Micro-econometric analyses cover a wide range of new innovation 'input' and 'output' indicators. Among the robust findings about determinants of innovation is evidence on the importance of technological opportunity, of appropriability of innovation benefits, and of Schmooklerian demand-pull effects. As opposed to the evidence from standard R&D data, small firms appear more innovative and the impact of market power on innovation is, in the best case, modest.

In this pioneering study of the development of the Asian department store, economists, anthropologists and historians examine various aspects of retailing, business organization, networking and consumerism in the expanding economies of Asia.

Despite the dynamic development of the discipline of economics, the ways in which economics is taught and how it defines its basic principles have hardly changed, resulting in economics being criticised for its inability to provide relevant insights on global challenges. In response, this book defines new principles of economics and seeks to establish economics as the science of markets. A New Principles of Economics provides an alternative conceptual framework for the study of economics, integrating recent developments and research in both economics and neighbouring social sciences. Adopting the structure of a standard principles text, it separates the study of markets as mechanisms and markets in their wider contexts. In doing so, a number of new perspectives are introduced, including approaching the economy as part and parcel of the Earth system; directly connecting the analysis of production with an analysis of technology and thermodynamic principles; explicitly treating markets as forms of social networks mediated by the institution of money; and reinstating the central role of distribution in political economy analysis. Drawing on the latest theories and research on the economy, and including both the natural and social sciences, this text provides a holistic introduction suitable for postgraduates and other advanced students.

Economists advise that the law should seek efficiency. More recently, it has been suggested that common law systems are more conducive of economic growth than code-based civil law systems. This book argues that there is no theory to support such statements and provides evidence that rejects a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Both common law and civil law systems are reviewed to debunk the relationship between the efficiency of the common law hypothesis and the alleged inferiority of codified law systems. Legal Origins and the Efficiency Dilemma has six aims: explaining the efficiency hypothesis of the common law since Posner's 1973 book; summarizing the legal origins theory in the context of economic growth; debunking their relationship; discussing the meaning of 'common law' and the problems with the efficiency hypothesis by comparing laws across English speaking jurisdictions; illustrating the shortcomings of the legal origins theory with a comparative law and economics analysis; and concluding there is no theory and evidence to support the economic superiority of common law systems. Based on previous pieces by the authors, this book expands their work by including new areas of analysis (such as trusts), detailing previous analysis (such as French law versus common law in the areas of contract, property and torts), and updating for recent developments in the academic discourse. This volume is of interest to academics and students who study microeconomics, comparative law and foundations of law, as well as legal policy analysts.

Although land reform in Latin America has long been heralded by scholars and development economists, as well as by revolutionaries, as the essential ingredient for economic growth, the results of actual land reform projects have been largely disappointing. This book attempts to identify the reasons for these results by analyzing some of the microeconomic factors underlying the inadequate performance of reform sector agriculture. Basing her analysis on a detailed case study of agrarian reform in the Dominican Republic, Meyer deals specifically with the organizational structure of the reform project itself, evaluating the relative efficiency of associative, individual, and collective organizational structures.

Meyer begins by providing both a comprehensive survey of the issues surrounding agrarian reform projects in Latin America and an introduction to the history, land settlement patterns, and agriculture of the Dominican Republic. The following chapters detail the history and institutional structure of agrarian reform in the Dominican Republic, review the literature relevant to the study of reform sector projects, and offer case studies of particular reform projects. The author then develops original microeconomic models to explore the implications of the individual, collective, and associative organizational structures. Taken as a whole, Meyer's study provides both theoretical and empirical evidence to support the superior efficiency of the associative organizational structure over either the individual or collective farming approach in the Dominican Republic.

In this carefully articulated investigation of the Walrasian general equilibrium model, the author sets forth one perception or explanation of how the microeconomy might operate. The focus is primarily on the behavior of individual consumers, firms and markets under perfectly competitive conditions and on the simultaneous interactions that occur among them. Central to his argument is that all of these elements fit together to form a unified whole for a complete, consistent, and cohesive picture of the perfectly competitive microeconomy. The book provides substantial discussion of the model's methodological background; returns to scale; the transformation surface and the fixed-factor-supply economy; existence, uniqueness, and stability of equilibria; the dynamics of market adjustments; methodological individualism and the theory of price determination; imperfectly competitive markets; welfare economics; and the role of money capital in the operation of the firm. The author suggests that the abandonment of general equilibrium theory by microeconomists is a mistake, and that it is too soon to give up on the possibility of constructing an adequate analysis of uniqueness, global stability, and price determination. Students and scholars of economics will find much of interest in this thorough exploration of the operation of the microeconomy.

