This proceedings volume presents current research and innovative solutions into capital markets, particularly in Poland. Featuring contributions presented at the 10th Capital Market Effective Investments (CMEI 2018) conference held in Miedzyzdroje, Poland, this book explores the future of capital markets in Poland as well as comparing it with the capital markets of other developed regions around the world. Divided into four parts, the enclosed papers provide a background into the theoretical foundations of capital market investments, explores different approaches-both classical and contemporary-to investment decision making, analyzes the behaviors of investors using experimental economics and behavioral finance, and explores practical issues related to financial market investments, including real case studies. In addition, each part of the book begins with an introductory chapter written by thematic editors that provides an outline of the subject area and a summary of the papers presented.

This volume offers a collection of studies on problem of organization's efficiency, criteria for evaluating the efficiency, tools and methods for measuring the efficiency. The articles included present an interdisciplinary look at efficiency, its essence and the principles of its measurement. The contributions also identify a broad spectrum of conditions for achieving efficiency in various types of organizations and systems (e.g. public institution, non-profit organizations), representing various industries. The book collects selected papers presented at the 7th International Conference "Efficiency as a Source of the Wealth of Nations", held in Wroclaw, Poland, in May 2017.

This influential volume, which has been revised and updated for the twenty-first century, includes both new material and more detailed expositions of existing arguments. Although so-called 'real' theories of business cycles and growth are prevalent in contemporary mainstream economics, Controversies in Monetary Economics suggests that those economists who have instinctively focused on monetary factors in explaining macroeconomic behaviour are more genuinely 'realistic'. The author combines an explanation of past and present monetary controversy with practical proposals for the conduct of monetary policy in the contemporary global economy. Several alternative approaches are discussed, ranging from the traditional quantity theory to post Keynesian theories of endogenous money. This insightful book will be of interest to all those concerned with monetary economics and macroeconomics, including academic researchers, graduate and senior undergraduate students - particularly those looking for an alternative to current economic orthodoxy - and historians of economic thought. Practitioners in central banks, international financial institutions, the financial markets and finance ministries will also find this work invaluable.

This book offers a look at equity markets and what they have experienced since the 1997 Order Handling Rules were instituted. Specifically, it examines the tremendous technology innovation, intensified competition between an expanding set of alternative trading venues, and continuing regulatory changes that have occurred. Who have been the key initiators? How has market quality evolved over this period in response? What further structural and regulatory changes are still needed? These are among the key questions addressed in the volume, titled after the Baruch College Financial Markets Conference entitled Rapidly Changing Securities Markets: Who are the Initiators? 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.

This book refutes prevailing theories that attribute post-1950 state per capita income convergence to (1) neo-classical adjustment mechanisms, (2) institutional sclerosis, and (3) southern industrialization. Wheat and Crown argue that southern income was low because of slavery's legacy--sharecropping, agricultural dependence, low urbanization, poor education, high Black population percentages, and low wage rates. The legacy's dominant feature was the sharecropper-tenant farmer system, which replaced slavery. Sharecropping was the foundation of southern poverty. Sharecropping's collapse, beginning around 1950, affected all of the other features of slavery's legacy. For example, millions of sharecroppers out-migrated from the South, shifting poverty to the North and lowering the South's Black percentage. This out-migration, white in-migration, and the civil rights movement jointly raised educational attainment in the South, further boosting southern income. Southern industrialization had only a marginally significant effect. In 1950's high income region, the West, the transport cost element in the price of manufactured goods shrank because of (1) transportation improvements and (2) rapid manufacturing growth, which reduced the need for long distance imports from the Manufacturing Belt. The resulting decline in the West's relative cost of living led to wage adjustments. Consequently, the West--despite having the highest manufacturing growth rates--had the nation's lowest per-capita income growth rates. Agricultural decline and educational gains stimulated income growth in the Plains. Nationally, per-capita employment gains were a strong influence.

This book provides fresh insights into concepts, methods and new research findings on the causes of excessive food price volatility. It also discusses the implications for food security and policy responses to mitigate excessive volatility. The approaches applied by the contributors range from on-the-ground surveys, to panel econometrics and innovative high-frequency time series analysis as well as computational economics methods. It offers policy analysts and decision-makers guidance on dealing with extreme volatility.

