Bank panics have always mattered because they create serious disruptions in economic and financial activity, depressing national economies. But they matter even more now, as information and communications technologies have stitched together a global financial system that is more vulnerable to crisis on a large scale. For example, the global bank panic of 2007-08 froze up the national economies of the U.S., England, France, Iceland, Ireland, and Germany -- all at the same time. And each of their governments had to act to bail out their own banks, without a consistent international regulatory framework.

In this volume, Fred Betz takes a unique, cross-disciplinary approach to understanding bank panics, with an emphasis on the U.S. Bank Panics of 1857, 1907, 1930-33, 2007-08 and the European Bank Panics of 2010-2013. Despite over a hundred years of modern economic theory and many excellent historical studies about bank panics, they are still poorly understood and certainly not yet preventable. Partly this has been a function of the limitations of modern economic theory, which cannot interpret bank panics as complex societal phenomena. All societal phenomena are, in reality, multi-disciplinary in scope and cross-disciplinary in connections. Bank panics can best be understood through the collective lenses of sociology, political science, psychology, management science, management of technology, among other disciplines. Through this dynamic approach, the author identifies five key underlying triggers of bank panics: (1) funding excessive leverage in speculation, (2) lack of proper banking regulation, (3) bad banking practices, (4) lack of banking integrity, (5) corrupt banking practices. In so doing, he suggests new strategies for avoiding and recovering from bank panics and other financial crises."

This short book integrates the imperatives of public debt sustainability with those of socioeconomic sustainability in the context of budget austerity measures. It is argued that poverty, inequality and unemployment problems should be integral aspects of policy frameworks for austerity and fiscal stability. The economics of austerity in much of economic analysis remains narrowly focused and lopsided, since the implications on the role of human capital and loss of prosperity base are usually ignored. This book argues that various misapplications of policies of government austerity can be avoided if greater attention is accorded to the imperatives of maintaining the win-win approaches for socioeconomic resilience and sustainability in conjunction with debt sustainability and/or fiscal stability.

Creating a Eurasian Union offers a detailed analysis of the economies of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan and the proposed Eurasian Union. The authors employ econometric analysis of business cycles and cointegration analysis to prove the fragility of the union's potential economic success. By providing a brief description of the economic integration of the former Soviet republics, this pioneering work analyses the on-going trial and error processes of market integration led by Russia. Vymyatnina and Antonova's distinctive argument is the first consistent analysis of the emerging Eurasian Union. They incorporate both a non-technical summary of the integration process and previous research and analytical comments, as well as a thorough empirical analysis of the real data on the economic development of the participating countries, to caution that the speed of integration might undermine the feasibility of the Eurasian Union.

Debt and Development in Small Island Developing States draws on the expertise of established researchers and public officials from within the SIDS community to answer the following pressing questions related to sustainability, debt accumulation, and prospects for future growth.

This book provides a complete analysis of educational production and costs using the nonparametric technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book focuses on estimation of technical, allocative and scale efficiency in the public sector characterized by the influence of exogenous socio-economic variables. State of the art DEA models will be presented and fully discussed. Specific education topics important to policy makers including adequacy, efficiency, productivity, environmental costs and equity will be analyzed. To illustrate how these techniques can be applied to school systems worldwide, the authors use data on Australian elementary and high schools to develop nonparametric measures that will help inform current policy debate in Australia. They also discuss the applicability of these analysis techniques and methodologies to certain related scenarios.

The purpose of the book is to provide a comprehensive analysis of educational production using numerous DEA models that have been developed. Chapters 3 7 and 9 were developed in the literature as extensions to the basic DEA models. Each chapter explains why new advances in DEA were needed in order to carry out accurate analysis of educational production, and then presents the use of these new techniques within the context of educational performance, productivity, and cost. These extensions were based on public sector production in general, and educational production in particular. The models showed that traditional DEA improperly controlled for exogenous factors of production like the socioeconomic conditions prevalent in the education setting. In addition, models of educational funding typically use ad hoc and simple approaches that often assume that schools operate efficiently. This book uses economic and mathematical models to further our understanding of educational production while providing various measures of economic performance. The authors use current data on Australian schools to highlight important policy questions related to efficiency, economies of size and how scarce resources can best be spent to improve performance.