This book brings together empirical evidences and theoretical perspectives to provide a comprehensive overview of the microfinance sector in India. The essays in the volume: focus on the application of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in microfinance institutions to strengthen the savings movement and widen credit access to the poor and marginalized sections of society; present case studies on self-help group (SHG) movements, federations and SHG-Bank Linkage programmes; propose measures for strengthening regulatory and governance structures of the microfinance sector; and identify linkages between overall financial inclusion and the contribution of microfinance institutions (MFIs). The volume will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of microeconomics, South Asian economics and development economics as well as professionals and aspirants in the microfinance, rural banking and financial inclusion sectors.

Now in its third edition, Cost-Benefit Analysis has been updated, offering readers the perfect introduction to project, programme and policy appraisal using basic tools of financial and economic analysis. The key economic questions of any social cost-benefit analysis are: do the benefits of the project or policy exceed the costs, no matter how widely costs and benefits are spread, and irrespective of whether or not project impacts, such as environmental effects, are reflected in market prices? And which group or groups of individuals receive the benefits and which bear the costs? This book addresses these questions with an emphasis on putting the theory presented in the book into practice. This third edition has several attractive features: Readers are encouraged to develop their own skills by applying the tools and techniques of cost-benefit analysis to case studies and examples, including an analysis of a project which is developed throughout the book. The book emphasizes the use of spreadsheets which are invaluable in providing a framework for the cost-benefit analysis. A dedicated chapter provides guidance for writing up a report which summarises the analysis which has been undertaken. New pedagogical features, including Technical Notes and Examples, have been added as an aid to readers throughout the text. An appendix provides 14 additional case studies which can be developed in class or as assignment projects. Additional material for instructors and students is provided through Support Material maintained by Routledge. This updated edition is an ideal text for a course on cost-benefit analysis where the emphasis is on practical application of principles and equipping students to conduct appraisals. It is also a useful handbook for professionals looking for a logical framework in which to undertake their cost-benefit analysis work.

Primary commodities - food, raw materials, fuels and base metals - continue to be a substantial proportion of the exports of many developing countries and account for over 40 per cent of world trade. The determinants of primary commodity prices, and the terms on which they are traded for manufactured goods, are topics of considerable importance for development economists.The Economics of Primary Commodities brings together in one volume important new work by a group of leading scholars on the economic analysis of primary commodity markets. Their detailed coverage of major recent developments in the field include discussion of modelling and policy issues. Topics addressed include excess co-movement of commodity prices, the stabilization of earnings in volatile commodity markets, a macroeconomic framework for trade terms between north and south, and the influence of economic policy on commodity markets. The essays should provide the reader with an overview of the current 'state-of-the-art' and a useful platform on which future research might be based. This book will be welcomed by academic researchers, practitioners and postgraduate students concerned with the economics of trade, economic development and international economics.

First published in 1992, A Political Theory Primer is designed as an introductory course for students in the application of game theory to modeling political processes. Examining those very phenomena that power political machineries--elections, legislative and committee processes, and international conflict--the book attempts to answer fundamental questions about their nature and function. Included at the end of each chapter is a set of exercises designed to allow students to practice the construction and analysis of political models. Although the text assumes only training at the basic algebra level, the student who completes a course around this text will be equipped to read nearly all the professional literature that makes use of game-theoretic analysis. Each chapter also contains suggestiosn for further reading for those students who want to broaden their learning and expertise.

This book introduces special programs designed to enhance thinking and problem solving at the preschool, elementary, secondary, college, and graduate levels, as well as proven instructional methods to aid the elderly in retaining or regaining essential mental skills. The volume also considers difficult problems confronting psychology, including such disparate issues as the appropriate content of courses to develop thinking, resistance to the introduction of programs in schools and universities, and psychology's limitations on progress in these areas.

Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is an innovative new text for intermediate-level students of microeconomics which offers a series of alternative approaches to economic analysis."And now for something completely different". So starts the preface to Peter Earl's new book. And he is right. He has put together a superbly interesting, intellectually challenging book. It is a book that covers not only the basics of intermediate microeconomics, but also relates microeconomics both to real world business decisions and to the literature wherein the ideas developed. An intermediate micro student who masters this book will be a well trained student. Earl's book will be useful not only to intermediate students, but, perhaps even more so, to graduate students and to faculty teaching intermediate micro and managerial economics. It gives microeconomics both an intellectual context and institutional context for microeconomics. It also contains a wealth of real world examples and discussions of how microeconomic reasoning applies to business. The wealth of essays and problems in the book will be challenging to everyone. This textbook is especially relevant to students of business and commerce since it emphasises practical problem solving and helps readers develop skills in choosing appropriate theoretical 'tools' to deal with particular types of 'real world' problems. While other microeconomics texts focus on mainstream technical set pieces, this book explores, compares and contrasts the tools of both mainstream microeconomic analysis and the behavioural/new institutionalist approaches associated with recent Nobel Laureates Herbert Simon and Ronald Coase. This wider theoretical coverage enables a broader range of practical topics to be addressed, including policy implications of consumer decision processes, and the economics of corporate strategy. Key features of this book include: Worked essays and case study questions within the chapters, as well as post-mortem' reports on examination questions that have been set to classes using this material. Overview chapters on theories of decision-making and consumer choice and theories of business behaviour. Extensive coverage of the economics of uncertainty, including scenario planning, bargaining and competitive games. Emphasizes and analyses on the significance of technological change, and the variety of methods used to organize modern business activities, such as franchising, joint ventures and multinational enterprises. Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is a wide-ranging, innovative textbook which will stimulate students and teachers alike. It will be of particular relevance to students of marketing, commerce and business strategy. Specifically designed with today's larger class sizes in mind, the book encourages students to question and to develop both analytical and written skills, as well as to use economics as a tool for problem solving.

This is the first book to address the design needs of older people in the outdoor environment. It provides information on design principles essential to built environment professionals who want to provide for all users of urban space and who wish to achieve sustainability in their designs. Part one examines the changing experiences of people in the outdoor environment as they age and discusses existing outdoor environments and the aspects and features that help or hinder older people from using and enjoying them. Part two presents the six design principles for 'streets for life' and their many individual components. Using photographs and line drawings, a range of design features are presented at all scales of the outdoor environment from street layouts and building form to signs and detail. Part three expands on the concept of 'streets for life' as the ultimate goal of inclusive urban design. These are outdoor environments that people are able to confidently understand, navigate and use, regardless of age or circumstance, and represent truly sustainable inclusive communities.

Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is an innovative new text for intermediate-level students of microeconomics which offers a series of alternative approaches to economic analysis."And now for something completely different". So starts the preface to Peter Earl's new book. And he is right. He has put together a superbly interesting, intellectually challenging book. It is a book that covers not only the basics of intermediate microeconomics, but also relates microeconomics both to real world business decisions and to the literature wherein the ideas developed. An intermediate micro student who masters this book will be a well trained student. Earl's book will be useful not only to intermediate students, but, perhaps even more so, to graduate students and to faculty teaching intermediate micro and managerial economics. It gives microeconomics both an intellectual context and institutional context for microeconomics. It also contains a wealth of real world examples and discussions of how microeconomic reasoning applies to business. The wealth of essays and problems in the book will be challenging to everyone. This textbook is especially relevant to students of business and commerce since it emphasises practical problem solving and helps readers develop skills in choosing appropriate theoretical 'tools' to deal with particular types of 'real world' problems. While other microeconomics texts focus on mainstream technical set pieces, this book explores, compares and contrasts the tools of both mainstream microeconomic analysis and the behavioural/new institutionalist approaches associated with recent Nobel Laureates Herbert Simon and Ronald Coase. This wider theoretical coverage enables a broader range of practical topics to be addressed, including policy implications of consumer decision processes, and the economics of corporate strategy. Key features of this book include: Worked essays and case study questions within the chapters, as well as post-mortem' reports on examination questions that have been set to classes using this material. Overview chapters on theories of decision-making and consumer choice and theories of business behaviour. Extensive coverage of the economics of uncertainty, including scenario planning, bargaining and competitive games. Emphasizes and analyses on the significance of technological change, and the variety of methods used to organize modern business activities, such as franchising, joint ventures and multinational enterprises. Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is a wide-ranging, innovative textbook which will stimulate students and teachers alike. It will be of particular relevance to students of marketing, commerce and business strategy. Specifically designed with today's larger class sizes in mind, the book encourages students to question and to develop both analytical and written skills, as well as to use economics as a tool for problem solving.

