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Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Microeconomics
Social enterprises represent a new kind of venture, dedicated to pursuing profits for owners and benefits for society. Social Enterprise Law provides tools that will allow them to raise the capital they need to flourish. Social Enterprise Law weaves innovation in contract and corporate governance into powerful protections against insiders sacrificing goals such as environmental sustainability in the pursuit of short-term profits. Creating a stable balance between financial returns and public benefits will allow social entrepreneurs to team up with impact investors that share their vision of a double bottom line. Brakman Reiser and Dean show how novel legal technologies can allow social enterprises to access capital markets, including unconventional sources such as crowdfunding. With its straightforward insights into complex areas of the law, the book shows how a social mission can even be shielded from the turbulence of an acquisition or bankruptcy. It also shows why, as the metrics available to measure the impact of social missions on individuals and communities become more sophisticated, such legal innovations will continue to become more robust. By providing a comprehensive survey of the U.S. laws and a bold vision for how legal institutions across the globe could be reformed, this book offers new insights and approaches to help social enterprises raise the capital they need to flourish. It offers a rich guide for students, entrepreneurs, investors, and practitioners.
This is an especially impressive study, one really without equal in terms of its coverage and sophistication. . . . While the analysis is predominately neoclassical, it is sensibly and sensitively done, and there is much to be learned from these pages on the immense difficulties involved in designing and implementing appropriate small-state economic policy. The tug of economic reality facing small economies in an open-world economy make the push coming from internal interests a real balancing act, as Worrell appreciates. There are other points one might have liked Worrell to have touched upon, but this work is really in a class by itself; there is no other general economic study of the region that is even remotely comparable. "Choice" Dr. Worrell has been Director of Economic Research at the Central Bank of Barbados for over ten years. During this time he has observed firsthand the economic fluctuations in the Caribbean, advised the Barbados Government on policy, and written about the issues. "Small Island EconomieS" offers the author's reflections on the English-speaking Caribbean's economic performance during the last fifteen years. This insightful volume will be of use to specialists of developing and comparative economies and third world scholars, as well as those concerned with present-day international relationships.
In development literature Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is traditionally considered to be instrumental for the economic growth of all countries, particularly the developing ones. It acts as a panacea for breaking out of the vicious circle of low savings/low income and facilitates the import of capital goods and advanced technical knowhow. This book delves into the complex interaction of FDI with diverse factors. While FDI affects the efficiency of domestic producers through technological diffusion and spill-over effects, it also impinges on the labor market, affecting unemployment levels, human capital formation, wages (and wage inequality) and poverty; furthermore, it has important implications for socio-economic issues such as child labor, agricultural disputes over Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and environmental pollution. The empirical evidence with regard to most of the effects of FDI is highly mixed and reflects the fact that there are a number of mechanisms involved that interact with each other to produce opposing results. The book highlights the theoretical underpinnings behind the inherent contradictions and shows that the final outcome depends on a number of country-specific factors such as the nature of non-traded goods, factor endowments, technological and institutional factors. Thus, though not exhaustive, the book integrates FDI within most of the existing economic systems in order to define its much-debated role in developing economies. A theoretical analysis of the different facets of FDI as proposed in the book is thus indispensable, especially for the formulation of appropriate policies for foreign capital.
This book is one of the first comprehensive works to fill the knowledge gap resulting from the limited number of empirical studies on interfirm networks. The in-depth empirical research presented here is based on a massive transaction relationship database of approximately 400,000 Japanese firms. This volume, unlike others, focuses on the role of interfirm networks in three different fields: (1) macroeconomic activities, (2) economic geography and firm dynamics, and (3) firm-bank relationships. The database for this work is constructed in collaboration with Japan's largest credit research company, Teikoku Data Bank, and covers a substantial portion of Japanese firms with information on firms' transaction partners, shareholders, financial institutions, and other attributes, including their locations and performance. Networks prevail in many aspects of economic activities and play a major role in explaining a wide variety of economic phenomena from business cycles to knowledge spillovers, which has motivated economists to produce a number of excellent works. In the policy arena, there has been a growing concern on the vulnerabilities of networks based on the casual observation that idiosyncratic shocks on firms can be amplified through inter-firm connections and leads to a systemic crisis. Typical examples are the manufacturing supply-chain networks in the automobile and electronics industries which propagated regionally concentrated shocks (the Great East Japan Earthquake and floods in Thailand in 2011) into global ones. An abundance of theoretical literature on the formation and functions of networks is available already. This book breaks new ground, however, and provides an excellent opportunity for the reader to gain a more integrated understanding of the role of networks in the economy. The Economics of Interfirm Networks will be of special interest to economists and practitioners seeking empirical and quantitative knowledge on interfirm and firm-bank networks.
