This book takes stock of the lessons to be learned from the experiences of different countries on their way to a transition into a unified Europe. It demonstrates how the project of a unified Europe is a social pilot project that is unique in human history, both with respect to the sheer number of people involved and with respect to the cultural diversity it aims to turn into a progressive advantage. With no historical experience at hand, the transition into a unified Europe is an exploratory process, often risky but sometimes also surprisingly successful. To improve the chances of establishing a successful unification it is particularly important that we learn from the mistakes made so far; and that we learn rapidly, since the forces working against the pilot project of Europe will gain power very fast if the unification success slows down. And as the recent developments in Greece show, the vision of the final goal itself can well change during this exciting quest. Apart from providing the pieces of a mosaic on which a more general theory can be built, this book can be read as a collection of experiences - mistakes as well as triumphs - which should help the European learning process. The structure of the book mirrors Europe's diversity: specific country studies are combined with more general chapters, and quantitatively oriented econometric work is combined with qualitatively oriented sociological studies.

The book examines why and how global capitalism has entered a phase of unsustainable crises of accumulation and legitimacy, and looks at various solutions to such crises, from mild reform to radical overhaul. The book then examines the various scenarios from a Latin American perspective, arguing that different countries follow diverse paths in adapting to the crisis - with significantly different outcomes. Their common challenge is how to achieve economic growth with social inclusion.

This book examines the uneven economy in Asia, showing how the pace of economic transformation affects prosperity and the emerging middle class. Using the Lewis turning point and the long run cycle of the rise and fall of nations as a framework, it demonstrates how demographic trends, digitization rates and consumer preferences creates business opportunities in a disruptive and uncertain world. This includes moves toward promoting Eurasian integration, restructuring of state-owned enterprises, green economy, and the digital economies - ecommerce, fintech and sharing economy. Vanity capital, longevity and leisure economies are also discussed. The author explains what drives creative disruption, technical innovation and their effect on manufacturing, consumers, businesses, and sustainability. It is essential reading for students, academics, executives, and business persons wanting in-depth coverage of the economic landscape in Asia.

Sung-Hee Jwa offers analyses of a wide range of past and current reform efforts in Korea. The policy lessons are designed to understand Korea's transformation from the government-led development model to a market system. Jwa argues that Korea's economic future depends entirely upon the successful integration of market-oriented systems.

Underwriting Services and the New Issues Market integrates practice, theory and evidence from the global underwriting industry to present a comprehensive description and analysis of underwriting practices. After covering the regulation and mechanics of the underwriting process, it considers economic topics such as underwriting costs and compensation, the pricing of new issues, the stock price and operating performance of issuing firms, the evaluation of new issue decisions, and an analysis of the many choices issuers face in structuring new issues. Unlike other books, it systematically develops a critical perspective about underwriting practices, both in the U.S. and international markets, and with a level of detail unavailable elsewhere and an approach that reveals how financial institutions deliver underwriting services. Underwriting Services and the New Issues Market delivers an innovative and long overdue look at security issuance. Foreword by Frank Fabozzi

The aim of this book, first published in 1939, is to provide a comprehensive description of the protectionist system that had been in force in Britain since 1931. It explains the principles and difficulties involved in framing and administering a customs and excise tariff, which has both revenue and political purposes. The problems of tariff negotiating are discussed, and trade agreements made are summarized.

This volume brings together original and timely writings by internationally renowned scholars that reflect on the current trajectories of global capitalism and, in the light of these, consider likely, possible or desirable futures. It offers theory-informed writing that contextualizes empirical research on current world-historic events and trends with an eye towards realizing a future of human, social and economic betterment.

The US is facing enormous challenges as it enters the second decade of the twenty-first century. Some of these major issues are environmentalism and its claim of global warming; the danger from terrorism generated by Islamic fundamentalism; and affordable, quality health care. Additionally, education in America remains an unresolved dilemma contributing to America's lack of economic competitiveness. Andrew Bernstein argues that the US government is pushing the nation toward socialism in its attempt to resolve America's problems. The government's increasing control of the banking industry, its massive bailouts of auto makers, and its proposal of emissions legislation are also examples of the expansion of government's power. Bernstein argues that whatever the intentions of the government, or its illusions about the workability of its proposals, morally upright and practical solutions can only come from moving to the opposite end of the political-economic spectrum: the establishment of laissez-faire capitalism. In Atlas Shrugged, and in her non-fiction works, Ayn Rand developed a systematic body of thought, a comprehensive philosophy she dubbed "Objectivism." This philosophy has been neglected by most professional intellectuals, but it is now beginning to be seriously studied in academic philosophy departments. Objectivism provides the moral and philosophic validation of the political-economic principles of individual rights and free markets. Analysis of today's gravest social and political issues within this philosophic framework, as undertaken by Bernstein in this volume, constitutes a unique way of identifying rational solutions to these pressing issues.

