This innovative book proposes a new institutional arrangement for government to fulfil the needs of its citizens as well as possible. Existing aspects of federalism and direct democracy in Europe are strengthened, and as a result future developments arising in the region are coped with better. In this book Bruno Frey and Reiner Eichenberger propose a new model of federalism which includes new types of governmental units established by citizens from below. These units are called functional, overlapping and competing jurisdictions as they extend over task-specific areas and therefore overlap. They also provide competitive governance via direct and representative democratic institutions, and as jurisdictions they have independent power over taxation policy. This new model is more responsive to citizens' preferences and adjusts more dynamically to provide public services efficiently. The authors suggest that this new system should be allowed to develop in Europe to safeguard diversity and ensure that decentralization emerges effectively. It would also allow for the flexible integration of East European transition economies into the European Union and may also combine with traditional modes of government in developing countries. This book will be warmly welcomed by economists, political scientists and sociologists interested in the future of the European Union, by all those studying federal systems of government, and by those interested in the prospects for improving democratic institutions throughout the world.

The most common way of constructing portfolios is to use traditional asset allocation strategies, which match the client s risk appetite to a weighted allocation strategy of fixed income, equities, and other types of assets. This method focuses on how the money is allocated, rather than on future returns.
The Sortino method presents an innovative change from this traditional approach. Rather than using the client s risk as the main factor, this method uses the client s desired return.
Only book to describe the Sortino method and Desired Target Return in a way that enables portfolio managers to adopt the method
Software to implement the portfolio construction method is included free of charge to book buyers on a password protected Elsevier website. Book buyers can use the software to construct portfolios using this method right away, in real time. They can also load in their current portfolios and measure them against these measures.
The Sortino method has been tested over 20 years at the Pension Research Institute. Portfolio managers can be confident of the success of the method, even returns in the economic crisis, in whichthe method has still beaten all S&P benchmarks."

"International Taxation in America" presents the most complete and indispensible guide to international taxation available in today's market. Author Brian Dooley, CPA, is a seasoned tax researcher and specialist in international tax and is among the very few experts who have experienced hundreds of international tax audits without a loss.

Covering international taxation for businesses, the taxation of shareholders of foreign corporations, foreign tax credits, cross-border estate planning, and much more, Dooley offers meticulous research and clear explanations of hundreds of international tax-related issues. Whether the subject is tax haven corporations and trusts, reducing taxes through tax treaties, learning how Americans are taxed abroad, or estate planning for multi-national families, Dooley explains the subject in thorough and clear language.

"International Taxation in America" provides valuable lessons for your enrichment, including useful links to help guide you online. You'll receive the level of information and expertise required to avoid mistakes and IRS scrutiny.

This book provides the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the emerging civil service systems in 9 Central and East European states. Its comparative nature provides a fascinating insight into the emerging patterns of administrative development in the region since the beginning of the transition period. The authors apply the same methodological framework developed by the Civil Service Research Consortium to all the country case studies, which gives the book a high level of coherence and enhances the comparability of the country case studies. This methodological framework provides a solid background for the in-depth analysis of the history of the civil service system, internal labour market, public opinion, relations between politicians and administrators and civil service reform and development. Special attention is given to topical issues such as the influence of the European Union on the emerging civil service systems and possibility of European Union candidature. Civil Service Systems in Central and Eastern Europe will be warmly welcomed by academics and advanced level students in public administration, law, political science and transition studies as well as policymakers and international organizations helping to develop civil services in former communist countries.

This book explores blockchain technology's impact on banks, particularly how blockchain technology can create new opportunities for banks and poses new threats to their business. The digital revolution in the banking industry, whose customers are increasingly adapting to new technologies and new types of competitors and solutions arising in the space, has had a significant impact on the banking industry over the past few years, requiring banks to substantially rethink their business models and strategies in order to cope with these developments. The rise of blockchain's distributed ledger technology (DLT) has also played an important role since it has the potential to change the whole banking industry in faster and more disruptive ways than ever before. Born as the technology underlying Bitcoin, which has been used to allow the recording of cryptocurrencies transactions, blockchain can facilitate the process of recording any transaction type and track the movement of any asset, finding application in many different areas. Specifically, it has been acknowledged as a disruptive force in the financial sector and a key source of future financial market innovation with the potential to reshape existing business models in the financial services industry. Regarding the banking industry in particular, existing literature suggests that blockchain poses new challenges and generates opportunities as well as threats. This is pushing banks to rethink their operations, business models and strategies. However, literature in this regard is still in its infancy, and we do not yet have a clear understanding of blockchain technology's potential implications for banks. This book expands the literature on blockchain technology in banking by providing new insights into the developments, trends and challenges of blockchain in the banking industry. In particular, sheds more light on the implications of blockchain technology for banks by discussing the advantages and disadvantages related to this technology and exploring its potential impact on traditional banking business models.