From the acclaimed authors of Capitalism without Capital, radical ideas for restoring prosperity in today's intangible economy The past two decades have witnessed sluggish economic growth, mounting inequality, dysfunctional competition, and a host of other ills that have left people wondering what has happened to the future they were promised. Restarting the Future reveals how these problems arise from a failure to develop the institutions demanded by an economy now reliant on intangible capital such as ideas, relationships, brands, and knowledge. In this groundbreaking and provocative book, Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake argue that the great economic disappointment of the century is the result of an incomplete transition from an economy based on physical capital, and show how the vital institutions that underpin our economy remain geared to an outmoded way of doing business. The growth of intangible investment has slowed significantly in recent years, making the world poorer, less fair, and more vulnerable to existential threats. Haskel and Westlake present exciting new ideas to help us catch up with the intangible revolution, offering a road map for how to finance businesses, improve our cities, fund more science and research, reform monetary policy, and reshape intellectual property rules for the better. Drawing on Haskel and Westlake's experience at the forefront of finance and economic policymaking, Restarting the Future sets out a host of radical but practical solutions that can lead us into the future.
This text provides a comprehensive coverage of the core principles of business and management economics. It considers strategic implications of economic theories and principles on business decisions and organisations.
The major components of the Chinese financial system as it existed by the end of 1990 are identified. The activities of each component, its relative importance, and the role which each is likely to play in the economy as it develops are discussed. The components of the system include the State Council, the People's Bank of China, the banking sector, the non-banking sector, and the financial market. Professor Zhang Yichun and Mr Ma Mingjia have access to privileged documentation on the development of this financial system. The publication includes a note by R.L. Blackmore.
This book analyzes the effects of wives' employment on the economic status of families, using both descriptive and empirical research. The historical and socio-economic causes of change in the employment status of wives and husbands are detailed. The empirical studies respond to some basic questions about dual-earner families: How does having an employed wife influence family lifestyles? What effects do dual-earners have on the finances of their households and on the distribution of income? What policy changes are needed to recognize the economic importance of dual-earner families? In Working Wives and Dual-Earner Families, one-earner and dual-earner families are differentiated, with particular attention to the impact of wives' employment status (full-time or part-time) on household decision making. Among the most interesting research findings are: total family income or tax bracket and the cost of child care are among the critical determinants of dual-earner employment; married-couple families at the same level of income have very similar expenditure patterns regardless of whether the wife is employed; full-time working wives make the distribution of income less equal, but part-time working wives generate greater equality in the distribution of income; families with full-time working wives have higher income, but they do not save more or have greater financial assets than other families; families with part-time employed wives are similar to those with non-employed wives and differ from families with full-time employed wives. The authors conclude that the real incomes of dual-earner families will continue to grow, as one-earner real income remains the same or declines. Household planning and decision making will increasingly be predicated upon having two earners, which will be perceived as the norm. Dual-earner families, based on amenities, mobility, growing families, and demands for public goods, will drive private markets and public policy.
The standing of industrialization has fallen in the list of social and economic objectives of developing countries in recent years. Turkey provides an ideal example of this beginning with a program adopted in 1980 under the auspices of the IMF and the World Bank. The macroeconomic and microeconomic issues concerning Turkish industrialization in global context with particular emphasis on the decade of the 1980s are examined. The rapid transformation in industrialization strategy from import substitution under heavy state direction to outward orientation has had a profound effect on industrialization of Turkey.
The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies. The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.
This volume examines the economics of aquatic sports. Covering topics ranging from youth participation, collegiate level amateurism, and professional performance issues, to the history of Olympic level swim and water polo programs, the chapters illuminate economic motivations behind the behavior and performance characteristics of this industry. Labor-related themes regarding compensation, exploitation and discrimination are examined. The volume is also especially timely, including discussions of the impacts of technological change, the hot hand effect, confirmation bias, and doping. By answering questions about these key issues in sport, this book hopes to shed light on behaviors outside of sport and provide an enhanced understanding of individual, group, and industry decision making and performance under conditions of scarcity and uncertainty. This book will be of interest to those studying sports economics, sports management, or applied microeconomic theory as well as professionals in the sports field: sports managers, agents, media experts, coaches, athletic directors and development leaders.
