency law, partnership law, trust law, and corporate statutory law using judicial rulings that prove shareholders do not own corporations, that there is no separation of ownership and control, directors are not agents of shareholders, and shareholders are not investors in corporations. Furthermore, the author proves the theory of the firm, which is founded on the separation of ownership and control and directors as agents of shareholders, promotes an agenda that wilfully ignores fundamental property law and agency law. However, since shareholders do not own the corporation, and directors are not agents of shareholders, the theory of the firm collapses. The book corrects decades of confusion and misguided research in corporate law and the economic theory of the firm and will allow readers to understand how property law, agency law, and economics contradict each other when applied to corporate law. It will appeal to researchers and upper-level and graduate students in economics, finance, accounting, law, and sociology, as well as attorneys and accountants.

The Beatles are considered the most influential popular music act of the twentieth century, widely recognized for their influence on popular culture. The inability of other bands and artists to imitate their fame has prompted questions such as: How did the Beatles become so successful? What factors contributed to their success? Why did they break up? The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution answers these questions using the lens of economic analysis. Economics provides the prism for explaining why their success-while legendary in scale-is not mythic. This book explores how the band's commercial achievements were intimately tied to the larger context of economic globalization and rebuilding post-World War II. It examines how the Beatles' time in Hamburg is best understood as an investment in human capital, and why the entrepreneurial growth mindset was critical to establishing a scalable market niche and sustaining the Beatles' ability to lead and shape emerging markets in entertainment and popular music. Later chapters consider how the economics of decision making and organizational theory helps us to understand the band's break-up at its economic peak. This essential text is of interest to anyone interested in the economic dynamics and social forces that shape cultural change.

A surprising and fascinating look at how Black culture has been leveraged by corporate America. Open the brochure for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and you'll see logos for corporations like American Express. Visit the website for the Apollo Theater, and you'll notice acknowledgments to corporations like Coca Cola and Citibank. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, owe their very existence to large corporate donations from companies like General Motors. And while we can easily make sense of the need for such funding to keep cultural spaces afloat, less obvious are the reasons that corporations give to them. In Black Culture, Inc., Patricia A. Banks interrogates the notion that such giving is completely altruistic, and argues for a deeper understanding of the hidden transactions being conducted that render corporate America dependent on Black culture. Drawing on a range of sources, such as public relations and advertising texts on corporate cultural patronage and observations at sponsored cultural events, Banks argues that Black cultural patronage profits firms by signaling that they value diversity, equity, and inclusion. By functioning in this manner, support of Black cultural initiatives affords these companies something called "diversity capital," an increasingly valuable commodity in today's business landscape. While this does not necessarily detract from the social good that cultural patronage does, it reveals its secret cost: ethnic community support may serve to obscure an otherwise poor track record with social justice. Banks deftly weaves innovative theory with detailed observations and a discerning critical gaze at the various agendas infiltrating memorials, museums, and music festivals meant to celebrate Black culture. At a time when accusations of discriminatory practices are met with immediate legal and social condemnation, the insights offered here are urgent and necessary.

In Borrowing Together, Becky Hsu examines the social aspects of the most intriguing element of group-lending microfinance: social collateral. She investigates the details of the social relationships among fellow borrowers and between borrowers and lenders, finding that these relationships are the key that explains the outcomes in rural China. People access money through their social networks, but they also do the opposite: cultivate their social relationships by moving money. Hsu not only looks closely at what transpired in the course of a microfinance intervention, but also reverses the gaze to examine the expectations that brought the program to the site in the first place. Hsu explains why microfinance's 'articles of faith' failed to comprehend the influence of longstanding relationships and the component of morality, and how they raise doubts - not only about microfinance - but also about the larger goals of development research.

An indispensable roadmap and a refreshingly optimistic take on our economic future: Award-winning New Yorker staff writer and brilliant creator of NPR's Planet Money shows us how the 21st century economic paradigm offers unprecedented opportunities for curious, ambitious individuals to combine the things they love with their careers.