Why do so many smart professional people make bad investments? Why do they often fail to accumulate significant wealth and sometimes make truly disastrous financial decisions? This book offers some answers to these questions. It then provides specific recommendations to help doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, and many other intelligent people avoid serious financial errors and achieve superior investment results. Sensible self-directed investing with long-term compounding of returns and avoidance of all unnecessary fees can produce remarkable accumulations of capital with limited risk. You can choose to be successful as a largely passive investor or as one more seriously involved in making individual investment decisions. This book tells you how to do it. Buying this short volume and then putting its advice into practice may become the most important financial decisions you have ever made. About the author - Joseph D. Schulman is an internationally known physician, medical research scientist, and biomedical entrepreneur. He is also a successful investor. Dr. Schulman is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and of the Executive M.B.A. (OPM) program at Harvard Business School. He lives with his wife, Dixie, in Oxford, MD and Palm Springs, CA.

This research review assesses the ground-breaking contributions to the evolution of knowledge in the economics of risk and time, from its early twentieth-century explorations to its current diversity of approaches. The analysis focuses first on the basic decisions under uncertainty, and then on asset pricing. It further discusses both classical expected utility approach and its non-expected utility generalizations, with applications to dynamic portfolio choices, insurance, risk sharing, and risk prevention. This review will be valuable for scholars in finance and macroeconomics, particularly those with an interest in the modeling foundations of consumer and investor decisions under uncertainty.

This book examines the capital structure dynamics in Indian MSMEs, offering empirical evidence to better understand the financial practices within entrepreneurial settings. Altaf and Shah in this book assess the financing pattern of Indian MSMEs, response of capital structure determinants to different macroeconomic states, links between working capital and capital structure, cash flow volatility and capital structure and also the impact of credit risk on capital structure and firm performance relationship. This book enthuses the audience looking to understand newer dynamics of capital structure and its interplay in the Indian MSMEs.

This volume continues to highlight the latest research contributions presented at the annual Wroclaw conference in Finance (Poland), covering a wide range of topics in the field. The chapters reflect the extent, diversity, and richness of research areas, and discuss both fundamental and applied finance. A detailed analysis of current financial-market problems including specifics of Polish and Central European markets is also part of this volume. Selected chapters also examine the results of advanced financial modeling. These proceedings are a valuable resource for researchers in universities and research and policy institutions, graduate students and practitioners in economics, finance and international economics in both private and government institutions.

Master the navigation of private equity deals from sourcing to exit with this comprehensive guide  The Private Equity Toolkit: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Deals Done from Sourcing to Exit offers readers the first complete guide to executing a private equity deal from start to finish. Written by an accomplished professional with twenty years of experience in the private equity space, this book is perfect for current private equity analysts and associates, as well as business students and professionals seeking to enter the private equity field.   This book covers every stage of the private equity process, from sourcing the deal to company exit. It provides a systematic overview of how to:  ·         Originate attractive investment opportunities;  ·         Generate superior deal insights;  ·         Form effective working relationships with management teams;  ·         Add value on portfolio company boards; and  ·         Achieve profitable investment exits.  The Private Equity Toolkit equips its readers with actionable frameworks and proprietary tools that can be applied on a daily basis in the private equity industry. The content found within is designed to be current and helpful for years to come and appeals to a global audience. 

Industrial houses have, in recent years, begun to favor green products and financial institutions are funneling investible funds to environmentally friendly industries as a priority. Implementation of green policy to support these changes requires economic as well as political support from various influential countries. Success of green policies will inevitably benefit biodiversity and global environmental health. Economic and Political Implications of Green Trading and Energy Use is a scholarly research publication that presents global perspectives on the impact of green financing and accounting on the health of the environment while highlighting issues related to carbon trading, carbon credit, energy use, and energy efficiency and their impact on economic outputs. This reference features a range of topics including environmental policies and sustainable development and is essential for academicians, environmental scientists, policymakers, political scientists, students, and researchers.