Manpower analysis and planning for the energy sector is the cornerstone of any successful national energy program. The human resources aspect of energy problems, however, has received little systematic attention. Responding to the need for a comprehensive information source on this important subject, Professor Hosni's bibliography reviews research completed to date and documents the different strategies that have been developed to cope with changing conditions in the energy market. Providing an international perspective, it draws on the literature of the United States and fifty other countries, with particular attention to the Arab world, where both energy and manpower are critical to future development.
Written by a distinguished group of French business leaders, scholars, and government experts, this volume examines the recent watershed period in which the French government loosened state controls and put a further emphasis on market forces. The book is unique in that it presents in accessible accessible a clear view of France's new business sense and the evolution that has taken place since Mitterrand came to power in 1981--from the perspective of key players in the French economy themselves. The contributors analyze the political, economic, and cultural upheaval of the past decade; its effect on the way the French think about and conduct business; and the new concerns and priorities of French business leaders. The contributors deal with all aspects of French business life, addressing such diverse topics as: France's image in the United States, French trade relations with the United States and with the Third World, new economic policies and their impact, the privatization of banks and large industrial concerns, the influence of the business press, corporate relations, French advertising style, marketing luxury goods, the problem of trade unionism, the role of women in French business, investment patterns, and the general liberalization of the economy. They show that along with the legislative reforms of recent years, a fundamental change in French society has occurred. A new admiration for entrepreneurship, a relaxation of negative views of capitalism, and an increased emphasis on marketing abroad have all contributed to a new business climate in France. The American businessperson must be aware of this if he or she is to successfully do business in France or with the French. By clearly outlining the major developments that have acted to transform French business in recent years, this book provides the basis for that awareness.
Peak Load and Capacity Pricing lays out clear pricing strategies for understanding peak load and capacity pricing structures, further cementing electricity's role as an asset class with fixed and variable costs.
Game theory has been applied to a growing list of practical problems, from antitrust analysis to monetary policy; from the design of auction institutions to the structuring of incentives within firms; from patent races to dispute resolution. The purpose of Game Theory and Business Applications is to show how game theory can be used to model and analyze business decisions. The contents of this revised edition contain a wide variety of business functions - from accounting to operations, from marketing to strategy to organizational design. In addition, specific application areas include market competition, law and economics, bargaining and dispute resolution, and competitive bidding. All of these applications involve competitive decision settings, specifically situations where a number of economic agents in pursuit of their own self-interests and in accordance with the institutional "rules of the game" take actions that together affect all of their fortunes. As this volume demonstrates, game theory provides a compelling guide for analyzing business decisions and strategies.
How are political systems likely to shape the choices, uses, and effects of technological progress? This important new book addresses that question in a case study of Brazil's national alcohol program, Proalcool. Proalcool's stated goals are economic growth, and the reduction of personal regional income disparities, through the production of alcohol as a substitute for petroleum fuels used in internal combustion engines. Established by presidential decree in 1975, the program sought to save Brazil's floundering sugar industry and today can be counted as one of the world's largest and most advanced alternative energy experiments. To better understand how Brazil's political system has shaped this technology, the author investigates the prograM's actual social and economic consequences. He then seeks explanations for these outcomes focusing on the systemic or structural reasons that determined the development of Proalcool's technology. He concludes that the program is best understood as an agent and as a product of an authoritarian political regime, and goes further to analyze its potential role in Brazil's nascent democracy. The book offers an evaluation of the ways in which the new democratic regime in Brazil is likely to shape the choice, use and development of technologies with the potential for profound and lasting changes on the Brazilian economy. By comparing and contrasting the essential features of a democratic regime with a bureaucratic authoritarian one, the author outlines the ways in which the new Brazilian regime--and other Latin American regimes--are likely to shape their technological choices and the futures of their citizens.
This book covers the basic theory of how, what and when firms should produce to maximise profits. Based on the neoclassical theory of the firm presented in most general microeconomic textbooks, it extends the general treatment and focuses on the application of the theory to specific problems that the firm faces when making production decisions to maximise profits. Increasing level of government regulation and the use of specialised and often very expensive equipment in modern production motivates the following focus areas: 1) How to optimise production under restrictions., 2) Treatment of fixed inputs and the process of input fixation, 3) Optimisation of production over time, 4) Linear and Mixed Integer Programming as tools for optimisation in practice. This updated second edition includes a more comprehensive introduction to the theory of decision making under risk and uncertainty as well as a new chapter on how to use linear programming to generate the supply function of the firm.