From 'Focus on Intimacy at Scale' to 'Find Your Valuable Five Percent' and 'The Harder Your Core Customer Is to Reach, The Better You Will Do', Adam Davidson lays down the Ground Rules for success in the new economy.

Drawing on inspiring case studies - a sweatshop-owner's daughter fighting for better working conditions, an Amish craftsman meeting the technological needs of his fellow farmers - as well as the latest academic research, he shows us how the twentieth-century economy of scale has given way in this century to an economy of passion.

Davidson's special talent for breaking down daunting economic terminology and making theory accessible have won him not only respect as an economics guru but also most of broadcast journalism's highest honours. In this breath-of-fresh-air book, he inspires us all to see that with intimacy, insight, attention, automation, and of course, passion, we can succeed in this new economic world.

Contract theory, which emphasizes the importance of unverifiable actions and private information, has been a highly active field of research in microeconomics in the last decades. This thesis is divided into two parts. Part I consists of three chapters that study contract-theoretic models which are motivated by the classic procurement problem of a principal who wants an agent to deliver a certain good or service. In such models it is typically assumed that decision makers are interested in their own monetary payoffs only. Moreover, they have unlimited cognitive abilities and behave in a perfectly rational way. Yet, in practice people often do not behave this way. While empirical research is very difficult in contract theory, laboratory experiments have recently turned out to be an important source of data. In Part II, three experimental studies are presented that investigate contract-theoretic problems brought up in Part I.

This is a standard text for upper level undergraduate/postgraduate microeconomics. The book begins at the intermediate level and ends at a level appropriate for the graduate student. Updated and revised, this is a new edition of one of the best-selling advanced microeconomics texts to be published in Europe. This well informed book provides a comprehensive exposition of modern microeconomic theory, covering many of the issues currently being researched and debated. The book offers very rigorous, mathematical treatment of the topics discussed making it appropriate for graduate as well as able intermediate level students. The writing style is clear and concise and the book is particularly liked for the thoroughness with which the concepts are dealt.

Through a series of studies, the overarching aim of this book is to investigate if and how the digitalization/digital transformation process affects various welfare services provided by the public sector, and the ensuing implications thereof. Ultimately, this book seeks to understand if it is conceivable for digital advancement to result in the creation of private/non-governmental alternatives to welfare services, possibly in a manner that transcends national boundaries. This study also investigates the possible ramifications of technological development for the public sector and the Western welfare society at large. This book takes its point of departure from the 2016 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report that targets specific public service areas in which government needs to adopt new strategies not to fall behind. Specifically, this report emphasizes the focus on digitalization of health care/social care, education, and protection services, including the use of assistive technologies referred to as "digital welfare." Hence, this book explores the factors potentially leading to whether state actors could be overrun by other non-governmental actors, disrupting the current status quo of welfare services. The book seeks to provide an innovative, enriching, and controversial take on society at large and how various aspects of the public sector can be, and are, affected by the ongoing digitalization process in a way that is not covered by extant literature on the market. This book takes its point of departure in Sweden given the fact that Sweden is one of the most digitalized countries in Europe, according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), making it a pertinent research case. However, as digitalization transcends national borders, large parts of the subject matter take on an international angle. This includes cases from several other countries around Europe as well as the United States.

How to reach your goals in seven scientifically tested steps that really work. Working inside the world's first Nudge Unit, Owain Service and Rory Gallagher know the huge impact that small changes, based on a scientific understanding of human behavior, can have, whether you're trying to save money, be a better manager or get more people to vote in the next election. For the first time, Think Small takes these successful approaches and translates them into an easy, simple framework that has the potential to make a big difference to all our lives.