Kula contends that conventional time-dependent theories in welfare economics are based on the unwarranted assumption that people live forever, an assumption that underpins the criteria for many decision-making activities and one that leads public sector policy makers to discriminate against future generations. It is seen in its most extreme in decision making on such long-term projects as nuclear power facilities, whose effects will be visited upon many future generations. How did this assumption gain currency and influence? Kula says, this oddity has been imposed by mathematical economists who now dominate the scene. Kula aggressively challenges these theories, which he alleges are untrue and unjust, provides an alternative method for discounting, and shows how its application can yield dramatically positive results. His book is thus a unique, important contribution to the theory and practice of decision making in public endeavors, intended not only for academics but equally for their practitioner colleagues in all parts of the world.

Kula corrects the conventional theory by assuming societal models in which individuals are mortal and generations overlap. From this emerges a new discounting theory which leads to outcomes that are dramatically different from the old ones. The new criterion is called modified discounting, and can be readily applied to real-life projects. In Part I, Kula lays out his theory and constructs the new decision-making method, in which public policy makers accept the proposition that all generations ought to be treated equitably. Then, in Part II, he provides five case studies to illustrate his theory, each devoted to major public activities such as nuclear waste disposal, forestry, agriculture, and urban transport, and based on experiences in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

The authors and editors of this book challenge traditional assumptions about economic growth, and develop the elements of a reoriented macroeconomics that takes account both of environmental impacts and social equity. Policies including carbon trading, revenue recycling, and reorientation of private and social investment are analyzed, providing insight into new paths for economic development with flat or negative carbon emissions. These issues will be crucial to macroeconomic and development policies in the twenty-first century.What are the likely economic effects of climate change? What are the costs of substantial action to avert climate change? What economic policies can be effective in responding to climate change? The debate has broad implications for public policy. However, it also raises fundamental questions about economic analysis itself, and moves issues of environmental policy from the microeconomic to the macroeconomic level. Taking global climate change seriously requires a re-examination of macroeconomic goals. Economic growth has been closely linked to expanded use of energy, primarily fossil fuels. The assumption of continuing economic growth, in turn, leads economists to discount future costs, including the generational impacts of climate change. Challenging conventional concepts of growth implies different development paths both for rich and poor nations. This volume brings together contributions from scholars around the world to address these issues. Scholars, researchers and students of economics and development studies along with policymakers and non-governmental organizations will find this insightful book of great interest.

Developing countries comprise a two-thirds majority of the membership of the World Trade Organization, with nearly 30 of these classed by the UN as being among the 48 least-developed countries in the world. In order to ensure the equitable participation of these countries in the benefits of the global trading system, the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements that created the WTO accorded special and differential treatment to developing countries. This guide covers these provisions of the WTO Agreements, with detailed information on how developing countries can benefit from special rules governing such areas as; access to developed country markets in all major commodities and services, the dispute settlement process, trade policy review, foreign direct investment, environmental and labour standards, and technical assistance. The Guide also offers the reader case studies on how some developing country members of the WTO (Uganda, India, and Cote d'Ivoire) are making progress in working with the obligations and the benefits provided to them by the WTO Agreements.

This study examines the process of capital accumulation at the level of the business firm, linking it to the macro-level of the world-economy as explicated by Hopkins and Wallerstein. Focusing upon the timber industry in the nineteenth century, and using primary archival material, the work analyzes how capital operates in the resource sector in the world-economy. The purpose is to refine further our understanding of capitalism as a mode of social organization and production, and in the process, refine contemporary theories of social change. In terms of coverage, the book addresses the timber industry over the course of the nineteenth century and provides an historical reconstruction of that industry. Its primary focus, however, is on the main features of timber and lumber production as a process of capital accumulation. The study will be of interest to scholars of social change and economic transformation, economic history, and political sociology.

The choice of currency denomination, indexation, and maturity structure of public debt is an increasingly important aspect of policy in a world of high debts and and financially integrated markets. This book surveys theories and evidence on public debt composition and debt returns with the goal of emphasizing the main policy issues.

Focusing on the international dimension of macroeconomic policy, this handbook covers the main areas of modern macroeconomic policy in open economies. The emphasis is on policy applications rather than the development of economic theory. There are three basic goals: (1) an understanding of how economic theories affect actual policy making, (2) a description of the institutional and conceptual development of the international economy, and (3) an explanation of the way policy-making institutions deal with the so-called international economy. The handbook consists of an introductory chapter and four parts. The first treats macroeconomic policy-making from the home country versus the rest of the world perspective. The second part stresses policies among interacting and reacting countries. The third part considers the development of world capital markets and the international monetary system as important parts of the policy environment. The final part details macroeconomic policies in the G7 and Latin American countries.

This contributed volume combines approaches of the current inequality debate with aspects of finance based on profound macroeconomic model analyses. Research on inequality has had a long tradition in economics. With the financial crisis from 2007, not only output decreased tremendously, but also inequality has risen since then. The book presents selected contributions of a workshop held at Bielefeld University in 2016 and features additional papers written by experts in the field. A mixture of established researchers and young scholars presents both theoretical and empirical frameworks to analyze the subject.

