At a time when there is growing concern in many countries over the funding of expanding public sectors, this important new book brings together leading specialists in public finance to re-examine the economics of public sector growth. Several chapters document changes in the size of the public sector over recent decades for major OECD and Third World economies. Subsequent chapters then explore prominent explanations including public choice perspectives, bureaucracy models, relative price effects and Wagner's Law, and assess their contribution to current knowledge. The book also provides a number of new case studies of specific government activities - education, health and social security.

Using theories and methods from the toolbox of Comparative Public Policy and Comparative Political Economy, Thomas Krumm's excellent book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of public-private partnerships in a cross-country perspective.' - Karsten Mause, University of Muenster, Germany'Why have some countries in Western Europe heavily relied on public-private partnerships between 1990 and 2009 while others have abstained from using this policy instrument? In his important study, Thomas Krumm provides an encompassing and detailed overview of PPP activities, in no less than 14 West European EU member states, that so far has not been available. Using a mixed-methods research design, the author convincingly shows that political and economic factors explain the diverse PPP trajectories in Western Europe.' - Reimut Zohlnhoefer, University of Heidelberg, Germany This comprehensive book provides a unique comparative policy analysis of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in 14 Western European countries - from Scandinavia to Greece - bringing together important insights from government and politics as well as economics and institutional analysis. Thomas Krumm focuses on political drivers for policy change in favour of PPPs, and the supportive and limiting socioeconomic and institutional conditions. Using comparative data, he charts key policies and actors involved in supporting collaboration between the State and private business organisations across Western Europe. Students and scholars of public policy, regulation and comparative politics, among other disciplines, will find this book to be useful in their research or teaching. It will also be of substantial interest to PPP practitioners, and other specialists in the subject.

This comprehensive single volume includes seminal articles written by eminent scholars that study the role of standards in the competitive process, the diffusion of standards throughout industry and the role of the public sector in support of standards development. With an original introduction by the editor, this volume is an excellent source of reference and provides an invaluable foundation for students and researchers interested in standards.

This unique Handbook examines the impacts on, and responses to, economic geography explicitly from the perspective of the behavior, mechanics, systems and experiences of different firms in various types of industries. The industry studies approach allows the authors to explain why the economic geography of these different industries exhibits such particular and diverse characteristics. The sectors and industries covered include:- traditional heavy industry and engineering - creative and cultural industries - knowledge sectors - natural resource-based and environmental sectors - knowledge, networks and communications issues. The Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography will strongly appeal to students, scholars and researchers interested in all aspects of industrial location and economic geography. Contributors include: Y. Aoyama, D. Bailey, F. Bellusi, G. Bentley, M. Bokhorst, F. Bruinsma, K. Buzard, G. Carlino, M.C. Carroll, J. Cooper, L. de Propris, P. Doeringer, E.L. Echeverri-Carroll, C. Forman, P. Foster, A. Gadwa Nicodemus, F. Giarratani, N. Green Leigh, G. Gruver, G.J.D. Hewings, H. Izushi, R. Jackson, T. Klier, S. MacNeill, R. Madhavan, S. Manning, A. Markusen, C. Martinez, H. Mayer, P. McCann, R. Mudambi, R. Ortega-Argiles, L. Oxley, R. Rama, N. Reid, A. Reynolds-Feighan, J. Rubenstein, H. Shangqin, S. Sheppard, D. Terkla

Theo S. Eicher and Thomas Strobel present an industry-level account of the recent changes in German productivity growth and compare the trends to Europe and the US. The specific focus is on how differential investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) affected the economic performance of these economies. Not all industrialized countries shared the economic fortunes that ICT presented to the US economy. While the US experienced successive accelerations in its trend growth in 1995 and again in 2000, Germany experienced dual reductions in labor productivity growth. Some European economies fared better and others even worse than Germany. Since productivity is the ultimate determinant of living standards, the authors examine the sources of these productivity differentials. They also present a new German growth accounting database that utilizes unique ICT investment data, sourced directly from the industries, to place their findings into an international context. This book is targeted at economists and policymakers alike, and is designed to provide clear guidance for those interested in industrial policy and statistical account methods.