The Services Directive is one of the cornerstones for the realization of the EU internal market and is fundamental to economic and legal experts, as well as to the general public. This book analyses in detail the different steps taken by each of the 27 EU Member States in the implementation process of the Services Directive. It provides not only detailed information about the changes in national law adopted by the Member States, but also facilitates a comparison of the different implementation strategies. It gives an insight in the heterogeneity or homogeneity of implementation concepts and shows how European legislation affects legislation that were originally nationally dominated, such as the law of national administration. Valuable for academics interested in European and administrative law and the transposition of European lawmaking into domestic law, as well as for civil servants in ministries, chambers of commerce, local governments and other comparable institutions having to implement the Directive.

Originally published in 1977. This book provides the first concise non-technical account of what the main kinds of regional problems are, how they arise, and the kinds of policy which have been used to tackle them in the UK, USA and Western Europe. The book starts with a discussion of why "regional problems" really are situations which call for special action, followed by a short preliminary classification of problem regions (including those in the less developed countries), then on to a more detailed survey of the origins and experience of selected problem regions in the more developed market economies. The authors focus on four broad kinds of problem region; agricultural regions, coal mining regions, old textile regions, and so-called "congested" regions. They conclude with a selective survey of regional policies in these more advanced economies, distinguishing and comparing the main trends and the different national styles.

The book examines the expansion of investment and trade between China and New Zealand, and its changing composition within the political framework, especially the 2008 Free Trade Agreement. Particular attention is paid to China's volatile agrifood market, where New Zealand dairy products play an important role for both countries. The New Zealand-China economic relationship - asymmetrical and complementary, but with increasing competition from domestic production - is a case study of the complexities of globalization and the interplay of economic imperatives, political pressures and cultural factors. China is now New Zealand's main economic partner and a major source of migrants, tourists and students. This proposed study on how New Zealand and China manage their grave dissimilarities and disparities in growing, ever close economic ties will be of interest to academics, policy analysts, economic/trade decision makers, and business practitioners.

This book provides the analysis on capital markets in China, focusing attention upon (1) the bubble phenomena (whether or not a Chinese bubble really exists and might burst), (2) foreign direct investment and (3) integration, through all of which we could recognize the current situation and the future prospects of Chinese marketization. As regards to the bubble phenomena, particularly 'early warning indicator' of the bubble, this book attempts to utilize the Grubbs-Smirnov Test to discover the 'abnormal value' in several asset markets. Investigations of this book suggest that the distinctive features of the Chinese market have been significantly different from the markets of capitalist countries such as the United States and Japan. As far as Japan's foreign direct investments in China are concerned, this book tries to reveal the Chinese characteristics on FDI phenomena with FDI-trade ratio. The analysis of this book suggests that Chinese FDI from Japan has undoubtedly revealed the distortions caused by non-economic factors, which also mean that the distinctive features of the Chinese market have been different from the markets of the United States and Japan etc. Regarding integration, this book provides the analysis on the 'G2' system between the United States and China (cooperation or conflict between them). The considerations of this book conclude that it might be difficult to have good cooperation between them because of significant differences between the Chinese system and the US system.

This book contributes to the microeconomics of growth among SMEs in less-developed countries. It begins with an overview of the Kosovo economy, and takes the case of Kosovo to explore the dynamics and determinants of firm growth. The author does this by exploring dynamics of firms' creation; survival and exit; organisational capabilities of firms; and looks at how external (environmental) factors affect firms' growth. The author pays special attention to innovation capabilities. This study makes a major contribution to European Studies by dealing for the first time with economic development in Kosovo. This book will be of relevance to development specialists including policy makers, researchers, consultants, students, and field staff of donor organisations active in Kosovo, the wider Balkan region and other low-income countries. It will also be of value to policy makers working in fields of economic development, entrepreneurship, industrial policy and innovation policy, and European and EU studies.

This book is an introduction to the history of - and current measurement practice of - inflation for the United Kingdom. The authors describe the historical development of inflation measures in a global context, and do so without using formal mathematical language and related jargon that relates only to a few specialist scholars. Although inflation is a widely used and quoted statistic, and despite the important role inflation plays in real people's lives - through pension uprating, train tickets, interest rates and the work of economists - few people understand how it is created. O'Neill, Ralph and Smith mix historical data with a description of practices inside the UK statistical system and abroad, which will aid understanding of how this important economic statistic is produced, and the important and controversial choices that statisticians have made over time.

An intense debate has played out in recent years regarding how to implement a so-called "flexicurity system"-a labor market reform that combines flexibility, particularly in the hiring and firing process of firms, with security in the employment and income of the workforce. In Flexicurity Capitalism, Flaschel and Greiner lay out the macroeconomic structure of this system, providing the detailed mathematical models necessary to ponder seriously how such a system can work. Their book rests on three pillars of thought: Marx, Kalecki-Keynes, and Schumpeter. The authors highlight the relevant contributions from the work of each and build upon it. They in turn provide a basic framework for flexicurity capitalism and then compare their economic system to pure capitalism to determine the best and most practical way forward. Their scope is ambitious: to address the shortcomings of a narrow focus on mass unemployment, selective-schooling systems, property rights based solely on ownership without qualified business decision-making expertise, financial markets that do not of channel savings properly into real investment, and innovations that ignore human rights or moral sentiments. Flaschel and Greiner's Flexicurity Capitalism provides serious discussion and feasible mathematical models necessary to consider moving in this direction.