This research focus comes at an important watershed moment in the Australian Federal Governments current involvement in designing new nationally consistent funding models for both government and non-government schooling sectors with effect from 2014. A new National School Resourcing Standard is proposed to be implemented signaling a move to resource adequacy, school efficiency and value for money dimensions. These proposed innovative schooling resourcing developments will enable the Australian school efficiency and productivity studies to serve as the basis to evaluate the funding changes, in order to determine whether there have been significantly different student performance outcomes in the transition from a centralized to a new decentralized set of school funding arrangements."

Economic growth continues to transform the economic and political landscape of Asia. Equally the policies now being adopted to promote private sector participation, re-structure state entities, and reduce the presence of the state in the provision of public goods and services, are tied to fundamental transformations in Asia's state-society relations. The global cast of contributors present a timely analysis of the impact of neo-liberalism on Asia's developmental policies and the organisation of Asian states and markets. Ironically, the "developmental state" that has historically driven Asia's rapid economic transformation is now threatened by an increasingly dominant neoliberal agenda that aims to roll back the state in the name of market fundamentalism.

This collection of thirteen essays on social ethics and normative economics honouring Serge-Christophe Kolm's seminal contributions to this field addresses the following questions: How should the public sector price its production and services? What are the normative foundations of criteria for comparing distributions of riches and advantages? How should intergenerational social immobility and inequality in circumstances be measured? What is a fair way to form partnerships? How vulnerable to manipulation is the Lindahl rule for allocating public goods? What are the properties of Kolm's ELIE tax proposal? Would the addition of EU-level income taxes enhance equity? How should we compare different scenarios for future societies with different population sizes? How can domain conditions in social choice theory be justified using Kolm's epistemic counterfactuals? How can Kolm's distributive liberal contract be implemented? What are the implications of norms of reciprocity for the organization of society? The answers to these questions give major insight into the state-of-the-art of social ethics and normative economics and are thus an indispensable source for researchers in both of these fields.

This book examines and analyzes issues related to public finance in subnational governments, along with a discussion of case studies on decentralization. Most of the analysis applies to all public goods and services provided by subnational governments, with some placed on the role of subnational governments in the management of environmental resources, notably water and waste Coverage includes optimal arrangements for sharing fiscal responsibilities among different levels of government, the potential impact of decentralization on the quality of public goods delivery, local governments' expenditure and revenue choices, and the effect of decentralization on accountability, governance and policy outcomes. The scope of discussion extends to both public finance theory and applied policy debates. The first chapter, on trends in financing of public services, opens with an explanation of the how and why of government intervention in the economy, the nature and purposes of transfers between and among governments and trends in decentralization. Case studies examine the impact of decentralization in such areas as service delivery, water and sanitation, education and health, and on poverty and income inequality. Chapter 2 examines public budgets: governance structures, norms and organizational practices, building up understanding of budgets, budget cycles, fiscal revenues from fees and taxes, expenses, debt and political economy issues, rules mandating balanced budgets in government and more. Chapter 3 discusses issues of accountability and policy outcomes, offering important lessons from recent international experience, including ways to strengthen political, administrative and financial accountability. The concluding chapter recounts lessons from recent international experience and surveys implications for the nexus approach to management of environmental resources. The information, analysis and expert advice presented here is particularly relevant for developing and emerging countries, where well designed decentralization reforms have a higher potential to improve efficiency in the provision of public services, and to enhance the development of integrated and sustainable strategies for the use of water, soil and waste resources and applications that advance the nexus approach.

This book presents research on a kind of water use conflicts that is becoming more and more common and important: How to best manage moving water in times of increasing demand for electricity as well as environmental services. How should decisions be made between water use for electricity generation or for environmental and recreational benefits? The authors develop a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy which is used to derive a cost-benefit rule that can be used to assess projects that divert water from electricity generation to recreational and other uses (or vice versa). The cost-benefit rule is then applied to the specific case of a proposed change at a Swedish hydropower plant. The book provides a manual for the evaluation of river regulations which can easily be replicated in other studies.

