Developing countries comprise a two-thirds majority of the membership of the World Trade Organization, with nearly 30 of these classed by the UN as being among the 48 least-developed countries in the world. In order to ensure the equitable participation of these countries in the benefits of the global trading system, the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements that created the WTO accorded special and differential treatment to developing countries. This guide covers these provisions of the WTO Agreements, with detailed information on how developing countries can benefit from special rules governing such areas as; access to developed country markets in all major commodities and services, the dispute settlement process, trade policy review, foreign direct investment, environmental and labour standards, and technical assistance. The Guide also offers the reader case studies on how some developing country members of the WTO (Uganda, India, and Cote d'Ivoire) are making progress in working with the obligations and the benefits provided to them by the WTO Agreements.

Everywhere one travels in the world, people are excited about the new high technology production system. But the global villagers are also perplexed about the new social service needs that seem to accompany the high-tech economy: child care needs for working couples, elder care facilities for infirm senior citizens, burgeoning health care costs accompanying high-tech medicine, nursery school and college tuition costs, and more. There has been a global response to these social service needs, and this book will present and analyse that response. For, a new phenomenon may be emerging, as contradictory as it may appear, a kind of 'caring capitalism' may arise, worldwide. This book explores the various attempts around the globe to create a system of 'caring capitalism' and why nations have been pressured by the 'new middle class' to do so.

This book describes various methods of analysis for ascertaining the effects of agglomeration economies, which are important for formulating regional economic policies. Specifically, it describes new analytical approaches using productivity and productive efficiency analyses as methods for understanding agglomeration economies. Additionally, the book provides application results for Japanese regions and proposes desirable regional policies. According to the new analytical methods advocated in this book, agglomeration economies are larger in major metropolitan areas than in local regions, and in the manufacturing sector than in the non-manufacturing sector. These results are consistent with general knowledge. Moreover, the majority of productivity growth pertaining to regional economies is explainable by improvements to accessibility. Improving accessibility for regions reduces transportation costs between them and strengthens agglomeration economies, which, in turn, enable the sustainable development of regional economies. Therefore, this book highlights the need not only to reinforce existing agglomeration areas, but also to form a network between these agglomerations and to strengthen it, so as to realize regional economic growth despite a decreasing population.

The idea of "competitive flexibility" fostered by open market economics has deeply eroded the established social security systems of the developed nations. The confidence of wage-earners, who depend on an administrative "safety net" to protect them from loss of income, has virtually disappeared. Social exclusion and poverty have become inescapable threats for the average worker. It was to tackle this important issue that the European Institute of Social Security (EISS), a leading multidisciplinary research group dedicated to exploring the frontiers of social security, met in June 2000 in Goteborg in Sweden. Twenty members of the Institute prepared papers for delivery at the conference, all of which are now printed in this book. These papers include discussion of such elements as the following: the shift in emphasis from compensation for loss of income to a more preventive approach based on income security; measures against social exclusion enacted by the European Union; the meaning of the term "employability" as revealed in EU Member States' National Action Plans (NAPs); the growing pressure on beneficiaries to "perform" rather than "conform"; the interplay in international law between human rights and social security; labour market participation according to gender and educational level; labour market participation among families with young children; the promise of a "federal" social security system in Europe; and objective standards versus "moral hazard" in labour market insurance. Various reform initiatives (including the controversial debate on private sector funding) are also covered.

In this book, Korean multinational enterprises management strategies in China are analyzed. China is re centering Asia around its newfound economic might, even as neighboring countries such as Japan and Korea will remain more economically developed for generations to come. How do Asian companies adapt to the Chinese market? In this fascinating study, Haiying Kang and Jie Shen investigate how Korean enterprises have adapted human resources practices to the evolving corporate climate in China. Unorthodox blends of culture, legal expectations, and more make the market a truly interesting one to explore HRM practices on the margins. Compelling for academics in HRM but also related social sciences, HR practitioners, and corporate leaders alike, this book is a timely look at new Asian corporate cultures.

