This unique Handbook explores both the economics of the firm and the theory of the firm, two areas which are traditionally treated separately in the literature. On the one hand, the former refers to the structure, organization and boundaries of the firm, while the latter is devoted to the analysis of behaviors and strategies in particular market contexts. The novel concept underpinning this authoritative volume is that these two areas closely interact, and that a framework must be articulated in order to illustrate how linkages can be created. This interpretative framework is comprehensively developed in the editors' introduction, and the expert contributors - more than fifty academics of renowned authority - further elaborate on the linkages in the seven comprehensive sections that follow, encompassing: background; equilibrium and new institutional theories; the multinational firm; dynamic approaches to the firm; modern issues; firms' strategies; and economic policy and the firm. Bridging economics and theory of the firm, and providing both technical and institutional perspectives on real corporations, this path-breaking Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students in the fields of economics, heterodox economics, business and management, and industrial organization. Contributors: Z.J. Acs, M. Aglietta, C. Antonelli, M.C. Becker, M. Bellandi, M.H. Best, H. Bo, J.J. Bouma, H. Bouthinon-Dumas, T. Buchmann, R. Carter, M. Casson, C. Cezanne, M. Cloodt, A. Coad, A. Colombelli, A. Correlje, L. De Propris, M. Dietrich, C. Driver, S.P. Dunn, P.E. Earl, N.J. Foss, M. Fransman, J.-L. Gaffard, J. Groenewegen, S. Guillou, J. Hagedoorn, G. Hanappi, G.M. Hodgson, W. Holzl, G. Ietto-Gillies, A. Jolink, T. Knudsen, J. Krafft, W. Lazonick, S. Lechevalier, B.J. Loasby, F. Marty, L. Nesta, E. Niesten, B. Nooteboom, U. Pagano, P.P. Patrucco, A. Pyka, F. Quatraro, J.-L. Ravix, A. Reberioux, A. Reinstaller, E. Salies, P.P. Saviotti, N. Stieglitz, M. Teubal, S. Toms, N. Wadeson, O. Weinstein, J.F. Wilson

The increasing globalization of financial markets has resulted in a substantial increase in net private capital flows to developing countries, primarily the emerging economies of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Until recently, investors have ignored opportunities in Africa. African markets caught investors' attention in 1994 with Kenya's 179% U.S. dollar returns leading world equity markets, along with six of the world's top ten markets being in Africa. With low levels of correlation between African and developed world markets, the African exchanges represent ideal portfolio diversification opportunities. Moreover, rates of return for African investments are among the highest returns in the world, yet African nations have not attracted the foreign direct investment that is required to change their economies.

Dr. Clark's research examines the nature and evolution of Africa's emerging securities markets and their role in regional economic development. He shows that the continent's trading systems represent many different trading arrangements without standardized rules and procedures. African countries continue to implement reforms to strengthen the development of financial markets, but without the appropriate market microstructure and custodial arrangements international investors will not provide African projects with the equity capital required for further development. The government's role in the regulation of developing equity markets, therefore, is a critical element to the success of the reform process. Clark argues that freeing the economies to international competition will reap significant dividends for the continent's emerging economies. As the markets evolve, structural impediments will reduce, leading to increased efficiencies and lower capital costs.

The Handbook of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities is a cornerstone reference in this emerging sector of the structured finance market. This Second Edition provides updated coverage of the market, the instruments, the tools used to assess these securities, and tax accounting issues.
In addition to an overview of the commercial real estate finance and commercial property markets, this book also covers property-market framework for bond investors, the role of the servicer, an investor's perspective on commercial mortgage-backed coupon strips, defaults on commercial mortgages, assessing credit risk, an options approach to valuation and risk analysis, legal perspectives on disclosure issues, and federal income taxation.

This is the first book which deals with the economics of diamonds, specifically with the determinants of diamond prices. The period of analysis, 1978-1983, was chosen in order to shed light on the dramatic drop in diamond prices. The dominant variables causing this drop were the varying price of gold and fluctuating interest rates. Khoury helps the investor in making long-range decisions about investing in diamonds and deciding on the form the investment should take. He warns of the importance to understand the sensitivities of the market and the factors which must be taken into consideration before commitments to an investment in diamonds are made.

The book includes: a quick review of the characteristics of diamonds, the financial performance of DeBeers in a declining market, the economic structure of the diamond industry, the method for exercising economic control over the diamond market, the economic variables influencing diamond prices, and the modeling of diamond prices and the testing of the model using advanced statistical methods.

This is a "first" - focused on introducing young people to the Stock Market - but equally relevant to all novice investors. Very deliberately short, easy-to-read, designed to give a `feel' and an understanding of investment basics, so the reader appreciates what moves share prices, how to invest themselves or to understand and sensibly question what their Stockbroker, Fund Manager, or Financial Advisor is saying or suggesting. Knowledge is imparted through the story of a farming family whose small scale yoghurt business grows into a significant public company, and of teenagers who invest part of their grandfather's legacies into Yummi shares - profitably!

This book adresses the needs of both researchers and practitioners. It combines a rigorous overview of the mathematics of financial markets with an insight into the practical application of these models to the risk and portfolio management of interest-rate derivatives. It can also serve as a valuable textbook for graduate and PhD students in mathematics who want to get some knowledge about financial markets. The first part of the book is an exposition of advanced stochastic calculus. It defines the theoretical framework for the pricing and hedging of contingent claims with a special focus on interest-rate markets. The second part covers a selection of short and long-term oriented risk measures as well as their application to the risk management of interest -rate portfolios. Interesting and comprehensive case studies are provided to illustrate the theoretical concepts.