This book was written in response to the coming into force on the first of January 1981 of the Customs Valuation Code of the GATT, an agreement which has been applied unilaterally by the EEC and the US since the first of July 1980. As a result of the new agreement a uniform system for the valuation of goods for customs purposes will be used for the first time in history of international trade by the most important trading nations. This can be seen as an important step in the removal of trade barriers, as the use of a uniform system enables any one occupied with international trade to foresee with reasonable accuracy the treatment he will receive in other countries. This book provides a survey of the new system, together with the application and interpretation which to our opinion may be expected on the basis of the international discussions. Some attention is paid, moreover, to the remaining systems of valuation of goods which the exporter may encounter. In writing this book we have not only had the aim of providing a source of information for exporters, but we believe it will be of use to anyone who is, or has to be, interested in the customs valuation. March 1981, the authors. V Richard van Raan, after studying civil law at the university of Leiden, specialised himself in fiscal law. Henk de Pagter studied fiscal law in Rotterdam."

Acknowledgements The work underlying this study was performed at the Econometric and Special Studies Department of the Nederlandsche Bank, where many contributed to it. I am indebted to all the statistical assistants of the department, especially to Anja Wouters and Rob Vet for their patient assistance in building up the data sets and analysing the survey data. Also Corina den Broeder rendered devoted and persistent research assistance with respect to the multicountry analysis during her stay at the Bank and I am grateful to Mike Clements of the Bank of England for his careful reading and commenting on that part. My collegues Peter van Els and Carlo Winder made some valuable suggestions. Liesbeth Klein and Coen Collee helped me avoid a number of errors in English, and thanks to the skilful efforts of Marietta Bakker, Gita Gajapersad and Carolien Verhoeven the text looks as it does. Above all, lowe a debt of gratitude to Martin Fase, one of the pioneers in this field of research, for his efforts and contribution to the improvement of this study. INTRODUCTION We seem to be well on the way to a cashless society. Paradoxically, however, the majority of the transactions are still paid in cash even in the most advanced economies. A second paradoxical observation is that, despite the primary and common character of currency, the economic theory on the use of and demand for cash is only rarely supported by empirical evidence.

This book is an examination of the sovereign risk and debt limit issues facing the Eurozone (crisis/post crisis) and the need for alternative mechanisms to fund the capital investment requirements of the region.

On 1 March 2013, pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the President ordered an across-the-board cancellation of budgetary resources, known as sequestration, to achieve $85.3 billion in reductions across federal government accounts. Under current law, a sequestration of direct spending will occur through fiscal year 2024 and another sequestration of discretionary appropriations could occur in any fiscal year through 2021. This book examines the effects of fiscal year 2013 sequestration on agency operations, performance, or services to the public; how agencies prepared and planned for sequestration; and how agencies implemented sequestration.

The volume is at the forefront of the academic and policy debates on effective labour regulation, offering innovative approaches to research and policy. It is an interdisciplinary response to the central challenges that face modern labour regulation and draws on contributions by leading experts in a range of disciplines.

Discusses whether the Basic Income Guarantee could offer an alternative to both laissez-faire and existing welfare systems in developed countries - often criticized by both advocates and critics of laissez-faire - thus opening a constructive dialog in policy discussion.

Taxpayer compliance is a voluntary activity, and the degree to which the tax system works is affected by taxpayers' knowledge that it is their moral and legal responsibility to pay their taxes. Taxpayers also recognize that they face a lottery in which not all taxpayer noncompliance will ever be detected. In the United States most individuals comply with the tax law, yet the tax gap has grown significantly over time for individual taxpayers. The US Internal Revenue Service attempts to ensure that the minority of taxpayers who are noncompliant pay their fair share with a variety of enforcement tools and penalties. The Causes and Consequences of Income Tax Noncompliance provides a comprehensive summary of the empirical evidence concerning taxpayer noncompliance and presents innovative research with new results on the role of IRS audit and enforcements activities on compliance with federal and state income tax collection. Other issues examined include to what degree taxpayers respond to the threat of civil and criminal enforcement and the important role of the media on taxpayer compliance. This book offers researchers, students, and tax administrators insight into the allocation of taxpayer compliance enforcement and service resources, and suggests policies that will prevent further increases in the tax gap. The book's aggregate data analysis methods have practical applications not only to taxpayer compliance but also to other forms of economic behavior, such as welfare fraud.

