This book examines the current main sustainable development issues in Asia from a socio-economic, macroeconomic, and financial perspective, beyond a plain environmental context. The book further analyzes both financial or health crises, which jeopardize the economic sustainability of countries, particularly in Asia where a sustained economic growth path is an occurrence of the recent past. By doing so, the volume presents case studies on countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN countries, like Thailand. In some instances, the book provides a comparative analysis of the experience of European Union countries. The book is divided into two parts. The first part presents contributions with socio-economic perspectives under the broad heading of sustainable development. Each contribution examines a specific Asian country. Additionally, it looks into China's rise in adjacent regions like the Middle East, discussing China's positioning in the world in the current post Covid19 context. The second part presents the experiences of a number of Asian countries in terms of financial and economic perspectives, including an analysis of the issue of sovereign debt. The book further examines broader topics, like the sustainability of the top financial centers, and micro-finance. The volume is a must-read for scholars, students, and practitioners, interested in a better understanding of sustainable development issues in Asia in particular, and economics in general.

This book explores the revolutionary development of the theory of the firm over the past 35 years. Despite rapid progress in the field, new developments in the microeconomic and industrial organization literature have been relatively scant. This book attempts to redress the balance by providing a comprehensive overview of the theory of the firm before moving on to explore firms and the organization of their economic activities. The contributors investigate the impact of ownership structure and board composition on firm performance, and examine how the institutional framework of an economy affects investment decisions. More specifically, detailed studies of topics including contracts, authority, competence blocs, institutional impacts and corporate governance mechanisms are presented. This unique blend of financial economics and industrial organization perspectives on the corporate firm will prove a stimulating read for scholars and researchers of economics, business administration and law.

The Himalayas have experienced a population explosion which has stripped the mountain forests, causing erosion, landslides, and massive damage downstream in the Ganges plain . . . or so it is claimed by the dubious Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation. In this book, renowned authorities Jack D. Ives and Bruno Messerli dissect and dismember the theory, showing how its mistaken assumptions have misguided development policy and foreign aid for decades. They challenge received notions of the causes and effects of deforestation, and argue that mountain subsistence farmers, far from being a source of the region's problems, are in fact an integral part of the solution.

Ensuring long-term care (LTC) is one of the most urgent problems in health care today. Demographic trends are expected to lead to a higher proportion of old and very old people in the global population. As a result, an increased proportion of global income will be devoted to LTC services. With this in mind, Long-term Care: Economic Issues and Policy Solutions aims to address the following important objectives: to provide a detailed analysis of the arrangements and institutions designed to protect the disabled and dependent elderly people in various countries, and to try to evaluate their respective merits. to discuss the projections of future costs of protection for dependent elderly, and to assess the impact of improvements in disability-free life expectancy on the future cost of care and choices between informal and formal care. to present empirical research on these decisions, with special consideration of primary caregivers, and on the substitution between in kind and cash benefits as well as between institutional (or formal) care and home (or informal) care. to analyze different theoretical approaches in modeling decisions referring to LTC services to be provided both within and between generations. With its mix of empirical, theoretical and policy-related contributions, Long-term Care: Economic Issues and Policy Solutions will be of interest not only to health economists, but also to social scientists, health insurers, and public policy advocates.

This volume contains papers in the broadly defined area of microeconomic theory presented to the International Economic Association Tenth World Congress in Moscow. A wide range of topics is represented - from the foundations of economic choice through strategic behaviour, multiple market interactions, and asymmetric information to applications in such diverse areas as the internal organization of firms, patent policy, product markets, and labour supply, finishing with a piece on the history of oligopoly theory. The collection strongly suggests that microeconomic theory is indeed thriving as a fascinating and useful central part of economic science.

This comprehensive research review recaps major literary contributions to the economic theory of incentives. These carefully selected papers, both classic and contemporary, analyse collective decision problems in the context of asymmetric information, moral hazard and incomplete contracting. This review is an essential tool for any serious scholar and student in the field.