This book provides an up-to-date study of public infrastructure in terms of the selection, procurement and delivery of projects. There is widespread acceptance that infrastructure is vital and needs increasing, yet less agreement about how it should be funded and procured. This book assesses in detail the features of various procurement options while also providing a framework for comparing their advantages and disadvantages. Drawing on international experiences and case studies, Darrin Grimsey and Mervyn Lewis consider some of the best and worst examples of public-private partnerships, new funding methods and infrastructure megaprojects. By offering a conceptual basis for infrastructure decision-making, the authors identify ways to improve infrastructure procurement processes. Focusing on urbanization as a driver of innovation in infrastructure, both the historical context and the future prospects of public infrastructure are analysed. Significantly, the book also examines China's ambitious plans to create a 'high-speed rail economy' and its Belt and Road Initiative across Asia that offers an interesting contrast to infrastructure developments in the United States and other advanced economies. Global Developments in Public Infrastructure Procurement is an essential source of reference for academics and students of economics, public sector finance and urban infrastructure.

This volume brings together three areas of interest: the rule-based approach, the entrepreneur, and Japan as an empirical application. It highlights the advantages of the rule-based approach for economic analysis by linking different methodological underpinnings. Using these, the author exemplifies how rule-based economics allows a systematic analysis of the entrepreneur as the key figure in bringing about economic change and diversity. The book includes an empirical methodology for applied research in rule-based economics, which it puts to the test in an empirical study of entrepreneurship in contemporary Japan. The choice of entrepreneurship and Japan showcases the integrative power that rule-based economics brings to further breaking a theoretical deadlock and to analytically capturing a very particular economy investigated very little so far. By offering a body of new and original research, the monograph shows how the idea of entrepreneurship as a rule helps to resolve the Schumpeter-Kirzner divide and to develop an empirical approach to the determinants of entrepreneurial activity.

Business Networks in East Asian Capitalisms: Enduring Trends, Emerging Patterns builds on the foundational studies conducted in the 1990s by gathering contemporary empirical and theoretical chapters which explore these themes in a comparative perspective. The book includes contributions from authors working on the relationship between personal and business networks in countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Authors emphasize enduring trends in social and business networks and/or track new emerging patterns, both within East Asian nations or between East Asia and other regions such as Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Fully modern corporations appeared in fourteenth-century Toulouse, much earlier than previously believed Germain Sicard proves that Europe's first corporations were fourteenth-century mill companies operating in Toulouse, rather than seventeenth-century English and Dutch trading companies as commonly believed. He shows that the corporate form derives from a unique ownership contract from Medieval Europe called pariage, and a culture of strong property rights and municipal self-governance. Based on archival research, Sicard's 1952 thesis has been translated into English with an introduction that places the work in the context of new institutional economics and legal theory. It is an important contribution to research on the history and legal origins of the corporation.

This book focuses on the Asia-Pacific region, delineating the evolving dynamics of foreign investment in the region. It examines the relationship between efforts to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) and efforts to improve governance and inclusive growth and development. Against a background of rapidly developing international investment law, it emphasises the need to strike a balance between these domestic and international legal frameworks, seeking to promote both foreign investment and the laws and policies necessary to regulate investments and investor conduct. Foreign investments play a pivotal role in most countries' political economies, and in order to encourage cross-border capital flows, countries have taken various steps, such as revising their domestic legal frameworks, liberalising rules on inward and outward investment, and creating special regimes that provide incentives and protections for foreign investment. Alongside the developments in domestic laws, countries have also taken bilateral and multilateral action, including entering into trade and/or investment agreements. Further, the book explores regional investment trends, highlights specific features of Asia-Pacific investment laws and treaties, and analyses policy implications. It addresses four overarching themes: the trends (how Asia-Pacific's agreements compare with recent global trends in the evolving rules on foreign investment); what China is doing; current investment arbitration practice in Asia; and the importance of regionalising investment law in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, it identifies and discusses the research and policy gaps that should be filled in order to promote more sustainable and responsible investment. The book offers a valuable resource not only for academics and students, but also for trade and investment officials, policy-makers, diplomats, economists, lawyers, think tanks, and business leaders interested in the governance and regulation of foreign investment, economic policy reforms, and the development of new types of investment agreements.