Examining the role of the public sector in small-business debt-capital formation, this book describes current approaches, conceptually and pragmatically, and evaluates their advantages and disadvantages from a variety of perspectives. It also suggests a model for improving our approach to small business capital formation in the United States. Financing small business creation and expansion has always been difficult. Private debt capital providers tend to avoid small business because the latter are preceived to be too risky. Yet because of the importance of small businesses to national economic growth, stability, and innovation, ensuring that these businesses can obtain and effectively use appropriate levels of debt capital is vital to national well-being. How, and to what extent, should the public sector intervene in the debt capital markets to ensure that sufficient capital flows to small businesses? This book is an attempt to answer that question.

First Published in 1972. The London Discount Market is unique, and its existence has contributed more than any other single factor to the elaboration of what may legitimately be called the Anglo-Saxon tradition in Central Banking technique. The bill of exchange has existed for centuries in its classical late Victorian form by many decades. This book assesses how in no other country in the world did the same relationships evolve between the Central institution and the Money Market.

This volume includes chapters by a number of leading researchers in the area of reading and spelling development. They review what is currently known about both normal and impaired development of decoding, comprehension, and spelling skills. They also consider recent work on the remediation of reading and spelling difficulties in children and discuss effective remedial strategies.

Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, Fourth Edition provides a real-world view of this fast-evolving field, reviewing and analyzing recent innovations and developments. This reference captures the actual work of bankers and professional investors, providing readers with templates for real transactions and insight on how investment banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms provide services to each other while creating opportunities for corporations and investors to raise capital, invest, hedge, finance, acquire, divest, and risk manage. For each type of institution, the business model, organizational structure, products, challenges, regulatory issues, and profit-making opportunities are explained. In addition, specific transactions are analyzed to make clear how advisory services, financings, investments, and trades produce profits or losses, and which types of risks are most commonly taken by each type of institution. Importantly, the linkage of investment banks, hedge funds, and private equity to corporations, governments, and individuals is described, enabling the reader to more clearly understand how these organizations impact them and how their products and services can be best utilized.

This volume is part of the ongoing collaboration between the RMC series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), a French intervention-research think tank co-directed by Henri Savall and Veronique Zardet. Building on an earlier collaboration on the ISEOR approach - Socio-Economic Intervention in Organizations: The Intervener-Researcher and the SEAM Approach to Organizational Analysis (IAP, 2007) - Buono and Savall bring together over 30 talented intervener-researchers to explore and examine the ongoing evolution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM). This volume revisits the application of SEAM in the context of intervention challenges in the wake of the recent economic crisis and the disruptivechange that has taken hold across the world. The basic foundation of SEAM - built on the idea of strategic patience, the need to undertake holistic intervention in organizations, and the challenge to get organizational members to listen to themselves (through what they refer to as the mirror effect) - has remained the same. In response to economic and organizational pressures in the current environment, however, there has been a concomitant emphasis on helping client organizations achieve short-term results while still maintaining focus on the long term. Many ideas that have become part of the current discourse within ISEOR today were not as explicitly addressed in the initial volume - from the destructive effect of the Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism (TFW) virus, to the need to focus on ways to ensure the sustainability of a SEAM intervention, the growing importance of collaborative interactions between external and internal consultants, and the growing importance of cocreating knowledge with client firms and organizations.

This book offers students an accessible and applied introduction to microeconomics in tourism and hospitality through a comprehensive analysis of the market mechanism, demand and supply, firm behavior and strategy, and transaction and institution. This book not only helps students to master core microeconomic theories that are essential for understanding the tourism and hospitality industry, but, more importantly, it guides students to analyze consumer behavior and firm strategy specific to the industry. Throughout the book, readers are guided to develop the economic analysis of tourism and hospitality that progresses from economic intuition to graphical representation and to mathematical quantification. Carefully corralled case studies showcase the applications of key microeconomic theories in solving a wide range of real-world problems, including Uber's surge pricing, Airbnb's supply adjustment, and McDonald's and Burger King vying for prime locations. This book is written in an accessible style, illustrated with exquisite diagrams, and enriched with a range of other features, such as chapter summaries, review questions, and further readings to aid readers' further understanding. By reading this book, students will be able to develop an economist's way of thinking, which will enable them to analyze tourism and hospitality businesses in a rigorous and critical manner. This book is essential reading for all tourism and hospitality students and teachers.