This book develops a general economic theory that integrates various economic theories and ideas and establishes important relationships between economic variables that are not formally recognized in the economic literature. The author demonstrates how the basic model is integrated with neoclassical growth theory, Walrasian general equilibrium theory, and Ricardian distribution theory, and how these theories can be incorporated through a single set of equations with a microeconomic basis. The book offers new insights into income and wealth distribution between heterogeneous households, racial and national differences in growth and development, interdependence between different stock variables with portfolio choices among different markets. It will appeal to scholars of economists interested in an integrative theoretical approach to this discipline.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This introductory textbook on social choice theory makes the social choice theoretic framework and its main results, that have a direct bearing on the discourses on electoral rules and policy evaluation, accessible to a larger audience. The text is essentially self-contained. No previous knowledge of mathematical logic or relational algebra is assumed. Whatever technical prerequisites are needed, are developed in the text itself. Although the text is at an introductory level, there has been no compromise on rigor. Unlike most introductory books, the relevant proofs are not omitted; rather, they have been explained in detail. The text has a large number of examples so that the concepts and results become clear to the reader. There is a large number of exercises with full solutions provided at the end of the text, so that the reader can check her/his understanding of the material.

Insurance Economics brings together the economic analysis of decision making under risk, risk management and demand for insurance among individuals and corporations, objectives pursued and management tools used by insurance companies, the regulation of insurance, and the division of labor between private and social insurance. Appropriate both for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of economics, management, and finance, this text provides the background required to understand current research. Predictions derived from theoretical arguments are not merely stated, but also related to empirical evidence. Throughout the book, conclusions summarize key results, helping readers to check their knowledge and comprehension. Issues discussed include paradoxes in decision making under risk and attempts at their resolution, moral hazard and adverse selection including the possibility of a "death spiral", and future challenges to both private and social insurance such as globalization and the availability of genetic information. This second edition has been extensively revised. Most importantly, substantial content has been added to represent the evolution of risk-related research. A new chapter, Insurance Demand II: Nontraditional Approaches, provides a timely addition in view of recent developments in risk theory and insurance. Previous discussions of Enterprise Risk Management, long-term care insurance, adverse selection, and moral hazard have all been updated. In an effort to expand the global reach of the text, evidence and research from the U.S. and China have also been added.

This book examines financial vulnerability: a state in which a person or household cannot absorb any substantial spending or negative income shock without substantial financial and ultimately broader harm such as job loss, emotional harm, or mental illness. The focus of the book is on the experiences of low- income and modest income Canadian families - families which, by virtue of being in the lower income brackets, are particularly at risk of experiencing financial hardship. Looking at vulnerability from a conceptual and empirical lens, this book offers a framework to better understand the complex and interdependent ways in which financial vulnerability emerge and can be addressed. By locating its analysis of individual and household financial management in wider community, cultural, and economic contexts, this book seeks to offer holistic policy recommendations to reduce financial vulnerability, with implications that go beyond Canada and to other developed countries.

The Politics of Energy Research and Development examines and evaluates U.S. research and development policies to promote nuclear, solar, conservation, and other technology options. This volume is the third in the series "Energy Policy Studies, "which explores fundamental, long-term social, political, and economic dimensions of energy technology, resources, and use. Contributions represent a wide range of theoretical and policy perspectives, including sociology, economics, political science, urban and regional studies, environmental analysis, and history and philosophy of technology.

Contents: Richard L. Ottinger, "Introduction: The Tragedy of U.S. Energy R&D Policy"; Amor DEGREES B. Lovins, "The Origins of the Nuclear Power Fiasco"; Richard T. Sylves, "Nuclear Exotica: Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives"; Eugene Frankel, "Technology, Politics and Ideology: The Vicissitudes of Federal Solar Energy Policy, 1974-1983"; Maxine Savitz, "The Federal Role in Conservation Research and Development"; J. David Roessner, "Commercialization Issues in Energy Technology Policy"; John Byrne and Daniel Rich, "In Search of the Abundant Energy Machine"; and Grant P. Thompson, "Energy Policy in the Interim: Waiting for the Next Shoe to Drop."

From the reviews: "The huge literature in risk theory has been carefully selected and supplemented by personal contributions of the author, many of which appear here for the first time. The result is a systematic and very readable book, which takes into account the most recent developments of the field. It will be of great interest to the actuary as well as to the statistician who wants to become familiar with the subject." "Math. Reviews Vol. 43"
"It is a book of fundamental importance for all interested in the application or teaching of the subject and a significant addition to the literature."
"Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (England) 1971"
"This latest addition to the literature of risk theory is a masterful work.." "Transactions, Soc of Actuaries meetings 65"

A critical issue in research and development (R&D) management is the structure and use of evaluative efforts for R&D programs. The book introduces the different methods that may be used in R&D evaluation and then illustrates these methods by describing actual evaluation in practice using those methods. The book is divided into two sections. The first section provides an introduction and details on several popular methodologies used in the evaluation of research and development activities. The second half of the book focuses on evaluation in practice and is comprised of several chapters offering the perspectives of individuals in different types of organizations. The book concludes with an annotated bibliography of selected R&D evaluation literature, focusing on post-1985 literature, on research evaluation.