Improved efficiency and effectiveness in the construction industry provide huge potential savings. Various forms of relational contracting such as partnering, alliancing, public private partnership (PPP), and joint venture are good examples of this. Relational Contracting for Construction Excellence presents the principles of relational contracting, practicalities and a series of short case studies. Principles begins with the fundamentals then covers development in major countries, definitions of relational contracting, their benefits, difficulties, critical success factors and key performance indicators. Practice includes the relational contracting approach and process in general, and significant factors which make workshops successful, at whatever stage of the process. A number of real-life case studies from the UK, USA, Australia, and Hong Kong are provided. Since the book draws on a combination of practical consultancy works and university research, a wide range of readers will find it useful, i.e. from industrial practitioners to undergraduate students.

This revised and extended second edition evaluates the diverse approaches to organizational change that have defined the field. Explaining the assumptions and implications that accompany these diverse philosophies, this book demystifies the complexities of conflicting perspectives and delivers valuable insights into the research and practice of organizational change. Philosophies of Organizational Change employs a critical analysis of scholarly writings that have shaped the evolution of alternative perspectives on change. It examines twelve unique approaches to change, charting the territory from philosophy and theory to practice and implications. By uncovering the deep assumptions associated with organizational change, the book supplies readers with a comprehensive analytical toolkit with which to pursue change in an unprecedented era of organizational disruption. Offering a guide through contradictory approaches to implementing change, this book will appeal to scholars and researchers in organization theory. It will also be valuable for MBA and DBA students, as well as undergraduate business students engaging with critical debates on theories and tools for introducing change.

China's long-term economic success is driven by new firms, new sectors and new business practices. This book explores the establishment of new private firms and listed companies, the development of knowledge industries, in particular the IT and banking sectors and the co-evolution of public governance and business institutions. The contributors discuss the role of local institutions in coordinating business activities and unleashing entrepreneurship, arguing that the sudden growth of new firms and industries is facilitated by changes in business behaviour and institutions. Initial private exchange and investment in an environment of ill-functioning markets are shown to depend on local networks and local business culture which, in turn, rely on local tax regimes setting incentives for inherited bureaucracies to engage in economic transformation. Finally, the book establishes local institutions and local governance as crucial dimensions of China's emerging business system. Contributing to the theory of endogenous institutional change, The Chinese Economy in the 21st Century will be of great appeal to academics and students interested in management, comparative business systems, transition economics, evolutionary economics, Chinese studies and Asian studies.

'Internet development dynamics are tackled in this Handbook by leading scholars representing mainstream, institutional, evolutionary economics and political economy perspectives. They show how complex markets for digital technologies and services are evolving. Crucially, they demonstrate why conventional analytical tool kits need to be extended by bridging disciplinary boundaries. This volume offers significant advances in the analysis of technological and institutional change and demonstrates how important it is to acknowledge conflict resolution and tradeoffs as essential aspects of the internet's history and its future.' -Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK The Internet is connecting an increasing number of individuals, organizations, and devices into global networks of information flows. It is accelerating the dynamics of innovation in the digital economy, affecting the nature and intensity of competition, and enabling private companies, government, and the non-profit sector to develop new business models. In this new ecosystem many of the theoretical assumptions and historical observations upon which economics rests are altered and need critical reassessment. This Handbook brings together twenty-six original chapters that discuss theoretical and applied frameworks for the study of the economics of the Internet, encompassing: its unique economics as a global information and communications infrastructure the effects of the Internet on economic transactions, including social production, advertising, innovation, and intellectual property rights the economics and management of Internet-based industries, such as search, news, entertainment, culture, and virtual worlds the effects of the Internet on the economy at large Interdisciplinary in its approach, the Handbook synthesizes the state of knowledge and offers new perspectives for researchers, practitioners, and students. Contributors: S. Aggarwal, C. Antonelli, H. Asghari, J.M. Bauer, S. Bauer, Y. Benkler, S.M. Besen, I. Brown, E. Castronova, D.D. Clark, C. Corrado, C. Feijoo, D.L. Garcia, J.-L. Gomez-Barroso, C. Handke, J. Haucap, K. Hollnbuchner, N. Just, G. Knieps, I. Knowles, J.J. Kranz, L. Kung, M. Latzer, W.H. Lehr, Y.-L. Liu, W. Ma, P. Mazepa, V. Mosco, N. Newman, E.M. Noam, P.P. Patrucco, R.G. Picard, A. Picot, G. Sadowsky, F. Saurwein, V. Schneider, S.J. Schultze, R. Sherman, P. Stepan, T. Stuhmeier, R. Towse, B. Van Ark, M. Van Eeten, B. Van Schewick, H.R. Varian, D. Waterman, R.S. Whitt, S.S. Wildman, S. Wunsch-Vincent

