In Firms, Strategies and Economic Change, Fu-Lai Tony Yu acknowledges the shortcomings of contemporary research on industrial organisation and strategy, while proposing a novel subjectivist approach to economic and management problems. Based largely on the works of Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, Ludwig von Mises and Frank H. Knight, this book develops the subjective interpretation framework to promote better understanding of entrepreneurship, industrial organisation and strategy, vertical integration, innovation, consumer behaviour, business cycles and institutional change more fully. The author also presents a new interpretation on the economics of Frank H. Knight and sheds light on the history of subjectivist economics. Adding new insights not only to economics but also to business, entrepreneurship and industrial organisation issues, this book will have a wide appeal to scholars of these areas as well as Austrian economists.

Modern societies face several structural problems such as transport congestion and greenhouse gas emissions due to the widespread use of fossil fuels. To address these important societal problems and achieve sustainability in the broad sense, major transformations are required, but this poses an enormous challenge given the complexity of the processes involved. Such transformations are called 'transitions' or 'system innovations' and involve changes in a variety of elements, including technology, regulation, user practices and markets, cultural meaning and infrastructure. This book considers two main questions: how do system innovations or transitions come about and how can they be influenced by different actors, in particular by governments. The authors identify the theories which can be used to conceptualise the dynamics of system innovations and discuss the weaknesses in these theories. They also look at the lessons which can be learned from historical examples of transitions, and highlight the instruments and policy tools which can be used to stimulate future system innovations towards sustainability. The expert contributors address these questions using insights from a variety of different disciplines including innovation studies, evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology, environmental analysis and governance studies. The book concludes with an extensive summary of the results and practical suggestions for future research. This important new volume offers an interdisciplinary assessment of how and why system innovations occur. It will engage and inform academics and researchers interested in transitions towards sustainability, and will also be highly relevant for policymakers concerned with environmental issues, structural change and radical innovation.

What do Goggle, Facebook, mobile phones and creative commons have in common? The answer is: economics! Stefano Comino and Fabio Manenti have written a crisp and thorough treatment of the economics of information and communications technologies. This valuable book fills a real gap in the market.' - Professor Tommaso Valletti, Imperial College Business School'I enjoyed reading this book immensely. So will students, as they will be able to see lucidly the economics behind their inseparable electronic companions. Researchers keeping a copy at hand will have a rich reference source of the ways in which good economic theory has captured the behaviour of sophisticated firms and their customer.' - Gianni De Fraja, The University of Nottingham, UK This text rigorously blends theory with real-world applications to study the industrial organization of the ICT sector. Each of the self-contained chapters, which can be studied in isolation, contains theoretical models that are presented in a clear and accessible way. Throughout, a series of useful boxes complements and elucidates the theories with additional empirical/anecdotal evidence. This text will be of great interest to advanced undergraduate students with a background in microeconomics and game theory, particularly those taking courses in industrial organization, innovation economics and the economics of networks. The authors address the most important issues and are able to explore and explain complex theories and concepts in a clear, logical and coherent manner. Some of the topics covered include: - the economics of innovation - digital markets - network externalities - two-sided networks - imitation, open source and file sharing - antitrust in high-tech sectors. Contents: 1. Industrial Organisation of High-Tech Markets 2. Digital Markets 3. Network Externalities 4. Two-Sided Networks 5. Access and Interconnection in Telecommunications 6. Cumulative Innovation in Dynamic Industries 7. Imitation, Open Source and File Sharing 8. Antitrust in High-Tech Sectors References Index

It is fashionable to criticize economic theory for focusing too much on rationality and ignoring the imperfect and emotional way in which real economic decisions are reached. All of us facing the global economic crisis wonder just how rational economic men and women can be. Behavioral economics - an effort to incorporate psychological ideas into economics - has become all the rage. In this book, David K. Levine questions the idea that behavioral economics is the answer to economic problems. He explores the successes and failures of contemporary economics both inside and outside the laboratory, and asks whether popular behavioral theories of psychological biases are solutions to the failures. The book not only provides an overview of popular behavioral theories and their history, but also gives the reader the tools for scrutinizing them. Is Behavioral Economics Doomed? is essential reading for students and teachers of economic theory and anyone interested in the psychology of economics.