Here is a microeconomic model of joint ventures in Yugoslavia between multinational corporations and Yugoslav labor-managed enterprises. This book focuses on Yugoslavia's unique socio-economic system with its labor-managed enterprises playing host to direct foreign investment. The analysis turns toward multinational corporations as vehicles of direct foreign investment, then proceeds to an examination of Yugoslavian joint-venture agreements between these two partners of diverging interests.

This book engages the question, hotly debated among theorists and policymakers alike, of how a developing country's pursuit of foreign direct investment (FDI) affects its development prospects in a globalized world. Can small latecomers to economic development use high-tech FDI to rapidly expand indigenous capabilities, thus shortcutting stages of the industrialization process? What conditions, economic and non-economic, must be met for this strategy to succeed? Using the cases of Ireland and Costa Rica, the author shows how the dynamics of the FDI-development nexus have changed over time, rendering problematic Costa Rica's attempt, and those of other latecomers, to replicate the Celtic Tiger's success story.

Everyone desires to control their financial destiny; but many feel overwhelmed, fearful, or uncertain how this can be accomplished. Lectures on personal finance are rarely offered; and when free presentations--called seminars--are promoted, they are far from an educational experience. The underlying objective is to solicit sales of securities for which the presenter, a financial advisor, receives a commission. However acquired, the investment company is the investment of choice for the individual investor. Therefore, in The ABCs of Mutual Funds, author Robert Anthony Chechile explains the different investment company securities: mutual funds, contractual plans, hedge funds, exchange traded funds, folios, unit investment trusts, and variable annuities. service and discount securities dealers and the role and legal obligations of stockbrokers, as well as financial planners, and investment advisors. For those seeking financial control, he explains how to minimize risk with capital allocation and diversification guidelines; and presents conventional wisdom investment strategies that can avoid being caught in the fear-greed trap. Finally, Mr. Chechile recommends investment guidelines and selection criteria, and uses these to construct a hypothetical investment company portfolio, the future performance of which is then critiqued 7 years later.

Twelve papers focus on investment analysis, portfolio theory, and their implementation in portfolio management

In recent years, exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic have been extensively reengineered, and their organizational structures have changed from non-profit, membership organizations to for-profit, demutualized organizations. Concurrently, new alternative trading systems have emerged and the traditional functions of broker/dealer firms have evolved. How have these changes affected the delivery of that mission? How has the efficiency of capital raising in the IPO market been impacted? These are among the key questions addressed in this book, titled after the Baruch College Conference, The Economic Function of a Stock Market. Featuring contributions from a panel of scholars, academicians, policymakers, and industry leaders, this volume examines current issues affecting market quality, including challenges in the marketplace, growth opportunities, and IPO capital raising in the global economy. The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators, and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.

Research in real estate finance and economics has developed in an exciting way in the past twenty-five years or so. The resulting theoretical and empirical findings are shining a new light on some of the classic mysteries of the real estate markets. It is good to see that a growing proportion of this research output is concerned with contemporary problems and issues regarding the European and Far Eastern property markets.
To stimulate a creative exchange of new ideas and a debate of the latest research findings regarding the global property markets, the Maastricht-Cambridge Real Estate Finance and Investment Symposium was established. This initiative aims at bringing together a number of leading researchers in the field for a short, intensive conference. The 2000 Symposium, which was hosted by Maastricht University in the Netherlands in June of that year, is the first in an annual series of such conferences, which will alternate between Maastricht University and Cambridge University. This book is a compilation of the papers originally presented at the first Maastricht-Cambridge Symposium in 2000.

This book analyzes the tension between the host state's commitment to provide regulatory stability for foreign investors - which is a tool for attracting FDI and generating economic growth - and its evolving non-economic commitments towards its citizens with regard to environmental protection and social welfare. The main thesis is that the 'stabilization clause/regulatory power antinomy,' as it appears in many cases, contradicts the content and rationale of sustainable development, a concept that is increasingly prevalent in national and international law and which aims at the integration and balancing of economic, environmental, and social development. To reconcile this antinomy at the decision-making and dispute settlement levels, the book employs a 'constructive sustainable development approach,' which is based on the integration and reconciliation imperatives of the concept of sustainable development as well as on the application of principles of law such as non-discrimination, public purpose, due process, proportionality, and more generally, good governance and rule of law. It subsequently re-conceptualizes stabilization clauses in terms of their design (ex-ante) and interpretation (ex-post), yielding stability to the benefit of foreign investors, while also mitigating their negative effects on the host state's power to regulate.

This book offers a unique analysis of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). By developing a new, power-focused paradigm for understanding the international investment framework, the author illustrates why there was no paradoxical behaviour when developing countries agreed to the BIT regime, and what has spurred their reaction against it now. She also examines how attempts to regulate investment at a multilateral level have failed, and why the rules of the framework are evolving. Inspired by the work of Susan Strange, Gwynn fills a significant lacuna in our understanding of these issues by demonstrating how power determines the actions of all those involved. This holistic reinterpretation of international investment focuses in particular on Latin America, but has wider implications for the negotiation of new treaties, including such controversial provisions as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It will appeal to lawyers, economists, political scientists and scholars of Latin America.

In this volume, leading management experts offer critical insights into the promises and illusions of shareholder empowerment, the discrepancies between theory and practice, and the challenges posed by variations in global corporate governance regimes.

This book aims to overcome the limitations the variations in bank-specifics impose by providing a bank-specific valuation theoretical framework and a new asset-side model. The book includes also a constructive comparison of equity and asset side methods. The authors present a novel framework entitled, the "Asset Mark-down Model". This method incorporates an Adjusted Present Value model, which allows practitioners to identify the main value creation sources of a particular bank: from asset-based cash flow and the mark-down on deposits, to tax benefits on bearing liabilities. Through the implementation of this framework, the authors offer a more accurate and more specific approach to valuing banks.