This book presents a selection of contributions on the timely topic of structural reforms in Western economies, written by experts from central banks, the International Monetary Fund, and leading universities. It includes latest research on the impacts of structural reforms on the market economy, especially on the labor market, and investigates the results of collective bargaining in theory and practice. The book also comprises case studies of structural reforms. A literature survey on the topic serves as a valuable source for further research. The book is written by and targeted at both academics and policy makers.

Global cities today are facing fundamental challenges in relation to unaffordable housing and growing economic inequality. Singapore's success in making homeownership possible for 90% of its population has attracted much attention internationally. This book represents a culmination of research by the author on key housing policy innovations for affordable housing. Housing policy changes were effected in the 1960s through reforms of colonial legislation and institutions dealing with state land acquisition, public housing, and provident fund savings. The comprehensive housing framework that was established enabled the massive resettlement of households from shophouses, slums and villages to high-rise government-built flats. In the 1980s and 1990s, housing market and land use regulations were amended in response to the changing needs of a growing economy. Housing policies have also been utilised to curb housing speculation, build racially inclusive communities, and reduce wealth inequality. More recently, an ageing population of homeowners has necessitated focus on policies for housing equity extraction. This landmark title is of relevance to all developing economies exploring alternative systems of affordable housing.

This book discusses various dimensions of Indian fiscal federalism, focusing on the current fiscal imbalances - both vertical and horizontal - and their correction. Throwing light on different angles of this subject, it presents well-researched papers, which are divided into three sections. The first section, 'Fiscal federalism and resolving the fiscal imbalances', includes five chapters that discuss this theme and also explain the various strategies to remove the existing imbalances in India. 'Fiscal decentralization for high growth' which is the second section, explains how decentralisation leads to high economic growth and showcases empirical evidence from a few Indian states that are flourishing due to this policy. The third section, 'Emerging issues' offers six chapters describing several existing key concerns in fiscal federalism that have a major impact on achieving India's development goals. Including contributions from leading academics in this field, the book will be of great interest to research scholars and policy makers alike. "Besides addressing the core issue of fiscal imbalances and ways to correct them, the [chapters] touch on several issues confronting the Indian fiscal system at the centre , state and local levels. The [chapters] are well researched and well argued. The book is a valuable addition to the literature on Fiscal Federalism." - Dr. C. Rangarajan, Ex-Governor of Reserve Bank of India; Chairman, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India.

This book provides an insightful analysis of the looming refugee and mixed migration crisis in the context of four major, contemporary flows: two in west and east Europe, and one each in the Americas and Asia. The analysis, in each case, is followed by a judicious identification of the key issues involved and the presentation of a set of proposed policy responses to them. The discussion is then placed in a global setting and dovetailed with the recently launched United Nations initiative to adopt global compacts on refugees and migrants. The author brings to this book, the first of its kind, his vast experience of advising, and actively engaging with, many of the principal international organisations concerned with refugee and migration issues. This book will be of interest to researchers, students, NGOs, professional bodies, national ministries, international organisations and rights groups in the fields of economics, public finance, political economy, human rights and refugee law, and international relations and demography.

This book examines the main issues arising in economic analysis of contract law with special attention given to the incomplete contracts. It discusses both the main features of contract law as they relate to the problem of economic exchange, and how the relevant legal rules and the institutions can be analysed from an economic perspective. Evaluate the welfare impacts, analyses the effects and the desirability of different breach remedies and examines the optimal incentive structure of party-designed liquidated damages under the different dimensions of informational asymmetry. Overall the book aims to contribute to the legal debate over the adoption of the specific breach remedies when the breach victim's expectation interest is difficult to assess, and to the debate over courts' reluctance to implement large penalties in the event of breach of contracts.