Economic Growth and the Environment explores the debate on how to reconcile economic growth with protection of the natural environment, and the closely related discussion on whether an increasing scarcity of natural resources will eventually force economic growth to cease. The debate focusses on whether environmental policies will benefit the economy or not, and is divided into growth optimists and growth pessimists. In general, economists have been optimistic and have pointed to the possibilities of technological progress and substitution, yet they also acknowledge that natural resources and environmental concern do restrict economic growth. The difficulty lies in quantifying the constraint to economic growth. Modern growth economists have constructed models to examine to what extent 'growth pessimism' is theoretically warranted. This book provides an introduction to some of these models, brings together the discussion between growth optimists and pessimists, and presents the theory behind their arguments. It aims to present models where both sides can meet and where both are able to derive expected results with the parameter values that they deem appropriate. From there, the discussions can turn to the empirical observations about these parameters. This book will be of interest to advanced undergraduates in economics, microeconomics, economic growth, sustainable development, and environmental economics. Each chapter concludes with a set of Exercises designed to help the reader master the models.

This authoritative collection reprints the key articles in the field of locational clustering, and the relationship between local clusters and the activities of multinational firms. It covers both the principle theoretical and statistical explanations of the clustering of firms in common locations, and includes a selection of important empirical studies of this phenomenon. Special attention is given to the role played by knowledge spillovers, and notably the geographical dimension of the relationship between firms and universities. Further articles demonstrate how, contrary to some popular beliefs, globalisation is not only consistent with the emergence of a new emphasis upon locational clustering, but in many ways it has helped to promote the differentiation of the productive capabilities of different locations, and so has reinforced clustering and reflected it. Globalization and the Location of Firms will appeal to all those interested in the revival of the role of location in economics and business, from any of a variety of perspectives on the subject.

The original essays in this book connect the microeconomic and macroeconomic approaches to public debt. Through their thought-provoking views, leading scholars offer insights into the incentives that individuals and governments may have in resorting to public debt, thereby promoting a clearer understanding of its economic consequences. The authors explore public debt along two distinct but complementary analytical paths. One path concerns microeconomic aspects of public debt as it emerges through budgetary processes where individuals respond to the costs and gains of different courses of action. The other concerns the systemic properties of rational individual acting within a democratic system of political economy. Within this scheme of thought, the two levels of analysis are integrated by recognition that efforts to control macro-level outcomes must address the micro-level circumstances and conditions that promote public debt as systemic budgetary outcomes. Scholars and students, as well as policy makers in public debt and political economy, will find this critical resource invaluable to understanding this vital issue. Contributors include: A. Alupoaiei, F. Balassone, G. Brennan, S. Cecchetti, M. Cecioni, M. Cioffi, W. Cornacchia, F. Corneli, F. Dragu, G. Eusepi, E. Longobardi, K. Mause, F. Neagu, A. Pedone, A. Rieck, L. Schuknecht, G. Semeraro, L. Voinea, R.E. Wagner

This volume presents a scholarly insider's perspective on the Asian economic crisis, examining the social, economic and political consequences of the crisis in six influential Asian economies: Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. Each chapter contains an analysis of the events leading up to and during the crisis, the social impacts and an assessment of possible futures for these countries. The contributors expertise and use of up-to-date data ensures an integrated approach by which the process of economic change can be understood.The book reveals that professional workers in the urban financial sector, as well as manual labourers in the export sector, felt the most dramatic effects. Impacts on the latter group resulted in a significant rise in the population living below the poverty line. The book emphasises the previous absence of strong social security 'nets' and the need to strengthen macroeconomic policies and institutional, legal, regulatory and supervisory structures. Other topics covered include intractable government corruption and fiscal management. The Social Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis has a unique perspective that will ensure greater understanding of the causes and consequences of the crisis in six major economies and as such will appeal to academics, researchers and policymakers involved in Asian politics and development economics.

The Economics of Sin examines the definition and evolution of sin from the perspective of rational choice economics, yet is conscious of the limitations of such an approach. The author argues that because engaging in activities deemed to be sinful is an act of choice, it can therefore be subject to the logic of choice in the economic model. The book considers the formation of religions, including the new age revival of 'wicca', as regulators of the quasi-market in sins, and goes on to appraise the role of specific sins such as lying, envy, jealousy, greed, lust, sloth, and waste in individual markets and in macroeconomic activity. Empirical evidence on issues such as cannibalism, capital punishment, addiction, adultery and prostitution is also explored. Samuel Cameron concludes that a large percentage of economic activity is intimately connected with forms of sin which are in some circumstances highly beneficial to the functioning of markets, particularly in the presence of market failure. This innovative, interdisciplinary study of the institution of sin will be of enormous interest to a wide-ranging readership, including researchers and teachers of economics, sociology and theology. It will also be of importance for anthropologists and philosophers.