This volume comprises papers presented at the 8th international conference "The Economies of the Balkan and Eastern European Countries in the Changing World" (EBEEC) held in Split, Croatia in 2016. The papers cover a wide range of current issues relevant for the whole of Eastern Europe, such as European integration, economic growth, labour markets, education and tourism. Written by experienced researchers in the field of economic challenges for Eastern Europe, the papers not only analyse recent problems, but also offer policies to resolve them. Furthermore, they offer insights into the theoretical and empirical foundations of the economic processes described. The proceedings of the conference appeals to all those interested in the further economic development of the Balkan and Eastern European countries.

This stimulating book addresses the relationship between market authority and political authority - a favourite theme of Susan Strange to whom the book is dedicated. From a survey of the bias against capital liberalisation in economic thought to an analysis of the US role in global monetary affairs, it discusses how and why free capital flows contribute to the instability of the global capitalist system. The internationally renowned contributors analyse the history and theory of international capital flows to make sense of contemporary global investments and what they mean for global polity and the economy. They argue over the challenges of integrating large developing countries into a liberal world order and the consequences of the multilateral system for the world's poor. In further discussions they investigate the sustainability of global capitalism in light of financial crises, widespread inequality and the uncertain future for traditional welfare states. They also advance various mechanisms through which they believe greater stability and equity could be introduced into the global financial system and the world economy. Implicit in these arguments is the shared belief that tensions between visions of a rule-based, liberal world and concepts of a more equitable distribution of resources drive most of the major conflicts in the global economy. Investigating the economic, political and social drawbacks of volatile global finance, and the human choices required to introduce stability, equity and a sense of purpose to the world economy, Markets and Authorities will be an invaluable addition to the fields of economics, political science, political economy and international business.

A comprehensive guide to the essential relationship between markets and morals. Smith, Burke and Marx, Durkheim, Polyani and Hayek all sought to situate market exchange and property-based acquisitiveness in the broader context of human interaction and social values. This framework of interdependence and ethics embeds the capitalist market economy in an ongoing whole of which the calculative present day is but a part. The author of this work argues that the stability of conservatism anchors the dynamism of entrepreneurship in a matrix of patterns and habits without which orderly free enterprise would be at risk of degenerating into the Hobbesian war of each against all.

Common European Legal Thinking emanates from the existence of a shared European legal culture as especially reflected in the existence of a common European constitutional law. It denotes a body of individual constitutional principles - written and unwritten - that represent the common heritage of the constitutions of the Member States. Taking into account the two major European organisations, the Council of Europe and especially the European Union, the essays of this Festschrift discuss a range of constitutional principles, including the rule of law, democracy, and the exercise of political power in a multilevel system which recognises fundamental rights as directly applicable and supreme law. Other essays examine the value of pluralism, the commitment of private organisations to uphold public values, principles or rules, and the objectives and methods of a transnational science of administrative law. These articles highlight the fact that the Ius Publicum Europaeum Commune is "politically" in the making, which can often be seen in the shape of general legal principles. The publication recognises the role of Albrecht Weber as a forerunner of Common European Legal Thinking.

A guide to security written for business executives to help them better lead security efforts. Enterprise Security for the Executive: Setting the Tone from the Top is designed to help business executives become familiar with security concepts and techniques to make sure they are able to manage and support the efforts of their security team. It is the first such work to define the leadership role for executives in any business's security apparatus. In Enterprise Security for the Executive, author Jennifer Bayuk, a highly regarded information security specialist and sought-after consultant and speaker, explains protocols and technologies at just the right level of depth for the busy executive—in their language, not the tech-speak of the security professional. Throughout, the book draws a number of fact-based scenarios to illustrate security management basics, including 30 security "horror stories," and other analogies and terminology not commonly shared outside of the security profession.

George offers a direct and powerful challenge to the fatal shortcomings of virtually all currently dominant economic paradigms, including those of capitalism, socialism, communism, and so-called mixed economies. The alternative socioeconomic democracy, and advanced theoretical model in which there is some form of universal guaranteed income as well as a limit to maximum allowable personal wealth, combined with a realistic degree of human flexibility based on public choice theory. Arguing that such a procedure would allow a society to democratically control the extreme limits of material wealth and poverty, the author forecasts that such a system will create strong economic incentives while reducing the present undesirable and expensive social problems associated with the maldistribution of wealth. This innovative book will be of interest to scholars and others interested in exploring ways to strengthen democracy while improving economic systems around the world.

