This book presents the comparative evaluation of international and industrial factors affecting the financial condition of enterprises. In the theoretical part, the results of previous research on the occurrence of the country and industry effect in the financial health of companies are reviewed. The aim of the empirical study is to determine such factors - national or industrial ones - that have a greater impact on the corporate performance in the selected European Union countries. Corporate performance is measured and described with the use of a large set of fundamental ratios. Corporate performance is therefore treated as a more complex matter influenced by such aspects as profitability, liquidity, working capital and solvency. The book especially analyses the importance of non-public companies of all sizes, which is also rare as current research focuses mainly on public companies due to the data constraints.

Thought provoking, engaging and to the point "The Financial Fitness Blueprint" addresses the importance of taking responsibility for our financial lives. For those serious about escaping the rat race and taking charge of their money, this book is a must read

Author Courtney Carroll draws upon stories from his life and the lives of others so you can benefit from established principles of finance.

By following a few simple disciplines on a daily basis, such as saving more, spending less, protecting and investing your money wisely, you can avoid the financial mistakes made by the majority in society and create a financially fit future.

Written for individuals seeking financial freedom, this guidebook will help you:

Avoid the financial pitfalls and credit traps that have gotten so many into trouble;

Earn reasonable and consistent returns on your investments and protect your money from loss;

Reduce expenses and secure your retirement by paying yourself first;

Use life insurance to secure your families' future wealth

Carroll explores three primary vehicles for wealth creation-business ownership, stocks and real estate investing-and shares his views as to which vehicle he believes is best suited for achieving financial fitness

Working professionals and students at any level will benefit from reading The Financial Fitness Blueprint, as it teaches you how to develop the habits and behaviours needed to achieve financial success.

In the 1970s, the large size of enterprises was one of the symbols of the mass production system's rigidity. The second symbol was state interventionism--blamed for the economic difficulties of the period: growing unemployment and upsurge of inflation. Globalisation is characterised by the predominance of deregulated finance ("big finance") over economic activities. Between free enterprise capitalism and monopoly capitalism stands finance-based capitalism. The financial sphere is mobilised to promote variety and reinforce selection.
This book presents in its first part the financial determinants of innovation processes considered in a macro-economic perspective, which are limited by short-term constraints and studies in its second part the linkages existing between the necessity to innovate in order to survive and the constant attention given to financial results.

Part of a series which discusses advances in the quantitative analysis of finance and accounting, this volume is the fourth in the series.

"Practical Applications of Evolutionary Computation to Financial Engineering" presents the state of the art techniques in Financial Engineering using recent results in Machine Learning and Evolutionary Computation. This book bridges the gap between academics in computer science and traders and explains the basic ideas of the proposed systems and the financial problems in ways that can be understood by readers without previous knowledge on either of the fields. To cement the ideas discussed in the book, software packages are offered that implement the systems described within. The book is structured so that each chapter can be read independently from the others. Chapters 1 and 2 describe evolutionary computation. The third chapter is an introduction to financial engineering problems for readers who are unfamiliar with this area. The following chapters each deal, in turn, with a different problem in the financial engineering field describing each problem in detail and focusing on solutions based on evolutionary computation. Finally, the two appendixes describe software packages that implement the solutions discussed in this book, including installation manuals and parameter explanations.

Follow the Money is based on a startling insight: there are three different forms of money, not just one; and the form of money a society implements determines the kind of society it will be, and what's more, how it will think. For money is not neutral. It is a product of human artifice, the particular expression of a particular society, that at the same time determines the further course of that society, not just in terms of economics, but in all areas of cultural endeavor. This thesis is implemented with verve. The book takes the reader on a journey through history, beginning with ancient Mesopotamia, through Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome, then through medieval and early-modern Europe in its interaction with the Near and Far East, all the way to the modern-day community of nations. It demonstrates in no uncertain terms just how decisive the institution of money has been, and at the same time just how misunderstood - its role, its effects, even the very form it takes. This is still the case, with the result that political choices and action end up entirely misguided. It is especially true of the attempt to address the credit and debt crises afflicting the world today. The way forward will only come through a better understanding of money as institution. This book is a first step in arriving at such an understanding. As such, it takes the form of historical inquiry, which is the only form such a first step can take. Follow the Money is illustrated and published in full color.

The "good life" for households has passed. The unwanted result which accompanied it is the sea of red ink. Confidence in the western way of life will not return until the current mess of a dysfunctional society, and its economy, is cleared out. Household Finance explains why and how this can be done.