This timely book explores the relationships between technological change, efficiency, productivity growth and performance. Focusing on the interplay among industries in modern economies, the essays in this volume combine pure theory and empirical applications to provide an input-output analysis of productivity growth that is both broad and in-depth. Thijs ten Raa and Edward N. Wolff lay out a conceptual framework for interrelating alternative productivity and performance measures, unifying input-output and productivity analyses and applying them to scenarios at both the national economy and industry levels. Topics discussed include growth accounting, international trade, outsourcing and productivity spillovers, labor and capital, and efficiency analysis. This fascinating volume offers some of the best work from two of the brightest and best-known minds in the field. Students, professors and researchers working in economic theory, international economics, labor economics and financial and monetary policy will find much of interest in this thoughtful and comprehensive book.

With an ever increasing number of relationships between different companies, overseeing a portfolio of strategic alliances has become one of the most challenging tasks for managers. Indeed, the network, rather than the individual firm, has become the most relevant and effective form of organization in the economy. By integrating the most recent academic literature with practical new insights, this book develops a framework that will help both managers and academics to understand the intricate workings of the network economy. The author explores critical issues such as network strategy, network structures, partner selection, network management, and competition in and between networks. By studying the fundamentals of the managerial process, he is able to create a comprehensive and logical overview of successful management in the network economy. He highlights the fact that companies now need to manage whole networks, not just individual alliances, and that the days when firms operated in isolation are over. He also provides a unique and intriguing look at network tactics, demonstrating the tricks and ploys firms use in a network scenario. Throughout the book, interesting case studies are used to illustrate examples of effective network management in leading companies such as Cisco, Glaxo, Microsoft, Nokia and Toyota. This is the first volume to translate theoretical ideas on network management into practical guidelines. It will become an invaluable aid to business people at all levels including CEOs, alliance and strategy managers, and R&D managers. It will also be of immense value to academics interested in networks, innovation management and organisation, and policymakers involved with technology and anti-trust policy.

This comprehensive Handbook provides a survey of all the major research areas in sports economics written by almost all of the active researchers in this field. It offers not only an accessible insight into the major findings of the literature but also presents some of the world's principal researchers' views on the unanswered questions that face us today. Issues covered include: * sport in the economy * the demand for sport * cost-benefit analysis of sport * sporting governance and the state * individualistic sports * team sports * dysfunctions in sport including discrimination, doping and corruption. It is an indispensable guide to one of the most lively and rapidly evolving fields of economics.

Drawing upon evolutionary economics and resource-based approaches, the author utilises US patent data from 1930-1990 to examine the persistence of corporate technological competencies and their gradual erosion through diversifying incremental change. The book explores the changing nature of this diversification with respect to firm size, technological relatedness and technological complexity in 32 firms distributed across four broadly defined industrial sectors. The findings suggest that industry and corporate technological profiles remain strong but are becoming blurred by the pervasiveness of general-purpose technologies. Although historically, diversification is associated with an increase in firm size, the author argues that in recent times it results from technological relatedness and complexity. This book will appeal to industrial and business economists, historians of business and technology, and students and scholars of technology management.