As the world is entering possibly the deepest recession since the 1980s, many organizations realize they should have prepared better for tough times. Thus, there is increased interest in the concept of the high-performance organization (HPO). The HPO is defined as "an organization that achieves financial and non-financial results that are exceedingly better than those of its peer group over a period of five years or more, by focusing in a disciplined way on that what really matters to the organization." Core to the HPO idea is to create such a strong internal organization that it can easily and flexibly deal with both threats and opportunities presented by the outside world. This can only be effectively achieved when all parts of the organization contribute to creating and sustaining the HPO. This means that all departments, functions, business units, and divisions must transform themselves into high-performance entities. Among the most important support functions of every organization is the finance function. The term "finance function" refers to all financial processes in an organization. The professionals responsible for financial processes usually work in the finance department but can also operate in other parts of the organization, for instance as business unit controllers. The finance function can be regarded as the spider in the organizational web, as it has relations with every part of the organization and is also represented on the executive board. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that this function takes the lead by quickly transforming itself into a high-performance finance function (HPFF), serving as a role model for other functions in the organization. An HPFF is defined as "a function that supports the organization to become and remain an HPO by ensuring that its people, processes, and systems are of the highest quality." The key question however is how an HPFF can be created. This book not only describes the development of the HPFF framework (which is based on a large literature review of current trends in finance functions and a survey among financial professionals) but also explores the experiences, lessons learned and results achieved by finance functions that have transformed themselves into "HPFFs" or high performance finance functions using the HPFF framework. The book's experiences will be abundantly illustrated by real-life case studies from finance functions from multinational and other profit companies, and governmental organizations. With this book finance professionals have a roadmap to convince the organization of the importance of becoming an HPFF. The main audience for this book is the financial professional who wants to think about and build - together with fellow financial professionals - a high performance financial function. So a financial professional who dares to dream of a better financial function, and who wants to contribute to the further development of that function. A financial person who feels that ""control"" and ""compliance"" alone are not sufficient to excel - that more must be done for that.

In this book, a framework of the investment function is developed that allows for the heterogeneity of capital goods, i.e., the Multiple q model, and investment behavior in Japan by employing this Multiple q framework is developed. The standard approach to investment behavior is Tobin's q theory in which the investment rate is a linear function of only the q ratio, or a firm's market value measured by its capital goods. As is well known, however, its empirical performance has been almost universally unsatisfactory. Thus the development of a new framework. The authors inquire into and statistically test null hypotheses set on such issues as (a) heterogeneity of multiple capital goods, (b) non-convex adjustment costs to inspire lumpy investment, (c) differences in the adjustment costs in accumulating capital stock through new purchases, second-hand market acquisitions, and large-scale repairs, and (d) capital market imperfections. The test results show that, irrespective of the time period, firms' size, and the industry to which firms belong, (a) multiple capital goods are not homogeneous, (b) some firms face adjustment cost structures that eventually lead to occasional lumpy investment, (c) the method of acquiring investment matters in accumulating capital stock, and (d) capital market imperfections would constrain some lumpy investment. This book is published in cooperation with the Research Institute of Capital Formation, Development Bank of Japan.

This book examines the experiences and good practices of ACLEDA Bank, Cambodia. Applicable to banks and microfinance institutions around the globe, it includes materials for classroom instruction on organizational development, financial sector development, the role of government and investors in supporting the financial market, and the benefits to customers. Following on the previous publication When There Was No Money, which tells the ACLEDA story by tracing its history and various stages of organizational development in the financial sector as it evolved in Cambodia from 1991 to 2004, this book examines the 2nd decade in the bank's history, including its expansion to Lao PDR and Myanmar, and the launch of subsidiaries, such as ACLEDA Securities and the ACLEDA Institute of Business. Adopting a documentary approach, the book presents case studies supported by current economic and financial literature, as well as stories from a wide range of interviews with the board, management, staff, customers, competitors and regulators. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for financial institutions, investors, researchers and students interested in financial inclusion, financial sector development, good governance of financial institutions, microfinance, aid effectiveness, post-conflict organizational development, and Cambodia.