The book presents the basic models of the most important economic agents (households, firms, the banking system etc.). The influence of ethics on the decisions of persons is discussed within the context of mutual influences of one person on another. It is shown that this leads to a Markov chain which converges to a final situation which in many cases is independent of the initial conditions. Different types of decisions are considered: those in personal life, those on the general political and economics constitution and on the current economic policy, and those of normal economic routine (consumption, investment etc.). The reverse influence is treated as well: that of the economic influence on ethics. In the first volume, the conceptual basis of the whole system is laid. The book helps the reader to understand the interdependence of humanities and economics and how to model this interdependence in economics.

Women in Print is a collection of essays in two related volumes which considers the diversity of roles occupied by women in the design, authorship, production, distribution and consumption of printed material from the thirteenth century onwards. Women in Print I: Design and Identities demonstrates women's multi-layered contribution to design, printing and publishing history through eleven case studies of women artists, compositors, editors, engravers, photographers, printers, publishers, scribes, stationers, typesetters, widows in business, and writers. It offers an examination of women as active participants and contributors in the many and varied aspects of design and print culture, including the production of illustrations, typefaces, periodical layouts, photographic prints and bound volumes. Women have often participated in design and print culture throughout history, yet their impact has typically been neglected and undervalued, or deliberately obscured from historical accounts. This collection of essays covers, and recovers, the lives and work of women in print, emphasizing how their contributions brought positive change not only to the industries they contributed to, but also to the wider social and cultural settings of their time.

The 19 speechs in this volume explain many aspects of China's market-based rural economic reforms. They were delivered primarily to groups of government or Party officials by Du Runsheng, director of the Rural Development Research Center (RDRC) of China's State Council for much of the 1980s. The book includes an introductory chapter describing the history of rural economic policy in the People's Republic of China, notes by Du Runsheng and a glossary of important Marxist and Chinese economic terms.

Women in Print is a collection of essays in two related volumes which considers the diversity of roles occupied by women in the design, authorship, production, distribution and consumption of printed material from the fifteenth century onwards. The contributions included in Women in Print 2 cover the whole of the "letterpress era" in Europe from the early fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The essays address three themes: the role of women in the production of print; in its distribution; in addition to some neglected areas of women's consumption of print. To a greater extent the participation of women in the production and distribution of print has been written by the men who dominated the trade. Women in Print 2 explores the often-overlooked contribution to the business aspects of the printing and publishing industries, particularly female involvement in roles that were customarily seen as male preserves. This collection of essays brings together insights from multiple perspectives, seeking to recover the unheard voices and hitherto unnoticed activities of the many women who participated in the production, distribution and consumption of the printed word and image.

This book describes the latest microeconomic concepts and operations research (OR) techniques needed to comprehend the design and operation of power markets, as well as the actions of their agents: producers, consumers, operators, and regulators. This is critical when it comes to addressing a constantly evolving power system environment that incorporates an increasing number of no-marginal-cost renewable sources, increasingly competitive storage facilities, increasingly responsive demands, and widespread communication channels that allow distributed decision-making. Such evolving environments call for a re-examination of the microeconomic concepts and OR techniques required by graduate students and practitioners in the electric energy field. This accessible, tutorial-style book features numerous illustrative examples to help readers grasp the economic concepts and OR procedures used by power market professionals. The authors explian these concepts and procedures and present a vision of a renewable-dominated marketplace. Each chapter also includes exercises.

Capitalism and Socialism in Cuba documents the history of the attempts by a small island nation to survive and gain respectability within an everchanging international political economy. Professor Ruffin presents a detailed account of the social, political, and economic forces affecting Cuba's prospects for development under both capitalism and socialism. Part one of the study focuses on Cuba's historical association with capitalism and the relationship that Cuba established with the United States. Part two of the study delineates the nature of Cuba-Soviet relations and deals exclusively with the question of socialist dependency. Professor Ruffin's study is a systematic analysis of the internal (race and class formations) and external (capitalism and socialism) factors that have thus far shaped Cuban history.