Portraying how entrepreneurs often start out conducting some or all of their trade on an 'off-the-books' basis and how many continue to do so once they become established, this book provides the first detailed account of the vast and ubiquitous hidden enterprise culture existing in the interstices of western economies. Until now, the role of the underground economy in enterprise creation, entrepreneurship and small business development has been largely ignored despite its widespread prevalence and importance. In contrast to much of the previous literature that views the underground economy as low-paid, exploitative sweatshop work that should be deterred, this book takes a fresh, more positive perspective that considers the underground economy as a hidden enterprise culture. Colin C. Williams prescribes the means by which western governments can best harness this hidden culture of enterprise. He outlines detailed policy initiatives that seek to assist business ventures in setting up on a formal footing, and aim to encourage underground enterprises and entrepreneurs to make the transition into the realm of legitimacy. This book provides a lucid guide as to how the hidden culture of enterprise can be brought into the open. As such, it will prove invaluable to a wide-ranging audience including scholars and students of business studies, entrepreneurship, management, economics and regional science.

A rare empirical test of the assertions of critics of multinational corporations (MNCs), who argue that firm-level social and environmental performance suffers as MNCs grow increasingly mobile.

How do business leaders think as a result of their national culture? This book provides a discussion and comparative analysis of five major cultures - American, Arab, Chinese, Japanese and Scandinavian - and how they reveal themselves in business practice. The author begins by introducing the concept of culture and why it is important, addressing issues such as values, beliefs and assumptions and the consequences of these. Bjorn Bjerke then goes on to address corporate culture and business strategy as well as some myths associated with national cultures. Looking at the five specific cultures he addresses cultural themes and presents a typified picture of the business leader in each of these. He concludes that there are five different capitalist systems governing these cultures, and that the business leader plays a different role in each. Extending this discussion, the author questions whether the culture-free business leader exists and, if so, what the characteristics of such a person might be. Business Leadership and Culture will enlighten students, scholars and business people about the consequences of culture for international business and management.

Industrial organization studies how markets allocate resources, specifically when there are few agents or when there are frictions that render the price-taking paradigm unsuitable. Game theory explores situations in which agents interact strategically and provides a useful foundation for studying many traditional industrial organization topics. The first volume of this wide-ranging Handbook contains original contributions by world-class specialists. It provides up-to-date surveys of the main tools of game theory that are used to model industrial organization topics. The Handbook covers numerous subjects in detail including, among others, the tools of lattice programming, supermodular and aggregative games, monopolistic competition, horizontal and vertically differentiated good models, dynamic and Stackelberg games, entry games, evolutionary games with adaptive players, asymmetric information, moral hazard, and learning and information sharing models. Technical yet accessible, this comprehensive resource will be required reading for both established researchers as well as graduate or advanced undergraduate students in industrial economics and game theory. Contributors incude: R. Amir, A. Attar, G.I. Bischi, F. Bloch, L. Corchon, S. Currarini, C. d'Aspremont, F. Feri, J. Gabszewicz, M. Jensen, L. Julien, F. Lamantia, I. Macho-Stadler, M. Marini, E. Maskin, D. Perez-Castrillo, C. Pimienta, D. Radi, R.A. Ritz, K. Ritzberger, O. Tarola, J. Thisse, A. Urbano, P. Ushchev, X. Vives, J. Zhao

This book brings together the key works on the global factory - a unique approach to the modern global economy that focuses on the orchestrating role of key multinational firms that control an integrated international network of independent firms. This analysis is conducted at global system level, at the level of global value chains and for individual firms. These three levels represent consistent, nested approaches to the analysis of pressing issues of the modern international economy. The Global Factory examines the internalisation theory of the multinational enterprise as it applies to global interfirm networks, and pays particular attention to multinational firms from emerging countries. It examines the governance and performance of global factories, their internationalisation and knowledge management strategies and the potential for multinational firms to address societal failures. The role of technology, the use of tax havens by Chinese multinationals and the division of entrepreneurial labour between global factories and smaller local firms are all explored as fascinating aspects of the overarching theory. This is an essential point of reference on Buckley's work on the global factory for academics and students of business, as well as managers of multinational firms and public policy makers.