Axel Leijonhufvud has made a unique contribution to the development of macroeconomic theory. This volume draws together his insightful essays dealing with the extremes of economic instability: great depressions, high inflation and the transition from socialism to a market economy. In several of the papers, Leijonhufvud brings a neo-institutionalist perspective to the problems of coordination in economic systems.The papers within Macroeconomic Instability and Coordination some of them already considered classics, deal with the questions that dominated Leijonhufvud's interest throughout his career as an economist: what are the limits to an economy's capacity to coordinate the activities of its members? How does the behavior of the system change under extreme conditions? In what ways does its performance depend upon the institutions that govern the market process? This book presents in one volume several of Axel Leijonhufvud's most important contributions to macroeconomic theory and monetary economics. It will be invaluable to monetary and financial economists as well as to historians of economic thought.

This book is an important addition to the emerging body of new work on capital. Its primary contribution is in analysing capital investment choice as a process. The understanding of this process requires some modification and significant extension to the standard neo-classical economic tools.Capital and Uncertainty is a non-mathematical text, modernizing and adding to the existing thought in this area, with insights from game theory, rational choice under uncertainty and new institutional economics. Dr Runge also draws upon 25 years of business experience in setting out a thorough and immensely practical exposition of the risk/return trade-off and how major capital investment decisions are made within firms. Topics studied include: the nature of capital investment decisions entrepreneurship and the market order capital investment choice processes capital investment models capital decisions: choices between strategies Economists, industrial organisation specialists, business academics and practitioners alike will all find this book of immense interest and use.

Manufacturing has played a key role in the economic fortunes of the East and South Asian regions. This timely book analyses patterns of rapid catch-up and relative stagnation in the manufacturing sector and links these to economic growth in the region. Dr Timmer describes the manufacturing performance of five Asian countries since the 1960s: China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan. Over this period Asian industrial development is placed in an international perspective by comparison with the world productivity leader, the USA. The author uses new empirical data to assess the degree of structural change in the manufacturing sector and its importance for productivity growth. He then discusses conditions for economic growth and catch up, and reviews the role of industrial and technology policies in the promotion of industrial development in Asia.

This highly innovative and original book proposes evolutionary microeconomics as a synthesis of the collective schools of heterodox economic thought with complex systems theory and graph theory. The book charts a research programme for evolutionary economics that encompasses the theory of dynamic efficiency and emergence in markets, a computational model of the learning and interacting agent, a competence based theory of the firm and the household, and, via a theory of expectations and plans, an agent-based foundation to macroeconomics. Principally a work of meta-theory, The New Evolutionary Microeconomics argues for a radical refocus of microeconomic research toward the evolutionary nature of institutions, preferences, technology and knowledge. This challenging new book should prove timely and important for evolutionary and computational economists as well as those in the fields of managerial economics, business studies and marketing.

This topical book interprets firms, governments and economic change from an entrepreneurial perspective. Essentially, it applies the Austrian theory of human agency and evolutionary theories of the firm to explain economic organisation, the state and institutional change. Tony Yu begins by discussing the nature of entrepreneurship and the firm followed by an analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in economic change. He thoroughly analyses the process of economic development in late industrialisers, within an entrepreneurial framework outlined within the book. The author argues that ordinary and extraordinary discovery are associated with routine or imitative entrepreneurship and Schumpetarian entrepreneurship respectively. Using this classification, the author shows how it is the interaction of various types of entrepreneurial activities that transformed East Asian latecomers such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong from traditional agrarian and fishing economies into international centres of trading, service industries and finance. Firms, Governments and Economic Change will be of special interest to scholars of industrial economics, entrepreneurship and Asian studies. It will also be of use to governmental organisations responsible for economic development, as the analysis is thoroughly up to date easy to understand.

This highly innovative and original book proposes evolutionary microeconomics as a synthesis of the collective schools of heterodox economic thought with complex systems theory and graph theory. The book charts a research programme for evolutionary economics that encompasses the theory of dynamic efficiency and emergence in markets, a computational model of the learning and interacting agent, a competence based theory of the firm and the household, and, via a theory of expectations and plans, an agent-based foundation to macroeconomics. Principally a work of meta-theory, The New Evolutionary Microeconomics argues for a radical refocus of microeconomic research toward the evolutionary nature of institutions, preferences, technology and knowledge. This challenging new book should prove timely and important for evolutionary and computational economists as well as those in the fields of managerial economics, business studies and marketing.