As a part of the provisions governing the subject of the measurement of the income of business enterprises, the fifth paragraph, sub paragraph b), of article 53 of the Presidential Decree no. 597 of 29 September, 1973, provides, as it is well known, that "the difference between the normal value of goods and services, and the consideration for transfers made and for services rendered to companies, whose legal seat or administrative headquarters and whose main object are not in the Italian territory, and which either directly or indirectly control the enterprise, or are controlled by the same company that controls the enterprise," is tobe included in the proceeds. The second paragraph of the successive article 56 further states that the cost of acquisition of the goods transferred and of the services rendered by the same enterprises is to be curtailed of any surplus tn respect of the normal value. The same provision also applies to the goods transferred and the services rendered by companies not having in Italy their legal seat or their administrative office or the main object of their activity, for account of which the enterprise carries out an activity for the sale and placement of raw materials or goods, or for the manufacturing or processing of products."

Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards de struction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. No one can stand aside with unconcern: the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our 1 epoch has plunged us. his is the message of Ludwig von Mises. In the historical T battle of ideologies, Mises is a pivotal figure. With great courage and decisive effect he carried the banner of truth and freedom for others through a time of rising statism. Murray Rothbard is correct when he says, " . . . if the world is ever to get out of its miasma of statism, or, indeed, if the economics profession is ever to return to a sound and correct development of economic analysis, both will have to abandon their contemporary bog and move to that high ground that Mises developed for us. " 2 This collection of essays is both a restatement and extension of the major contributions of Mises in epistemology, history, econom ics, and political philosophy. Mises began constructing the high ground on the foundation provided by Carl Menger and Eugen von B6hm-Bawerk."

The worldwide deployment of wind power plants is soaring. Yet the availability of their construction materials could be a potential bottleneck. As rare earth elements represent the most critical materials, Anja Brumme provides a market analysis of rare earths, ascertaining that geological scarcity is not the main problem. Instead, the author identifies four kinds of market failure: market power, co-production, by-production and negative externalities. It becomes apparent that the market for rare earth metals is in a state of severe disequilibrium. Subsequently, her estimate of future rare earth demand patterns based on the wind power industry by 2050 reveals that the current level of supply is unlikely to be sufficient in the long run. To allow for a more elaborate analysis, the author suggests two options of including a rare earth side condition in an integrated assessment model.

From its origins in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the diffusion of participatory budgeting to other parts of the world has been met with varying degrees of success despite its label as a product of democratic innovation. Drawing on in-depth empirical and theoretical analysis, this book sheds light on the diffusion dynamics of participatory budgeting and the processes of its framing and adaptation in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It explores the question of participatory budgeting's national characteristics and potential for realising a more democratic society. Thus, the volume engages in a theoretically innovative and empirically grounded overview and critical assessment of participatory budgeting initiatives in three European countries. The double focus on frames in the diffusion and implementation of single cases and the systematic evaluation of their results offers a deeper understanding of "success factors" and results of participatory budgeting and other institutional processes of citizen participation.

In this follow up to From a Market Economy to a Finance Economy, Samli reflects on his more than half a century of economic experience and research, maintaining that financiers, the government and many decision makers in both politics and the economy, do not really the 'free market.

This volume addresses different issues related to green innovation procurement as well as exploring the challenges involved in public procurement. It offers a broad array of perspectives, addressing both general, abstract problems of optimal public procurement and concrete cases of national or even local public procurement systems.

This book examines key issues and policy concerns relating to fiscal sustainability and competitiveness in European and Asian economies. In addition to estimating the extent of fiscal capacity or lack thereof for these economies, the authors supplement the empirical analysis with country case studies.

This book offers detailed analysis and informed comment on the future of emerging economic policies. It is essential reading for all postgraduates and scholars looking for expert discussion and debate on the issues surrounding economic policy.