If evolutionary economics is to compete with neoclassical economics as a general-purpose economic theory, it needs to incorporate new aspects of socioeconomic reality, such as institutions of all types, including technical, scientific, and political. Furthermore, evolutionary economics needs to be able to provide policy implications at least as interesting as those of neoclassical economics. Thus, as this book argues, evolutionary economics must become evolutionary political economy. Innovation plays a central role in the book, but not in the sense of providing a technologically determinist interpretation. Rather, the book argues that innovations do not emerge in isolation from other components of socioeconomic systems but coevolve with institutions, infrastructures and organizational forms. This concept of coevolution is absolutely central in the book and provides a link with theories of complexity. In addition to providing an epistemological basis for evolutionary economics, the link with complexity and coevolution offers the connection with evolutionary political economy. Innovations and technologies do not emerge and develop in an institutional vacuum, but interact with existing institutions and reshape them, in addition to inducing the formation of new institutions. In this process, technologies and institutions reinforce each other providing a potential mechanism to transform socioeconomic systems. The book also explores the policy implications of these innovative societies, where wealth is created but unequally distributed. The book is addressed to open-minded economists, social scientists who are dissatisfied with the approach of neoclassical economics, technologists and policy makers.

- Authoritative but highly accessible introduction to the underlying economics of airports, their role, regulation and implications. - Written for all aviation managers, relevant local authorities and regulators, as well as serving as teaching material for air transport Masters programmes. - The book uniquely offers economic analysis and presents facts in the context of economic reasoning with clear policy recommendations.

The theme of this book is moral leadership in action as it manifests itself implicitly and explicitly in European business organizations. We understand leadership as interplay among people at all levels within organizations and also within the economic system by which people are bound together through particular forms of interaction. The contributions collected in this volume mirror the plurality of approaches we find in the theoretical writings of academics in different European countries. The additional business cases from six different nations show how leaders actually have adopted and integrated working with values in their own organizations, i.e. how they put moral leadership into action. While the selected papers are not meant to be representative of each country, particular economic and cultural traditions are apparent in both thinking and managing moral leadership. The contributors, by presenting this emerging multicultural pattern of Europe, contribute to a better and more knowledgeable understanding of how European business leaders pursue their goals. Managers, students and teachers in business, ethics and leadership studies will find this volume an indispensable guide to the unique contributions of European leadership scholars.

This major book provides a new understanding of systems of corporate governance, notably in the USA, Japan and the EU. It discusses how governance influences corporate cultures and strategies, particularly in response to the effects of deepening integration in the world economy. These effects present challenges for governments, obliging them to focus increasingly on problems of the management of structural and foreign trade policies. Challenges in international financial markets also have to be confronted by policymakers as industries are funded more and more through cross-border investments, which reflect the responses of systems of corporate governance to globalization. The book links studies of corporate governance with surveys of efficiencies and failures in international financial markets, as well as examining aspects of corporate governance systems that have special significance for the management of economic policies as globalization continues. The contributors advocate increased international cooperation to promote more structural complementarities in the world economy.

- Authoritative but highly accessible introduction to the underlying economics of airports, their role, regulation and implications. - Written for all aviation managers, relevant local authorities and regulators, as well as serving as teaching material for air transport Masters programmes. - The book uniquely offers economic analysis and presents facts in the context of economic reasoning with clear policy recommendations.

The cultural sector plays an important role in sustainable economic development and creates economic activities, opportunities for entrepreneurship and jobs, adding to the attractiveness of cities and contributing to the development of tourism. The Cultural Sector and Sustainable Economic Development: Innovation and the Creative Economy in European Cities offers both a theoretical and practical analysis of the contemporary approach to culture and innovation, with special emphasis on the relationships among culture, innovation and the economy. Sustainable development, itself, balances environmental protection, culture, social progress, the economy and stability today and for the future. The book's key theme is the role and possibility of culture as a laboratory, with a strong supporting subtext on innovative practice. The text provides an eclectic mix of possibilities that reinforce and underscore the full innovative and complex potentials of culture. It is a cross-disciplinary volume presenting case studies that cover the main theme of cultural ecosystem in a very broad sense, highlighting the relationships that could lead to a sustainable system where economy and culture are the main players. It proposes and maps the European perspective of urban cultural development and suggests that the successes and challenges of European cities under consideration may offer guidance on best practices for urban development in other distant cultural contexts. This book is written in such a way that it can be used as a summary for a cultural professional, a reference text for an academic or for actors in local development and cultural policy at European, national and local levels.