This book presents contemporary case studies on selected Italian food and wine products to explore how traditional production and consumption models address and adapt to the sustainability challenges in the Italian high-excellence agri-food sector. Sustainability in High-Excellence Italian Food and Wine adopts a transaction cost economics approach, which is applied to five case-study chapters, each focusing on a key Italian agri-food product: Parmigiano Reggiano, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, Amarone wine, Prosecco wine, and Prosciutto di San Daniele. The production and organization of these products face many challenges as they seek to balance competing priorities around economic viability, maintenance of high-quality standards and environmental and social impacts. The book argues that the development of sustainable and quality models requires changes to the structure and organization of the supply chain while also acknowledging that consumers are increasingly demanding authentic, high-excellence products that require reliable labeling systems and designations of origin mechanism. Recommending that hybrid structures, such as cooperatives and consortia, are the most cost-minimizing governance structures for the production, the book highlights that in the case of Italian excellency food, environmental sustainability and economic efficiency are not actually traded off but are reciprocally valorized through the regulation of high-quality standards. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food and wine excellence products, food systems and supply chains, agricultural production and economics and sustainable consumption.

This is the second book celebrating Brian Loasby's contribution to economics by an internationally renowned group of authors including Mark Casson, G.B. Richardson, Nicolai Foss, Keith Pavitt, Martin Fransman and Richard Day. It extends Brian Loasby's work in the area of the theory of the firm and related methodological issues. This book is mainly concerned with the theory of the firm, a subject central to much of Brian Loasby's work. The authors begin by considering the existence and nature of firms and their internal and external relations, paying special attention to the themes of coordination and communication costs in a world of surprise and change. The discussion then moves on to the way in which firms use and create knowledge and capabilities, referring to questions of organization, with some detailed empirical investigation of high technology industries. The final part focuses on methodological issues including rationality, knowledge, incommensurability and equilibrium, in the context of different traditions. This book will be welcomed by microeconomists especially those interested in the theory of the firm and methodology.

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

Times of crisis are unexpected and they bring diverse challenges and opportunities for companies, financial markets, and the economy. On one hand, more risk and uncertainties appear, yet on the other hand, it is an opportunity to reorganize and reinvent the company. It is important for businesses to understand ways to deal with uncertainty and risk in times of economic downturn and what financial strategies and tools can be used to eliminate or reduce the potential negative effects. These effects can reach the company's financial performance, capital structure, as well as cause financial debt and the availability of cash-flow to companies. However, different financial instruments can sustain the business and deal with the difficulties of payment when sales reduce and uncertainty increases; thus, research is essential in this critical area. When economic downturn affects the financial markets, the role of banks, country dynamics, the economy, and many other facets of the business world, financial management becomes the key for business recovery. The Handbook of Research on Financial Management During Economic Downturn and Recovery shares relevant knowledge on challenges and opportunities caused by crises, such as the pandemic, and the effects on economic and financial arenas. The chapters cover topics such as business models to understand how companies react to pandemic and crises situations, as well as how they change their management and way of conducting business. Other important topics include sustainable development, international financial markets, capital structure changes, uncertainty and risk, and governance and leadership. This book is ideal for shareholders, directors and managers, economists, researchers, academics, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in knowledge on topics about challenges in the way that companies, financial markets, financial institutions, and governments respond to risk and uncertainty.

Microeconomics, Growth and Political Economy is the first of two volumes which collect together many of Professor Lipsey's writings on economics, some of which are previously unpublished or currently inaccessible. This book contains papers on economic growth and technical change, monetary and value theory, the theory of second best, international trade theory, political economy and methodology. A separate book, On the Foundations of Monopolistic Competition and Economic Geography, contains works on oligopoly and location theory, all coauthored with Curtis Eaton. The book begins with a new autobiographical introduction to the intellectual development, personal achievements and the fields of interest of Richard G. Lipsey and is divided into five parts. The first part considers various aspects of economic growth and technical change taking into account the structuralist view, markets and the globalization of the economy. Part two is concerned with the microeconomic issues of second-best theory and monetary and value theory. The third part looks at trade theory and surveys customs unions and competitiveness. Political economy is considered in the fourth part, which contains essays on topics such as the balance of payments, the survival of the market economy, international liquidity theory and American trade policy. The final part features papers on methodology. Microeconomics, Growth and Political Economy is an essential reference companion to the work of Richard G. Lipsey, one of the most important economists of our generation.