If treated as a single economy, the European Union is the largest in the world, with an estimated GDP of over 14 trillion euros. Despite its size, European economic policy has often lagged behind the rest of the world in its ability to generate growth and innovation. Much of the European economic research itself often trails behind that of the USA, which sets much of the agenda in mainstream economics. This book, also available as open access, bridges the gap between economic research and policymaking by presenting overviews of twelve key areas for future economic policy and research. Written for the economists and policymakers working within European institutions, it uses comprehensive surveys by Europe's leading scholars in economics and European policy to demonstrate how economic research can contribute to good policy decisions, and vice versa, demonstrating how economics research can be motivated and made relevant by hot policy questions. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

If treated as a single economy, the European Union is the largest in the world, with an estimated GDP of over 14 trillion euros. Despite its size, European economic policy has often lagged behind the rest of the world in its ability to generate growth and innovation. Much of the European economic research itself often trails behind that of the USA, which sets much of the agenda in mainstream economics. This book, also available as open access, bridges the gap between economic research and policymaking by presenting overviews of twelve key areas for future economic policy and research. Written for the economists and policymakers working within European institutions, it uses comprehensive surveys by Europe's leading scholars in economics and European policy to demonstrate how economic research can contribute to good policy decisions, and vice versa, demonstrating how economics research can be motivated and made relevant by hot policy questions. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Male sex work generates sales in excess of one billion dollars annually in the United States. Recent sex scandals involving prominent leaders and government shutdowns of escort websites have focused attention on this business, but despite the attention that comes when these scandals break, we know very little about how the market works. Economics, Sexuality, and Male Sex Work is the first economic analysis of male sex work. Competition, the role of information, pricing strategies and other economic features of male sex work are analyzed using the most comprehensive data available. Sex work is also social behavior, however, and this book shows how the social aspects of gay sexuality influence the economic properties of the market. Concepts like desire, masculinity and sexual stereotypes affect how sex workers compete for clients, who practices safer sex, and how sex workers present themselves to clients to differentiate them from the competition.

Male sex work generates sales in excess of one billion dollars annually in the United States. Recent sex scandals involving prominent leaders and government shutdowns of escort websites have focused attention on this business, but despite the attention that comes when these scandals break, we know very little about how the market works. Economics, Sexuality, and Male Sex Work is the first economic analysis of male sex work. Competition, the role of information, pricing strategies and other economic features of male sex work are analyzed using the most comprehensive data available. Sex work is also social behavior, however, and this book shows how the social aspects of gay sexuality influence the economic properties of the market. Concepts like desire, masculinity and sexual stereotypes affect how sex workers compete for clients, who practices safer sex, and how sex workers present themselves to clients to differentiate them from the competition.

The orthodox view of economic policy holds that public deliberation sets the goals or ends, and then experts select the means to implement these goals. This assumes that experts are no more than trustworthy servants of the public interest. David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart examine the historical record to consider cases in which experts were trusted with disastrous results, such as eugenics, the regulatory use of security ratings, and central economic planning. This history suggests that experts have not only the public interest but also their own interests to consider. The authors then recover and extend an alternative view of economic policy that subjects experts' proposals to further discussion, resulting in transparency and ensuring that the public obtains the best insights of experts in economics while avoiding pitfalls such as expert bias.

Written by leading experts in the field of business, finance, law and economics, this edited volume brings together the latest thoughts and developments on turnaround management and business rescue from an academic, judiciary and turnaround/insolvency practitioner perspective. Turnaround Management and Bankruptcy presents different viewpoints on turnarounds and business rescue in Europe. Presenting a state-of-the-art review of failure research in finance, such as on bankruptcy prediction, causes of decline, or distressed asset valuation. It also presents the latest insights from turnaround management research as well as giving a contemporary insight into law debates on insolvency legislation reform, cross-border judicial issues, bankruptcy decision-making by judges and competition policy in distressed economies. Finally, the book provides a regional and sector perspective on how the current crisis affects Europe, its government policies and industry performance. In this way, the volume presents a modern, interdisciplinary and scholarly overview of the latest insights, issues and debates in turnaround management and business rescue, developing a European perspective in an attempt to redress the predominance of an American orientation in the academic literature. It aims at a wider audience interested in turnarounds and failure, such as faculty and students in the fields of law, business, economics, accountancy, finance, strategic management, and marketing, but also at judges, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, accountants and turnaround professionals, as well as the EU and government officials, staff of trade unions and employer's associations.