Is there a limit to technological advancements? Are technological advancements creating a more equal and fair world? Starting from influential thinkers driving a never-ending evaluation of development discourse - incorporating theories of modernisation, endogenous growth, globalisation, neoliberalism and several others - Seung-Jin Baek answers these questions and sets out practical steps to create societies that are more equal in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This book explores why Western-centred development strategies are unlikely to bring about similar developmental paths and outcomes in developing economies. By theoretically and empirically assessing the Technology-Development-Inequality nexus, Baek explores why a distorted developmental path has been observed in recent years, with high income countries being associated with rising inequality. This is important reading for all those seeking to understand international development in a twenty-first century context.

This book reviews recent approaches for partial identification of average treatment effects with instrumental variables in the program evaluation literature, including Manski's bounds, bounds based on threshold crossing models, and bounds based on the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) framework. It compares these bounds across different sets of assumptions, surveys relevant methods to assess the validity of these assumptions, and discusses estimation and inference methods for the bounds. The book also reviews some empirical applications employing bounds in the program evaluation literature. It aims to bridge the gap between the econometric theory on which the different bounds are based and their empirical application to program evaluation.

This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe's current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises's and Friedrich August von Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises's concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, including contributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

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 is a study of Malaysia's new political economy, with a focus on ownership and control of the corporate sector. It offers a pioneering assessment of government-linked investment companies (GLICs), a type of state-owned institution that has long prevailed in the corporate sector but has not been analysed. Malaysia's history of government-business ties is unique, while the nature of the nexuses between the state and the corporate sector has undergone major transitions. Corporate power has shifted from the hands of foreign firms to the state to the ruling party, and well-connected businessmen, and back to the state. Corporate wealth is now heavily situated in the leading publicly-listed government-linked companies (GLCs), controlled through block shareholdings by a mere seven GLICs under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance. To indicate why these GLICs are important actors in Corporate Malaysia, this study provides a deep assessment of their ownership and control of Bursa Malaysia's top 100 publicly-listed enterprises.

This book mainly addresses the general equilibrium asset pricing method in two aspects: option pricing and variance risk premium. First, volatility smile and smirk is the famous puzzle in option pricing. Different from no arbitrage method, this book applies the general equilibrium approach in explaining the puzzle. In the presence of jump, investors impose more weights on the jump risk than the volatility risk, and as a result, investors require more jump risk premium which generates a pronounced volatility smirk. Second, based on the general equilibrium framework, this book proposes variance risk premium and empirically tests its predictive power for international stock market returns.

The rising role of intra- and intergenerational transfers (e.g. basic income, child benefit and public pensions) characterises modern economies, yet most models depicting these transfers are too sophisticated for a wider but mathematically trained audience. This book presents simple models to fill the gap. The author considers a benevolent government maximizing social welfare by anticipating citizens' shortsighted reaction to the transfer rules. The resulting income redistribution is analyzed for low tax morale, strong labor disutility and heterogeneous life expectancy. Key issues that the book addresses include the socially optimal pension contribution rate, retirement age, and redistribution programs. The author concludes by removing some strong restrictions and introducing median voter, incomplete information and dynamic complications. The book will be of value for graduate students and researchers interested in public economics, especially in public and private pensions.

This book is an analysis of the specificities of public film funding on an international scale. It shows how public funding schemes add value to film-making and other audio-visual productions and provides a comprehensive analysis of today's global challenges in the film industry such as industry change, digital transformation, and shifting audience tastes. Based on insights from fields such as cultural economics, media economics, media management and media governance studies, the authors illustrate how public spending shapes the financial fitness of national and international film industries. This highly informative book will help both scholars and practitioners in the film industry to understand the complexity of issues and the requirements necessary to preserve the social benefits of film as an important cultural good.