This book addresses the lively interaction between the disciplines of law and economics. The traditional boundaries of these two disciplines have somehow inhibited a full understanding of the functioning of and the evolution of economic and legal systems. It has often been the case that these boundaries have had to be reshaped, and sometimes abolished, before either one of the two disciplines could successfully clarify the real life problems arising from the complex institutions of contemporary societies. The contributions to this volume encompass some of the core controversial issues in law and economics arising from interactions between legal orderings and economic institutions. They include: the nature of institutional and legislative change and the emergence of strong institutional complementarity in legal positions the relationship between private orderings and the role of the State in enforcing contracts and defining property rights the nature and dynamics of endogenous enforcement and the analysis of governance models and corporate ethics. Part of the renowned Siena Studies in Political Economy series, this book will be an essential read for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of law and economics, and the economics of institutions.

First published in 1986, this title argues that the successful development of a new microeconomics requires a deeper understanding of methodological individualism and its role in stability analysis. Lawrence Boland expounds a critique of neoclassical models, which, he contends, often fail to include an explicit stability analysis. He demonstrates that much of the sophisticated theoretical literature over the past thirty years can be understood as ad hoc attempts to overcome the deficiencies of such models in the absence of cogent stability analyses. In conclusion, he explains the need to update the theory taught at universities, and to develop a truly individualist version of microeconomics that is consistent with the methodological principles of major neoclassical models. An important contribution to economic methodology, this work is a highly valuable resource for all students and teachers of economics at the undergraduate level.

In recent years, trust has enjoyed increasing interest from a wide range of parties, including organizations, policymakers, and the media. Perennially linked to turbulence and scandals, the damaging and rebuilding of trust is a contemporary concern affecting all areas of society. Comprising six thematic sections, The Routledge Companion to Trust provides a comprehensive survey of trust research. With contributions from international experts, this volume examines the major topics and emerging areas within the field, including essays on the foundations, levels and theories of trust. It also examines trust repair and explores trust in settings such as healthcare, finance, food supply chains, and the internet. The Routledge Companion to Trust is an extensive reference work which will be a vital resource to researchers and practitioners across the fields of management and organizational studies, behavioural economics, psychology, cultural anthropology, political science and sociology.

This volume is part of the ongoing collaboration between the RMC series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), a French intervention-research think tank co-directed by Henri Savall and Veronique Zardet. Building on an earlier collaboration on the ISEOR approach - Socio-Economic Intervention in Organizations: The Intervener-Researcher and the SEAM Approach to Organizational Analysis (IAP, 2007) - Buono and Savall bring together over 30 talented intervener-researchers to explore and examine the ongoing evolution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM). This volume revisits the application of SEAM in the context of intervention challenges in the wake of the recent economic crisis and the disruptivechange that has taken hold across the world. The basic foundation of SEAM - built on the idea of strategic patience, the need to undertake holistic intervention in organizations, and the challenge to get organizational members to listen to themselves (through what they refer to as the mirror effect) - has remained the same. In response to economic and organizational pressures in the current environment, however, there has been a concomitant emphasis on helping client organizations achieve short-term results while still maintaining focus on the long term. Many ideas that have become part of the current discourse within ISEOR today were not as explicitly addressed in the initial volume - from the destructive effect of the Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism (TFW) virus, to the need to focus on ways to ensure the sustainability of a SEAM intervention, the growing importance of collaborative interactions between external and internal consultants, and the growing importance of cocreating knowledge with client firms and organizations.

This is a major study of economic policy making in Britain between the wars. It provided the first full-length analysis of the early development of fiscal policy as a tool of modern economic management. The central question addressed is how Keynesian fiscal policies came to be adopted by the British government, with particular attention paid to the role of the Treasury and to that of Keynes himself. Drawing extensively on unpublished documents hitherto untapped by economists or historians, Roger Middleton challenges the widely held view of official economic thinking as an ill-informed group of people holding 'the Treasury view' in opposition to Keynes's prescriptions for deficient demand and mass unemployment. Instead he argues that acceptance of Keynesian economics during the Second World War resulted from political and administrative factors as much as a conversion to Keynesian theory. He investigates the form and impact of fiscal policy during the 1930s and, through a constant employment budget analysis, shows convincingly that at times of rising unemployment governments ignore at their peril the effects of automatic stabilizers upon budgetary stability. Historians and economists welcomed this fresh perspective on a debate of historical as well as contemporary importance. Towards the Managed Economy is essential reading for all those interested in the rise and fall of Keynesian demand management. This classic text was first published in 1985.