The European economy is still in recession, even though there are some weak indications of stabilization. This book examines important aspects of the crisis in selected countries of Southern Europe, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. The intensity of the crisis and its economic and social repercussions have varied from country to country, generally impacting the core countries less than those on the periphery. The countries in the latter group currently face significant structural challenges with regard to improving productivity and competitiveness, including the areas of investment, climate, the labour market, and the public sector. The book not only illustrates the scope of the problem, but also informs readers on the policies implemented to address it, and discusses the progress some of the economies have already made. Special topics include the convergence hypothesis, agriculture and growth, Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure (PPPI), and the labour market.

This book is a wide-ranging and timely overview of the contemporary Chinese banking system. It charts the vast changes in Chinese banking from before China's admission to the WTO in 2001 to more recent regulatory reform and developments in the shadow banking sector. The book begins with an economic history of the mono-banking system, and a critical discussion of reforms taken by the government in preparation for China's entry to the WTO. The second part of the book discusses banking regulation and government policy during and after the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 and their impact on banking, including recent developments. Finally, the book concludes an empirical analysis of the impact of banking reforms on a number of important issues, including bank efficiency, capital structure, competition and financial stability, and risk taking behaviour, and a review of the relevance of shadow banking and internet banking.

Recently, the issue of inequality has regained attention in the economic and political debate. This is due to both an increase in income inequality, in particular among rich countries, and an increasing interest in this issue by researchers and politicians. In the last three decades, income inequality among rich countries increased. This period also witnessed the growth of "financial capitalism", characterised by the strong dependency of economies on the financial sector, by the globalisation and intensification of international trade and capital mobility, and by the "flexibilisation" of labour markets and the reduction of wage shares. From the 1980s to the present day, this book considers the theoretical aspects of inequality (its foundations, definitions, approaches and origins) and examines empirical evidence of income inequality in a wide range of advanced economies. The key arguments in this volume are that income inequality increased during this period because labour and welfare became seen as costs to be compressed in "financial capitalism" rather than as a fundamental part of aggregate demand to be expanded. However, the welfare state is not a drain on economic performance and competitiveness, nor is it a barrier to economic efficiency. Instead, it is demonstrated that in countries that adopt "welfare capitalism", welfare state expenditure not only contributes to a reduction in inequality but also fosters economic growth. Inequality in Financial Capitalism is of great importance to those who study economics, political economy, labour economics and globalisation.

Since ancient times the exercise of individual freedoms has been inseparable from the expansion of the market, driven by the search for profit. This force, namely capitalism, has stimulated human creativity and aggression in ways that have produced immense benefits. As capitalism has broadened its scope in the epoch of globalization, these benefits have become even greater. Human beings have been liberated to an even greater degree than hitherto from the tyranny of nature, from the control of others, from poverty and from war. The advances achieved by the globalization of capitalism have appeared all the more striking, when set against the failure of non-capitalist systems of economic organization.

However, capitalist freedom is a two-edged sword. In an epoch of capitalist globalisation, its contradictions have intensified. They comprehensively threaten the natural environment. They have intensified global inequality within both rich and poor countries, and between the internationalised global power elite and the mass of citizens rooted within their respective nation. In this remarkable, expansive text, Peter Nolan explores the impact of the domineering economic phenomenon on our personal and social liberties.

This work examines the complex, detailed relationship between the theory of wealth and the theory of power, both subsumed as they are under the overarching mantle of capitalist ideology, ever distorting real connections and evading critical issues. It examines various theories of class, state, and power either explicitly or implicitly avowed in the diverse social science disciplines of politics, economics, and sociology. In illuminating the subtle machinations of ideology, it boldly reveals the realist ontology of capitalism which produces illusory theory. The essays employ transcendental realism, emphasizing the primacy of ontology over epistemology as a mode of critique, necessarily going beyond traditional Marxian arguments in many cases. Although intended only as an analytical critique, the project is emancipatory of necessity, for it allows, ultimately, for an increased purchase on reality.

This comprehensive and lucid study, first published in 1985, reconstructs the history of Western Marxist theories of the breakdown of capitalism. It provides a critical reading of theories of breakdown, with their conflicting interpretations of a single text, their invulnerability to empirical defeat, and their retreat from class analysis, as events in the history of ideas. This study traces the sources of theoretical conflict in a series of historical and epistemological issues that shift over time and generate new conditions for speculations concerning the fate of the system. In seeking to understand that durability of the concept of breakdown, the author raises important questions about the social conditions and consequences of theoretical work and the status of critical thought in society. This title will be of interest to students of history and economics.