Financial sanctions have become important instruments of regulatory and foreign policy in recent years. Following 9/11, the leading G10 developed countries have increasingly been using targeted financial sanctions against designated states, international terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, and their commercial and financial supporters. This book provides the first in depth study examining the post-9/11 financial sanctions programmes in the US and Europe, and the key regulatory and legal issues that confront businesses and related liability issues for third parties and individuals.

The Oxford Handbook of Creative Industries is a reference work, bringing together many of the world's leading scholars in the application of creativity in economics, business and management, law, policy studies, organization studies and psychology. Creative industries research has become a regular theme in academic journals and conferences across these subjects and is also an important agenda for governments throughout the world, while business people from established companies and entrepreneurs revaluate and innovate their models in creative industries. The Handbook is organized into four parts: Following the editors' introduction, Part One on Creativity includes individual creativity and how this scales up to teams, social networks, cities, and labour markets. Part Two addresses Generating and Appropriating Value from Creativity, as achieved by agents and organizations, such as entrepreneurs, stars and markets for symbolic goods, and considers how performance is measured in the creative industries. Part Three covers the mechanics of Managing and Organizing Creative Industries, with chapters on the role of brokerage and mediation in creative industry networks, disintermediation and glocalisation due to digital technology, the management of project-based organzations in creative industries, organizing events in creative fields, project ecologies, Global Production Networks, genres and classification and sunk costs and dynamics of creative industries. Part Four on Creative Industries, Culture and the Economy offers chapters on cultural change and entrepreneurship, on development, on copyright, economic spillovers and government policy. This authoritative collection is the most comprehensive source of the state of knowledge in the increasingly important field of creative industries research. Covering emerging economies and new technologies, it will be of interest to scholars and students of the arts, business, innovation, and policy.

This volume is concerned with contributing to the growing body of literature that examines the extent of, and the implications of enhanced independence and integration that will result from the recent EU enlargement for the development of emerging European financial markets. The objective is to provide a perspective on the nature and complex problems associated with financial market development in the emerging European economies and their relationships with the EU (and other major regions) in the post-EU enlargement environment. The volume is divided into five parts. Part A focuses on the important implications for fiscal policy, part B deals with monetary policy and banking, part C explores issues concerned with financial innovation and liberalization, part D examines recent developments in equity market integration, and part E looks at the implications.
*Fills a substantial gap in this field
*Broad in scope
*Serves as an invaluable reference for those interested in European Financial Markets

Considering the stupendous gain in importance, in the banking and insurance industries since the early 1990 s, of mathematical methodology, especially probabilistic methodology, it was a very natural idea for the French "Academie des Sciences" to propose a series of public lectures, accessible to an educated audience, to promote a wider understanding for some of the fundamental ideas, techniques and new tools of the financial industries.

These lectures were given at the "Academie des Sciences" in Paris by internationally renowned experts in mathematical finance, and later written up for this volume which develops, in simple yet rigorous terms, some challenging topics such as risk measures, the notion of arbitrage, dynamic models involving fundamental stochastic processes like Brownian motion and Levy processes.

The Ariadne s thread leads the reader from Louis Bachelier s thesis 1900 to the famous Black-Scholes formula of 1973 and to most recent work close to Malliavin s stochastic calculus of variations. The book also features a description of the trainings of French financial analysts which will help them to become experts in these fast evolving mathematical techniques."

This book critically analyses the crisis of the euro currency from 2008 to the present. It argues that an understanding of this crisis requires an understanding of financial and economic crises in individual countries participating in the euro. It goes on to describe and explain the crises in four countries - Greece, Ireland, Spain and Italy - showing how they differ and together challenge the euro currency by requiring a varied policy response from Europe. Eurocritical is a guide for scholars, students and practitioners of finance and economics.

This book discusses carefully selected topics in Islamic banking and finance (IBF) in South Eastern Europe (SEE) as one of the fastest growing areas in global finance. IBF originated within various Islamic banks, Islamic windows, investment funds, Takaful companies, and other financial institutions and has resulted in various global products. Although it is still in an early phase in SEE, IBF has developed rapidly in the last decade and has created a need for research on related topics, from the fundamental principles of IBF to the SCR, endowments and investment instruments to Islamic banking practices. This is our second book published as a result of the Sarajevo Islamic and Finance conferences (SIFEC). This conference traditionally gathers Islamic banking, economics, and finance academicians, experts, and students all over the world who discuss a wide range of topics in this field, focusing on the SEE. Consisting of seven chapters presenting original research, this book is a valuable resource for researchers as well as for practitioners and potential investors in IBF, especially in SEE.

