Microregionalism and World Order is a pioneering work on the least understood aspect of regionalism. Leading specialists analyze the form microregionalism takes in different parts of the world, including the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Africa. By illustrating the complex relationship among the political, economic, and social dimensions of microregionalism, the book seeks to contribute to the theoretical debate on regionalism as well as to provide new empirical insights.

Hannah Arendt's approach to politics focuses on action and conduct, rather than institutions, constitutions, and states. Thus, Arendt's work offers a novel and interesting alternative to the ways in which agency and structure are understood in international relations. In light of Arendtian conceptions of politics, essays in this book challenge conventional IR theories. The contributions on agency explore concepts and categories of political action that enable individuals to act politically and to re-make the world in new, unpredictable ways. The contributions on structure explore how Arendt provides new critical purchase upon often reified structures and categories.

This text offers detailed analysis and informed comment on the future of emerging economic policies. It is essential reading for all postgraduates and scholars looking for expert discussion and debate on the issues surrounding economic policy.

Since 1949, Chinese capitalists have experienced some dramatic shifts in their political and economic life. Keming Yang examines what such changes tell us about China's current political situation and future political development, making use of both historical and current interdisciplinary evidence.

Long overlooked, transport is emerging as an important policy area for the European Union and is a growing source of political tension. This broad-based analysis of the European transport industry includes an in-depth examination of the four major modes: rail, road, air, and shipping, also the EU's growing cross-border transport links. Ross frames this discussion with a look at the role of transport in the overall European political economy--past, present, and future.

- New paperback edition
- The story of the expeditions of Spanish explorers told through the history of the first American currency: pleces of eight
- Traces the rise and fall of Spain's world dominance
- Chronicles the developments in transportation, organization, and military technology based on competition for gold and silver

This distinguished collection of Dennis Mueller's papers discusses the economic challenges faced as a result of events in the latter third of the twentieth century; the formation of the European Union, the collapse of Communism in East Europe, and the deregulation and privatization movement that spread from North America to Europe and then across the rest of the world. The book explores the design of political institutions and the functioning of economies, and goes on to prescribe the types of fiscal and competition policies that are required as we enter the twenty-first century, posing questions such as: * What should a new democracy's constitution comprise? * Should the European Union be organized as a federal system? * What should a global competition policy consist of? Academics specializing in public choice theory, political economy, and industrial organization will warmly welcome this outstanding volume, as will those with an interest in globalization and the European Union.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the political environment in Europe has changed dramatically, and security requirements for NATO countries have undergone a radical transformation. Yet, as illustrated by the recent bombing of Kosovo, restructuring of the defense industrial sectors in Europe lags behind the United States. The most egregious example is the armored vehicle sector, particularly in Britain, Germany, and France. Identifying five conditions necessary for restructuring the armored vehicle industry, this book looks at the absence or presence of these economic conditions in each of these countries and analyzes the impact on the armored vehicle industry.

Comparing these countries to the United States, where the armored vehicle industry has restructured as fully and as ruthlessly as the defense aerospace and electronic industries, the author shows private ownership, flexible capital and labor markets, a profitable scale of production, a lack of commercial diversification, and an active state defense industrial policy to be necessary prerequisites. All five factors exist in the United States, whereas two or more are missing in the European countries, retarding development of this industry.

The Field of Public Economics has been changing rapidly in recent years, and the sixteen chapters contained in this Handbook survey many of the new developments. As a field, Public Economics is defined by its objectives rather than its techniques and much of what is new is the application of modern methods of economic theory and econometrics to problems that have been addressed by economists for over two hundred years. More generally, the discussion of public finance issues also involves elements of political science, finance and philosophy. These connections are evidence in several of the chapters that follow.
Public Economics is the positive and normative study of government's effect on the economy. We attempt to explain why government behaves as it does, how its behavior influences the behavior of private firms and households, and what the welfare effects of such changes in behavior are. Following Musgrave (1959) one may imagine three purposes for government intervention in the economy: allocation, when market failure causes the private outcome to be Pareto inefficient, distribution, when the private market outcome leaves some individuals with unacceptably low shares in the fruits of the economy, and stabilization, when the private market outcome leaves some of the economy's resources underutilized. The recent trend in economic research has tended to emphasize the character of stabilization problems as problems of allocation in the labor market. The effects that government intervention can have on the allocation and distribution of an economy's resources are described in terms of efficiency and incidence effects. These are the primary measures used to evaluate the welfare effects of government policy.