In interaction with their environment, firms change constantly; in trying to reduce uncertainties, they influence both their markets and the wider socio-political environment. Dynamics of the Firm addresses theoretical, empirical and policy issues concerned with the changing structure of firms. This book seeks to develop a theory of the dynamics of the firm which contrasts with the neoclassical view of the firm as a static production function in a world of given technology and institutions. Papers discussing new institutional theories of the firm in relation to sociological approaches, in which power and trust play an important role, are followed by contributions which focus on empirical issues such as pricing strategies, industrial groups and networking. The public policy implications are discussed extensively. Offering an original analysis of the organizational structures of firms operating in changing environments, this volume of essays by a distinguished group of economists will be welcomed by students, teachers and researchers in the areas of industrial organization and organizational economics.

Traditional aggregate theories of the business cycle, Keynesian or the neoclassical, have not succeeded in explaining the severe down turns in the United States and other advanced economies. New Perspectives on Business Cycles proposes a theory that economic inequality and heterogeneity in a market economy may be an important influence on business cycles. The author, Satya Das, provides for the first time a systematic assessment of possible links between business cycles and changes in the distribution of income and wealth.Arguing that changes in the distribution of wealth and income in a private market economy can generate variations in the aggregate output, Professor Das uses a series of models to relate economic inequalities across households to fluctuations in the economy. In particular, he argues that severe inequities in wealth and income distribution can lead to fluctuations in a macroeconomy, with important implications for the financial markets. Empirical evidence from the post-war US economy is presented in support of this theory.

Covering Robert Clower's writings over four decades, this collection brings together important papers that have not been reprinted in any other similar volume and recent material on economic method and theoretical foundations. Issues discussed include the doctrine and methodology of economics, price determination, oligopoly theory and Keynesian economics, as well as some of Professor Clower's substantial reviews of the work of other scholars. Above all, they offer an instructive 'history' of one scholar's attempt to enhance scientific understanding of observed economic phenomena during the last half century. The volume concludes with a complete listing of Professor Clower's publications.

This book explores novel research perspectives at the intersection of environmental/natural resource economics and productivity analysis, emphasizing the link between productivity and efficiency measurement, and environmental impacts. The purpose of the book is to present new approaches and methods for measuring environmentally adjusted productivity and efficiency, and for incorporating natural resources in standard national accounting practices. These methods are applicable in many contexts, including air and water pollution, climate change, green accounting, and environmental regulation. The contributions, written by distinguished leaders in the field, provide an up-to-date assessment of the state of the art in environmentally adjusted productivity and efficiency analysis. A review of the rapidly expanding literature is included and complemented by international case studies. The book's forward-looking ideas and new theories and methods trace future directions in this exciting and topical research area. This is an essential tool for researchers and scholars, including postgraduate students, working in the area of international and environmental accounting, and productivity and efficiency analysis. The book will also have a broad appeal for various professionals including statisticians, national accountants and policymakers. Contributors include: M. Akter, T. Ancev, M.A.S. Azad, A. Bellver-Domingo, H.K. Edmonds, M. Eigenraam, R.G. Fare, K.J. Fox, S. Grosskopf, A. Hailu, F. Hernandez-Sancho, V.-N. Hoang, N. Hughes, W. Ingram, H. Jahan, B. Lamizana-Diallo, K. Lawson, L.Y.T. Lee, C.A.K. Lovell, J.E. Lovell, C. Ma, C. Obst, C.A. Pasurka, Jr., C. Wilson

The Beginnings of Behavioral Economics: Katona, Simon, and Leibenstein's X-Efficiency Theory explores the mid-20th century roots of behavioral economics, placing the origin of this now-dominant approach to economic theory many years before the groundbreaking 1979 work on prospect theory by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. It discusses the work of Harvey Leibenstein, Herbert Simon, George Katona, and Frederick Hayek, reintroducing their contributions as founding pillars of the behavioral approach. It concentrates on the work of Leibenstein, reviewing his nuanced introduction of X-efficiency theory. Building from these foundations, the work explores the body of empirical research on market power and firm behavior - XE relationship. This book is a tremendous resource for graduate students and early career researchers in behavioral economics, experimental economics, organizational economics, social and organizational psychology, labor market economics and public policy.