This book, the result of a symposium co-sponsored by several academic and professional organizations, provides information and insights useful for anyone aspiring to succeed in marketing to consumers in the 1990s. The book is unique in that it blends thoughtful commentaries of distinguished academics with the reasoned perspectives of executives of such firms as J. C. Penney, Avon, and Mary Kay in arriving at an agenda of critical propositions and issues relating to the nature and structure of retailing by the year 2000. What types of retailers will exist in the next century? How many retailers will there be? What will be the relationship between retailing and society? Questions such as these are asked and answered in the book. By focusing on likely trends in traditional retailing, direct marketing, direct selling, and multi-channel distribution networks, and overlaying these trends with the impact of technology and changing consumption patterns, the book provides a set of guidelines for achieving retailing success. The book identifies the single-most important key to success in the remainder of this century--relationship management. Only by managing relationships between the firm and its customers, between the firm and its employees, and between employees and customers will a firm be able to survive in the 1990s. As the book notes, retail leaders in the next millennium will have learned to respect the lifetime value of both their customers and employees. The book concludes by identifying 25 conditions that will face retailers in the 1990s. These conditions, which range from hypersaturated markets to demographic trends (income polarization, smaller households, educational decline, more working women, time poverty), database marketing, show biz shopping, and concerned customers, are likely to both inhibit and facilitate retailing in the remainder of the century. Hence, the book should be of interest to business academics, business practitioners engaged in, or wanting to be engaged in, marketing to consumers, and anyone interested in the future of retailing from a societal or public policy perspective.
This powerful study suggests that strategic pragmatism has enabled Japan to use Western theories and doctrines more comprehensively and thoroughly than the West. The authors contend that Japan's success depends, in part, upon three factors: the ability to recognize a need for action; the ability to respond to such a need even under less than optimal technological conditions, cutting across theoretical and ideological lines; and the ability to adjust or correct action as soon as failure is recognized. By comparing Japan's policies and structure to patterns prevailing in major Western countries, Japan's `secret' can be translated into concepts familiar to the West. This brilliant and provocative book…is a tour de force that argues that Japanese-type economic policies can be duplicated in other capitalist states and that it is a mistake to believe that such policies can only evolve in the unique environment of Japanese culture and society. Foreign Affairs Japan's rise to economic power has been the focus of much attention and speculation in the West. This powerful study suggests that strategic pragmatism has enabled Japan to use Western theories and doctrines more comprehensively and thoroughly than the West. The authors contend that Japan's success depends, in part, upon three factors. The first is the ability to recognize a need for action. Next, the Japanese are able to respond to such a need even under less than optimal technological conditions and can cut across theoretical and ideological lines. Finally, they are ready to adjust or correct action as soon as failure is recognized. Western countries should look at the global significance of Japan's economic performance and learn from their model of action. By comparing Japan's policies and structure to patterns prevailing in major Western countries, Japan's 'secret' can be translated into concepts familiar to the West. Economists, government officials, and business policy makers will find this new approach to Japan's success a worthwhile study. Strategic Pragmatism opens with an explanation for Japan's economic performance. The book then presents the interesting way in which Japan makes functional cuts across doctrines. There is a chapter addressing adaptation and how Western economic concepts are incorporated into Japanese policy. Goal attainment includes such topics as neo-classical infant industry protection and mercantilist aspects in the policy of industrial development. Pattern maintenance is followed by integration, and then the relation of structure and action. Finally the authors develop a model demonstrating how Japan derives a sense of direction from the nature of the changing problems to be solved--the heart of strategic pragmatism.
Dr. Hines draws on her own extensive worldwide research and her consultations with major multinational corporations to provide a comprehensive, detailed study of the rationale underlying the emergence of global private power, ways to find opportunities for further development within the global private power business, and alternative methods and techniques for its development and finance. Her book shows that, with assistance from bilateral and multilateral government agencies such as the International Finance Corporation and the various national export-import banks, project debt ratios resonably low. Equity is usually contributed to the project by all the major participants. Global competition for viable power projects is tending to reduce costs and increase plant efficiencies. This work is a major contribution to our understanding of what global power privatization is, where it is being implemented and how it is done, and the various considerations that energy executives and public policymakers worldwide should keep in mind when they seek financing for their private power projects. Global power plant development commonly starts with regional and country risk analysis as the developer views alternative opportunities and compiles a prospectus for potential investors. As the developer analyzes the financial, market, operating, resource, political, and other risks, he or she usually considers possible methods of risk mitigation. With the participation of key host and home country and foreign partners, the developer selects the new location, the type of power plant and necessary equipment for the desired output, the fuel types and sources, the potential customers, the private financing methods, and the possibility of financial guarantees from the host government and bilateral and multilateral organizations. The markets of Asia, Latin America, and Europe present unusually good opportunities at the turn of the new century. |
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