Modern option pricing theory was developed in the late sixties and early seventies by F. Black, R. e. Merton and M. Scholes as an analytical tool for pricing and hedging option contracts and over-the-counter warrants. How ever, already in the seminal paper by Black and Scholes, the applicability of the model was regarded as much broader. In the second part of their paper, the authors demonstrated that a levered firm's equity can be regarded as an option on the value of the firm, and thus can be priced by option valuation techniques. A year later, Merton showed how the default risk structure of cor porate bonds can be determined by option pricing techniques. Option pricing models are now used to price virtually the full range of financial instruments and financial guarantees such as deposit insurance and collateral, and to quantify the associated risks. Over the years, option pricing has evolved from a set of specific models to a general analytical framework for analyzing the production process of financial contracts and their function in the financial intermediation process in a continuous time framework. However, very few attempts have been made in the literature to integrate game theory aspects, i. e. strategic financial decisions of the agents, into the continuous time framework. This is the unique contribution of the thesis of Dr. Alexandre Ziegler. Benefiting from the analytical tractability of contin uous time models and the closed form valuation models for derivatives, Dr."

Computational models and methods are central to the analysis of economic and financial decisions. Simulation and optimisation are widely used as tools of analysis, modelling and testing. The focus of this book is the development of computational methods and analytical models in financial engineering that rely on computation. The book contains eighteen chapters written by leading researchers in the area on portfolio optimization and option pricing; estimation and classification; banking; risk and macroeconomic modelling. It explores and brings together current research tools and will be of interest to researchers, analysts and practitioners in policy and investment decisions in economics and finance.

Event Studies are overwhelmingly widespread in financial research, providing tools for shedding light on market efficiency, as well as measuring the impact of various occurrences on public firms' security prices. Mastering the Event Study approach is essential for researchers and practitioners alike. Event Studies for Financial Research aims to help readers obtain valuable hands-on experience with Event Study tools and gain technical skills for conducting their own studies. Kliger and Gurevich provide a detailed application of their approach, which consists of: a description of the method; references; guided applications; and elaborated framework for implementing the applications.

Social financial reporting as an economic tool presents the firm as a socio-economic unit with empowered social capital to enable a sustainable economic solution, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Islamic social finance (ISF) is a corporate social responsibility initiative in the form of humanitarian and socio-development programs by Islamic financial institutions and Shariah-compliant corporations. ISF is applied through various methods and tools that structure based on Islamic Sharia Law. For example, Islamic social finance tools would either be philanthropic, involving activities such as zakat (obligatory alms-giving), Sadaqah (voluntary alms-giving/charity), and waqf (endowment) or ta'awun (cooperation-based activities), which include Qardh al-hasan (benevolent loan) and kafala (guarantee). Thus, Islamic social finance instruments play a vital role in alleviating poverty and addressing socio-economic issues such as illiteracy, unemployment, malnutrition, and health issues. As such, integrated ISF reporting can empower sustainable economic development and lead to recovery. The Handbook of Research on Islamic Social Finance and Economic Recovery After a Global Health Crisis provides insights on the role of Islamic social finance in supporting and facilitating economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era as well as reducing poverty and addressing the challenges of socio-economic problems such as education, unemployment, malnutrition, and health issues. This book is ideally intended for practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students who are interested in improving their understanding on the role of Islamic social finance theoretically and empirically in solving the issue of poverty and developing excellent funds management to achieve economic empowerment with better environmental sustainability.

This book presents important aspects of the New-Keynesian theory of monetary policy and its implications for the practical decision making of central bankers today. It brings together several new research contributions that were presented at the scientific symposium on the occasion of the award of the Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics 2007 to Professor Michael Woodford of Columbia University. Woodford received this prize according to the jury in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the theory and practical analysis of monetary policy. The prize jury included Gunter Franke, Michael Haliassos, Otmar Issing, Jan Krahnen, Patrick Lane, Lucrezia Reichlin, Reinhardt Schmidt, Lars Svensson, Norbert Walter and Volker Wieland. The first part on "The New-Keynesian Approach to Understanding the Economy" contains two chapters written by Bennett McCallum and Jordi Gali, respectively. McCallum provides an exposition of key elements of the New-Keynesian approach to monetary policy analysis and an appreciation of Woodford's contributions. Gali further develops several key lessons of this approach and points out important new directions for further research.

Capital Markets, Globalization, and Economic Development consists of fourteen articles contributed by authors from Australia, Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States who provide a wide range of insights. The contributors include academics, government officials, and regulators. This book examines some of the capital market issues that economies face as they mature. These include, but are not limited to, credit ratings, financial regulation, infrastructure privatization and other timely topics.