This ground-breaking book introduces macro accounting. Most modern money emerges out of accounting documentation of private executory debt contracts within exchange processes. Money-information markers are basically negotiable (exchangeable for value) debt instruments. Macro accounting techniques provide sufficient detail to examine the complex coupling relations and the resulting constraints among exchanges of good, services, and money-information markers of various sorts.

The book begins with a discussion of the fundamental concepts of trades, exchanges, and the accounting basis of money. Accounting is then described as an aspect of empirical science--a means of observing concrete processes. Drawing on these basic ideas, Swanson extends organizational accounting to societies and supranational systems. The last four chapters simulate economic processes. The book should be read by serious students of economics, accounting, and political science as well as societal policy markers and the international banking community.

After years of relative neglect, the reconstruction of post-war Germany has recently become a major research focus for historians. The contributors to this volume were among the first to evaluate the archives relevant to their topic and are hence able to present many fresh insights into Allied occupation policy in the late 1940s, revealing the painful adjustment which German industry, institutions and citizens had to make in the post-1945 world.

This book provides a comprehensive look at the changes that have occurred in the distributions of both income and wealth in the United States since 1960. Both historical and current data are used in the analysis of the interactive effects of these two distributions on the standards of living of various segments of American families. In assessing the changing pattern of the distribution of income, the author employs a variety of standards against which to measure the level of income received by various segments of the population. This book is unique in that the analysis looks at all income classes. Such topics as the causes of poverty, the shrinking middle class, and the concentration of wealth holdings amongst the rich are all examined in detail. The book also explores the impacts of both distributions on such specific groups as Blacks, Hispanics, women, and children. In the final chapter, the author proposes a series of policy measures that should be pursued to move the United States toward more equitable distributions of both income and wealth.

Part One of the book examines the distribution of income during the period 1960-88. Part Two looks at the changing distribution of wealth in the United States. The work concludes with an examination of the effects of the distribution of wealth on the distribution of income; a review of the causes of the patterns of distribution as seen in the data; and a discussion of the effects of these changes upon American society. Individuals associated with policy planning groups, both in government and in the private sector, including advocacy groups, should find this book quite useful to their work. It should also appeal to academics concerned with the issues of economics of poverty, the economics of discrimination, human capital theory, and urban economics.

A pioneering work in comparative monetary and financial studies, this is the first international comparative, empirical study of the money supply process (MSP) that involves all of the basic types of economies and institutional economic systems at all levels of economic development. As the authors note at the outset, the highly relative nature of the MSP contributes to wide differences in the MSP in different types of economies. Yet the MSP is one of the most important topics of both monetary theory and monetary practice. The comparative approach adopted here enables the authors to explain the differences that do occur in the MSP across economies and what causes them. By properly defining the general theory and overall monetary theory of MSP, the authors offer the reader both a better understanding of the national MSP and a broad framework of possibilities for improving the efficiency of monetary policy.

The authors begin by describing their approach to an analysis of the MSP in national economies and the concepts and models used in this analysis. They then explain the classification of economies used in the study and their methodological approach, which is based on a two-dimensional flow of funds accounts matrix. Four chapters present the empirical evidence derived from this approach. Included are both a holistic analysis and a structural comparative analysis of the MSP. A separate chapter presents a comparative analysis involving 100 countries of the MSP during the 1978-83 time period. Finally, the authors look at the influence of the balance-of-payments and of domestic institutional sectors on the MSP. Their concluding chapters summarize their findings and point the way to further research in this area. Scholars and policymakers in economics, macroeconomics, and monetary policy will find this an illuminating addition to the literature of the money supply process.

This book explores the integrity of equity markets, addressing such issues as the exchange vs. customer perspective on price discovery and the ways market participants deal with key regulatory concerns. Do market practitioners pass the integrity test? How does "market integrity" play out globally? What is the overall veracity of the marketplace? These are some of the key questions considered in this volume from the viewpoints of traders, economists, financial market strategists and exchange representative. Titled after the Baruch College Financial Markets Conference, Market Integrity: Do Our Equity Markets Pass the Test?, this book is of interest to market practitioners, trading professionals, academics and students in the field of financial markets. 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.