Using quantitative research, this volume investigates the characteristics, problems and trends of the automobile society in China's mega cities and large cities. It also addresses topics related to cars and cities, traffic safety and cars' consumption. China has experienced more than 30 years of rapid economic development, and people's living conditions have greatly improved. One of the symbols of this is family-car ownership, which has increased year by year. China is rapidly becoming an automobile society like North America. But China has huge population and limited urban space, and most of the cities are deteriorating environmentally. Added to this are the low degree energy self-sufficiency and people's lack of awareness of traffic rules, all of which have brought various social problems, such as traffic congestion, lack of parking spaces, air pollution, energy shortage and frequent accidents. The volume presents a series of studies examining the characteristics and problems of China's automobile society development from the perspective of sustainable development. The reports in the volume are both academic and highly readable, making it an interesting resource for researchers and general readers alike. It offers insights into the trends and problems of private cars in China, as well as observations on China's social change through the unique medium of cars.

This book analyses the decollectivization reform in China during the early 1980s in order to gauge the impact of post-Mao decentralization on central control and provincial discretion. The volume challenges the notion that the decision to decentralize administrative authority ipso facto produces local discretion properly keyed to local conditions. In fact, outcomes often differ from the intended goals. While, generally, local interests and central-local clientilistic networks determine the policy responses of the provinces, bureaucratic careerism also plays a crucial role. In the case of post-Mao decollectivization, national-level analyses suggest that a majority of provinces adopted household farming neither too quickly nor too slowly, since both 'pioneering' and 'resisting' entailed potentially enormous political risks. Once Beijing's preference appeared firmly fixed, however, they all quickly bandwagoned by popularizing the policy as swiftly as possible. Three detailed case studies of Anhui as a pioneer, Shandong as a bandwagoner, and Heilongjiang as a resister further highlight the evolutionary process in which provincial variations came to be replaced by uniform compliance imposed by Beijing. Theoretically, this study contends that the overall scope of local discretion is circumscribed by the dominant norms and incentive relations embedded in the implementation dynamics. Methodologically, the book employs a combination of aggregate analyses and comparative case studies. Empirically, on the basis of newly available materials (including classified documents) and interviews, it challenges the 'peasant-power' school which has somehow allowed local governments to evaporate in its descriptions of post-Mao decollectivization.

Small business ownership is, in my opinion, the very foundation of the American experience. Liberty and freedom are both the results and causes of capitalism. Without them both working congruently, it would be impossible for our nation and her citizens to survive through the choppy waters of ever-changing economic times. I hope this book will help you on your path towards small business owership and life choices.

This informative research review discusses the most prominent papers within the economics of structural change and growth. This piece focuses on research that investigates the causes and consequences of structural change with either theoretical or calibrated models, mindfully referring to some of the most celebrated literature over the last two decades. The research review analyses literature covering the impact structural change has on an array of economic factors including convergence, per capita income and spatial development. Prefaced by an original introduction from the editors, this collection would be well suited to scholars and macro-development economists wishing to extend their knowledge of this compelling topic.

Over the last decade, market-based incentives have become the regulatory tool of choice when trying to solve difficult environmental problems. Evidence of their dominance can be seen in recent proposals for addressing global warming (through an emissions trading scheme in the Kyoto Protocol) and for amending the Clean Air Act (to add a new emissions trading systems for smog precursors and mercury--the Bush administration's "Clear Skies" program). They are widely viewed as more efficient than traditional command and control regulation. This collection of essays takes a critical look at this question, and evaluates whether the promises of market-based regulation have been fulfilled.
Contributors put forth the ideas that few regulatory instruments are actually purely market-based, or purely prescriptive, and that both approaches can be systematically undermined by insufficiently careful design and by failures of monitoring and enforcement. All in all, the essays recommend future research that no longer pits one kind of approach against the other, but instead examines their interaction and compatibility. This book should appeal to academics in environmental economics and law, along with policymakers in government agencies and advocates in non-governmental organizations.