Examines how Treasury has evolved- in its economic thinking and with its influence on policy. Treasury has been at the centre of every major economic policy issue the Australian Government has faced, its role evolving from the government's bookkeeper at Federation in 1901 to the economic policy advising agency it is today. ;;Throughout its history Treasury has been a robust and stable institution with a consistent market-oriented economic framework - but its policy influence has waxed and waned. It has supported reformist Treasurers such as Keating and Costello, and been a voice of caution when political imperatives have pushed governments down economically damaging paths. At times, though, Treasury advice has been ignored and it has been pushed out into the cold. ;;Amidst the political chaos of recent times, Treasury has been dragged closer to government and become a less effective policy adviser. The consequent lack of a consistent government economic reform narrative over the last decade is plain for all to see. ;;Changing Fortunes tracks Treasury's history since Federation, with a focus on the modern era since its 1976 split with Finance.

This book gives readers the theoretical and empirical methods to analyze applied economics. They are institutional economics, information economics, environmental economics, international economics, financial economics, industrial organization, public economics, law and economics, and spatial economics. Because the chapters of this book deal with current topics in these categories, they are relevant not only to researchers and graduate students but also to policy makers and entrepreneurs. As there is uncertainty about the global economy, it is necessary to consider optimal, efficient behavior to survive in the confused world. The book is organized in three parts. Part 1 deals with institutional economics, information economics, and related topics, approached through game theory. Part 2 focuses on environmental economics, international economics, and financial economics, through a microeconomic or econometric approach. Finally, Part 3 concentrates on public economics, social security, and related fields, through microeconomics or macroeconomics.

This book employs a qualitative analysis of China's publicly financed construction sector, taking the system design as its point of departure and applying comprehensive evaluation techniques to create an index system for this type of construction - which in turn serves as a basis for quantitatively evaluating China's publicly financed construction sector. Given the fact that China's publicly financed construction sector is a very complex field of systems engineering involving multiple subsystems, as an important indicator of China's fiscal innovations since its reform and opening, publicly financed construction is now shifting from theory to practice, demonstrating that China has entered an era of fully publicly financed construction.

This collection addresses the path to a new prosperity after the Great Recession. The contributors ask that if the 2008 crisis proved the unsustainability of the neoliberal development model, what does well-being mean today in advanced western democracies? What kind of production and consumption will be a feature of the coming decades? What are the financial, economic, institutional and social innovations needed to reconcile economy and society after decades of disembedding? The Crisis Conundrum offers an interdisciplinary interpretation of the crisis as an opportunity to reform capitalism and consumption societies, structurally as well as culturally. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, economics, development studies and European studies, with find this book of interest.

This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe's current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises's and Friedrich August von Hayek's ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises's concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, including contributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

This book explores contemporary issues and trends facing Islamic banks, businesses and economies as presented at the International Conference of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance. The authors leverage current empirical research and statistics to provide unique and fresh perspectives on the changing world of Islamic finance. They focus specifically on to the implementation of Islamic financial instruments and services in global capital markets and how their success can be evaluated. Chapters feature case studies from all over the world including examples from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Kingdom, to name a few. The breadth and immediacy of the research presented by the authors will appeal to practitioners and scholars alike. The global outlook and rich data-based approach adopted in this book guarantee that it is a timely and valuable addition to the field of Islamic finance.

Could democracy do better? This book presents a vision on optimal democracies and a set of new rules to help achieve them. The monograph follows on the author's successful book "Designing Democracy" from 2005 and further develops its ideas. While liberal democracies are the best systems of self-governance for societies, they rarely provoke great enthusiasm. Democracies have been known to fail in achieving efficient outcomes and fair distributions of wealth. Moreover, many citizens take the democratic system for granted, simply because they have yet to experience an alternative. This book argues that the potential offered by democracies has not yet been exhausted, and that optimal democracies are both the Utopia for societies and the aim that scientists should commit themselves to making a reality. Furthermore, the book suggests a number of insightful rules to improve the functioning of democracies. "We all know what to do, we just don't know how to get re-elected after we have done it." This famous quip by Jean-Claude Juncker perfectly encapsulates the challenge this book takes on: how to redesign our democratic institutions to overcome political short-termism and make our democracies more efficient. Several radical but highly relevant proposals are explored, ranging from long-term incentive contracts for politicians, prediction markets over the outcomes of the next election that could be useful for incentive purposes, minority voting, initiative group constitutions, and so on. All these highly innovative proposals are rigorously grounded in standard economic analysis. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about the state of our democracies and looking for constructive reforms. Patrick Bolton, Columbia University, USA In a time of reeling democracies, it is urgent to explore how to improve on the electoral system for the benefit of society. Hans Gersbach has developed a most innovative and thought-provoking research agenda at the intersection of political theory, social choice and mechanism design. He uncovers the potentially positive effects of political contracts between candidates and society, of new rules for agenda setting and of mechanisms compensating the minorities. Marc Fleurbaey, Princeton University, USA