In terms of economics, the twenty-first century promises to be one of experiments and mixed economies that display features of both a private enterprise market and an intrusive government sector. To fully understand this coming trend, William Hixson presents this study of the U.S. economy since World War I and its experiments with mixed economics. Hixson describes how the largely laissez-faire economy prior to 1929 was so structured to make a crisis of illiquidity and overindebtedness inevitable, and how the mixed economy that has prevailed since World War II is structured to result in a similar crisis. His work challenges the generally accepted views of both U.S. and Marxist economists.

Following a brief introduction that outlines Hixson's approach and theoretical framework, the book begins with a seven-chapter study of the basic operating principles and procedures of a laissez faire economy. The next three chapters examine the Great Crash of 1929 and how it was a predictable outcome of the U.S. economy's operation in a laissez-faire mode. A set of four chapters then analyze the emergence of the government sector as an increasingly significant factor, and the evolution and institutionalization of mixed economy. The last set of chapters considers the past four decades of a mixed economy and why it lacks long-term viability, while the concluding two chapters suggest changes in operating principles and financial practices to make the mixed economy a viable one. This work will be a valuable resource for professionals involved in all types of financial and investing fields, as well as for students and scholars of economics and national economies.

This book examines the challenges for the life insurance sector in Europe arising from new technologies, socio-cultural and demographic trends, and the financial crisis. It presents theoretical and applied research in all areas related to life insurance products and markets, and explores future determinants of the insurance industry's development by highlighting novel solutions in insurance supervision and trends in consumer protection. Drawing on their academic and practical expertise, the contributors identify problems relating to risk analysis and evaluation, demographic challenges, consumer protection, product distribution, mortality risk modeling, applications of life insurance in contemporary pension systems, financial stability and solvency of life insurers. They also examine the impact of population aging on life insurance markets and the role of digitalization. Lastly, based on an analysis of early experiences with the implementation of the Solvency II system, the book provides policy recommendations for the development of life insurance in Europe.

A pioneering contribution to economic literature, this volume presents a theoretical and empirical study of the relationship between entrepreneurship and the process of long-term regional change. Based on an exhaustive review of classical works in historical, managerial, and spatial economics, Suarez-Villa identifies five major innovative entrepreneurial roles and their historical antecedents. He then explores the macro effects of these roles by analyzing data for a 94-year period, demonstrating the relationship between the emergence of each role and the occurence of major changes in the sectoral and regional economies.

Following an introductory chapter that addresses economic change as an ongoing process, Suarez-Villa defines the various entrepreneurial roles in two theoretical chapters that examine the historical causes for their emergence and show how each can be viewed as an innovative agent of change. The empirical analysis of the succeeding chapters provides important new insights into the sectoral transformations of the U.S. regional economies promoted by the changing historical roles of entrepreneurship and the organizations through which it acts. Using U.S. national and regional data over the period 1889-1983 for agriculture, manufacturing, and distributive activities and services, as well as changes in regional, urban, and rural populations, the author identifies changes in regional productivity and employment for various sectors and the place of entrepreneurial activity in these changes. Concluding that entrepreneurship is an important but usually neglected component of regional economic change, Suarez-Villa draws conclusions from a long-term perspective, addressing such issues as entrepreneurial effectiveness, sectoral restructuring, and spatial impacts. Three appendixes, detailed notes, and a bibliography include important additional information for the student and researcher.

A pioneering exploration of the relevance of economic theory to the practical realities of the foreign exchange market, this volume presents a well-reasoned, comprehensive examination of the degree to which economic theories and forecasts are helpful in predicting exchange rates. Douch, an economist who has worked closely with the foreign exchange market, argues that theoretical economic models have exhibited some serious inadequacies in forecasting the future. In an attempt to determine the real predictive value of economic theory in this context, Douch examines each of the different economic approaches in-depth and then analyzes the actual workings of the foreign exchange market from the perspective of the market participants. Particular emphasis is placed upon the reasons for the observed failure of economic theory to reliably predict exchange rate movements over time.

Divided into three major sections, the book begins with five chapters that describe and evaluate the different economic approaches to explaining exchange rate movements. The next two chapters link the theories of the first section with the practical realities of the third by discussing the advantages of fixed and floating exchange rates and presenting a brief history of exchange rate regimes since World War II. In the final section, Douch first looks at how the spot and forward exchange rate markets actually work by examining the motives of market participants. Subsequent chapters explore such issues as whether Game Theory might be used to explain market actions, the effect of new foreign exchange hedging instruments on the market, and the contribution of Chart Analysis to exchange rate forecasts. A detailed appendix defines various economic indicators and seeks to explain how the market might react to them and why. Advanced students of economics as well as foreign exchange market participants with little economic training will find here important new insights into when economic theories can be helpful in predicting exchange rates--and, even more importantly, when they can not.