This invaluable book provides the foundations for a new theory of the firm, drawing on Birger Wernerfelt's landmark work on economic theory and the resource-based view of the firm. It addresses a vigorous and long-standing academic debate over what exactly a 'firm' is, both in the field of management and economics. Wernerfelt revisits his classic articles, including an extensively revised 'A Resource-Based View of the Firm' (1984), which have been updated and synthesized to provide precise and accessible concepts and predictions. By offering future directions for research and practice, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of management and economics alike.

This invaluable book provides the foundations for a new theory of the firm, drawing on Birger Wernerfelt's landmark work on economic theory and the resource-based view of the firm. It addresses a vigorous and long-standing academic debate over what exactly a 'firm' is, both in the field of management and economics. Wernerfelt revisits his classic articles, including an extensively revised 'A Resource-Based View of the Firm' (1984), which have been updated and synthesized to provide precise and accessible concepts and predictions. By offering future directions for research and practice, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of management and economics alike.

Classical social choice theory relies heavily on the assumption that all individuals have fixed preference orderings. This highly original book presents a new theory of social preferences that explicitly accounts for important social phenomena such as coordination, compromise, negotiation and altruism. Drawing on cybernetics and network theory, it extends classical social choice theory by constructing a framework that allows for dynamic preferences that are modulated by the situation-dependent social influence that they exert on each other. In this way the book shows how members of a social network may modulate their preferences to account for social context. This important expansion of social choice theory will be of interest to readers in a wide variety of disciplines, including economists and political scientists concerned with choice theory as well as computer scientists and engineers working on network theory.

Firms are a ubiquitous feature of the economic landscape, with much of the activity undertaken within an economy taking place within their boundaries. Given the size of the contribution made by firms to economic activity, employment and growth, having a theoretical understanding of the nature and structure of firms is crucial for understanding how an economy functions. The Theory of the Firm firstly offers a brief overview of the past, consisting of a concise discussion of the classical view of production, followed by an outline of the development of the neoclassical - or 'textbook' - approach to firm level production. Secondly, the 'present' of the theory of the firm is discussed in three sections. The first section considers the post-1970 theory of the firm literature per se, while the second section scrutinises the relationship between the three most prominent of the modern sets of theories: the reference point, property rights and transaction cost approaches. The third section looks at the theory of privatisation. The unique aspects of this book includes its discussions of the post-1970 contributions to the theory of the firm; the integration of the theory of the entrepreneur with the theory of the firm; and the theory of privatisation. This volume offers an intuitive introduction to the theories of the firm as well as simple formal models of the most important contributions to the literature. It also outlines the historical evolution of the traditional and modern theories of the firm. This book is of great interest to those who study history of economic thought, industrial economics and organizational studies.

Our elaborate market exchange system owes its existence not to our calculating brain or insatiable self-centeredness, but rather to our sophisticated and nuanced human sociality and to the inherent rationality built into our emotions. The modern economic system is helped a lot more than hindered by our innate social instincts that support our remarkable capacity for building formal and informal institutions. The book integrates the growing body of experimental evidence on human nature scattered across a variety of disciplines from experimental economics to social neuroscience into a coherent and original narrative about the extent to which market (or impersonal exchange) relations are reflective of the basic human sociality that was originally adapted to a more tribal existence. An accessible resource, this book will appeal to students of all areas of economics, including Behavioral Economics and Neuro-Economics, Microeconomics, and Political Economy.