This book examines the volatile landscape of the Chinese economy and the barriers to its continuing development. The author argues that underlying inefficiencies in China's financial system currently prevent the further growth of its institutions and inhibit reform of monetary and fiscal policy. Rambures shows that, despite efforts to avoid a "middle income trap", such long-overdue structural reforms are still faced with strong resistance from both economic and political circles. Chapters discuss approaches in tackling the Chinese national debt, the recent stock exchange collapse and subsequent currency devaluation, declining trade surplus, the wariness of foreign investors and its negative impact on foreign exchange reserves, and the heavy burden of state-owned "zombie companies". The discussion positions current economic events within the context of China's transition from a foreign trade and investment-led economy to one that is propelled by domestic consumption, service industries and innovation. Crucially, Rambures also addresses financial trends with reference to pervasive long-term influencing factors such as an ageing population, increasing inequality, corruption, pollution and migration.

This volume presents selected papers from the 18th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, with major emphasis placed on highlighting the latest research developments in the economics of innovation, public economics, and management. The articles in the volume also address more specialized topics such as luxury fashion, weather derivatives, health management, islamic bonds, and life satisfaction, among others. The majority of the articles focus on phenomena observed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and South Asia, representing a unique contribution to understanding contemporary research challenges from a different perspective.

This book offers a systematic guide to the allocation of American taxpayer dollars used to provide for the common defense. With engaging and illustrative examples like the narrative of a helicopter purchase, it reveals an unexpectedly chaotic political process that produces a conversely stable aggregate defense budget. The book explores specific attempts to control or influence these turbulent funding outcomes as Congress reviews the Presidential budget request. Containing data and sources largely unavailable to researchers without access to the Department of Defense, the book should be of interest to anyone looking for a direct, current, and methodical analysis of defense budget outcomes that preserves the informal and nuanced mechanics of a political and complicated process.

This book offers a comprehensive empirical analysis of South African inflation dynamics, using a variety of techniques including counterfactual analysis. The authors elaborate the roles in inflation of thresholds, nonlinearities and asymmetries introduced by economic conditions such as the size of exchange rate changes and volatility, GDP growth, inflation, output gap, credit growth, sovereign spreads and fiscal policy, providing new policy evidence on the impact of these. Ndou and Gumata apply techniques to determine the prevalence of updating inflation expectations, and reconsider the propagation effects of a number of inflation risk factors. Asking to what extent the evidence points to a need to enforce price stability and the anchoring of inflation expectation, the book fills existing gaps in South African Policy, and maintains a clear argument that price stability is consistent with the 3 to 6 per cent inflation target range, and that threshold application should form an important aspect of policy analysis in periods of macroeconomic uncertainty. As such, the book serves as an excellent reference text for academic and policy discussions alike.

This book provides a comprehensive, theory-based analysis of current issues in population economics. It addresses the most important problems caused by demographic changes using the popular overlapping generations growth model by Samuelson and Diamond. Taking into account families' fertility decisions, it examines not only the demographic changes due to longer life expectancy but also the effects of social security policy on demography and labor supply/individual retirement behaviors. Conducting all analyses in a dynamic general equilibrium setting, the book offers a valuable theoretical reference guide in the field of population economics.