This book collects results from ad hoc surveys on firms pricing behavior conducted in 2003 and 2004 by nine National central banks of the Euro area in the context of a joint research project (Eurosystem Inflation Persistence Network). These surveys have proved to be an efficient way to test theories on the pricing strategies of economic agents, documenting, in qualitative terms, the underlying rationale of the observed pricing patterns. The book provides an unprecedented amount of information from more than 11,000 euro area firms, addressing issues such as the relevance of nominal and real rigidities, the information set used by firms in the price setting process, the strategy followed to review prices, the frequency of both price reviews and price changes, the reasons underlying price stickiness, and asymmetries in price adjustment. It also compares results for the euro area to those obtained for other countries by similar studies. Finally, it draws the main implications for theoretical modeling and for monetary policy.

People pursue their own interests, whatever those interests might be. Some people have interests that are narrow and selfish, others have interests that are broad and altruistic, still others have interests that are somewhere in between. The idea that people are self-interested underpins all of economic analysis and raises two fundamental questions: 1. How do people choose the actions they think will further their own interests? 2. Can the potentially conflicting interests of different people be made to 'mesh' in some sort of socio-economic equilibrium? This book is devoted to a detailed study of the first question. Its Companion Volume (Economy-Wide Microeconomics: Equilibrium, Optimality, Applications and Tests) makes a detailed study of the second question.This book begins with the Arrow-Debreu theory of consumer choice. This theory supposes people choose so as to maximize a complete, continuous, transitive, and reflexive binary preference relation over a non-empty and compact choice set, under certainty. The book then studies numerous modifications, relaxations, and generalizations of each of these restrictions - up to and including recent work on Behavioral theories of choice. The study is presented from the Primal, Dual, and Revealed Preference points of view.Consumers are not the only agents in the economy, as Producers are present as well. Starting with the Arrow-Debreu idea that producers choose from a convex production set so as to maximize profit, a study is made of some of the extensions, modifications, and generalizations of this framework that have appeared in the literature. The study is presented from the Primal and Dual points of view.The final chapter in the book provides a link to its Companion Volume. The Chapter indicates how the theories of consumer and producer choice studied here inform answers of the second question posed above.

A new theory to explain the problems Mexico has had in developing a viable market economy is presented in this innovative book. The theory bases the difficulties not on the current popular view of dependency, domestic response to foreign influence, but on Mexican culture and traditions. Armstrong traces patterns of Mexican history and lawmaking from the time of the Spanish conquistadores through the present. He demonstrates that the country has never developed a materialistic culture of egoism and autonomy, necessary in a market economy, but instead reinforces communitarian paternalism. The ideologies imported by the intellegensia (such as nineteenth century liberalism and twentieth century socialism) are shown to have had little impact on Mexico because the implicit premises of these philosophies have been incompatible with social conditions and aspirations in that nation. Armstrong argues that the blend of Spanish and traditional Indian cultures which focus on communitarian and paternalistic attitudes have constricted entrepreneurship, innovation, and commerce.

"Law and Market Society in Mexico" begins in New Spain. The author explores the patterns of land tenure by the conquistadores and collective ownership among the Indians. Both the land and labor in Mexico were generally not articles of commerce, with systems such as mortmain, entail, and debt peonage in place. Current government stewardship is seen as far more intense than the level of regulation the United States has been accustomed to. This perceptive work is ideal for courses on Latin American studies, politics, and history.

Public experience with risk communication differs greatly from country to country in Europe and there has been little opportunity for the transfer of experience and learning between countries. This is especially true for the many new European States, including the countries in transition from centralised to market economies. This book presents case studies on risk communication. One of its unifying concepts is the role of risk communication in the risk management process. Technical and philosophical introductions to risk communication and risk management and research in risk communication are given. The case studies themselves occupy the central portion of the book, each one covering a particular hazard, risk or situation seen from a particular point of view. The issue of the special circumstances for environmental and health risk communication in central and eastern Europe is also addressed through a separate presentation and discussion of an appropriate case study. A different approach to risk communication is taken by examining how it forms part of the risk management process at the local level. Research into risk perception, a field that forms an important foundation for many aspects of risk communication, is summarised and practical guidelines for risk communication are reviewed. These include discussions on how to carry out public information programmes and methods for increasing public involvement in risk management decisions.