The Annual Report objectively reflects the year's developments in terms of politics, the economy, society, culture, the environment, innovation and reform, and describes the problems, challenges and countermeasures in both traditional and new special economic zones. It provides an analysis of China's special economic zones, including a review of the year's developments in the form of experimental zones. It also presents new special economic zones and focuses on analyzing the transformation of these zones; the use of resources; sustainable, economic and social development; social security and technical innovation in the context of current developments. It also offers a comparative analysis and makes policy and development suggestions for each issue.

Based on the empirical analysis of the effectiveness of four provincial centres for the diffusion of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a market mechanism for emission reductions, Miriam Schroeder scrutinizes the strengths and weaknesses of hybrid actors' performance on the local Chinese carbon market.

This book discusses a development in institutional economics and management science, which provides engineering methods for institution design. Based on the "Sun Diagram" created by the author, it uses graphics and calculations to explain that there are only five fundamental management institution structures, each of which has a particular management effect. It also demonstrates that production activities should be managed with different institutions according to the differences in externalities. This significant book suggests ways of using institution design to tackle the key challenges faced by societies today, such as environmental pollution, over-consumption of natural resources, carbon emissions, world peace issues and stagnating productivity levels.

This volume begins with an introduction to Marx's theory of capitalism in his own words, with his examples modernized from use of shillings and pence as subdivisions of the Pound. Well-known 1901 work on the theory of crises in capitalism by Michael Tugan-Baranowsky is translated into English for the first time, with a Preface placing it in context. The political activism and theoretical work of Henryk Grossman through 1926 is summarized in some detail, and a rarely-known brief article of his from
1919 included.

Ambiguity in Marx's definition of accumulation of capital and the
differing directions Lenin and Luxemburg took with it are next analyzed, with a more precise definition offered. Debate, begun in the last volume, over the valuation of means of production and its effect on the possibility of a falling tendency of the profit rate is taken a step forward as contrasting positions are developed.

Finally, credit money as an advanced form of money is analyzed and the post-Keynesian analysis of it, originating from Kaldor, subject to critique. Several theories of inflation theory are reviewed, with focus on the agencies causing inflation. A rediscovery of Marxian inflation theory is proposed.

This book examines fiscal policy coordination in EMU and the required adjustments to national fiscal policies by EMU member states. It presents a coherent view of German fiscal policy following the creation of the Stability and Growth Pact in 1995-97 and the implementation of the Stability Pact in 1997. The book shows that, in the process of Europeanization, national interests have had a major impact on the formation of fiscal policy coordination. It also shows how European fiscal policy coordination has affected national fiscal policies and policy implementation in EMU, and how changes in national interests have finally launched the reform process of the original Stability Pact and a new phase or Europeanization.

Global capital markets have undergone fundamental transformations in recent years and, as a result, have become extraordinarily complex and opaque. Trading space is no longer measured in minutes or seconds but in time units beyond human perception: milliseconds, microseconds, and even nanoseconds. Technological advances have thus scaled up imperceptible and previously irrelevant time differences into operationally manageable and enormously profitable business opportunities for those with the proper high-tech trading tools. These tools include the fastest private communication and trading lines, the most powerful computers and sophisticated algorithms capable of speedily analysing incoming news and trading data and determining optimal trading strategies in microseconds, as well as the possession of gigantic collections of historic and real-time market data. Fragmented capital markets are also becoming a rapidly growing reality in Europe and Asia, and are an established feature of U.S. trading. This raises urgent market governance issues that have largely been overlooked. Global Algorithmic Capital Markets seeks to understand how recent market transformations are affecting core public policy objectives such as investor protection and reduction of systemic risk, as well as fairness, efficiency, and transparency. The operation and health of capital markets affect all of us and have profound implications for equality and justice in society. This unique set of chapters by leading scholars, industry insiders, and regulators discusses ways to strengthen market governance for the benefit of society at whole.

This book investigates dynamic regions in the context of greater global interaction in a world economy increasingly driven by knowledge and innovation. It offers novel empirical evidence on the underlying factors of the growth performance of these spaces. In particular, the following questions are addressed: What role is there for research, education and innovation in the development strategies of the dynamic growth regions? What are the risks and consequences of dynamic growth on patterns of world growth and development, competitiveness, inequalities, and convergence? What development strategies should be promoted at national and international levels to promote a growing and more sustainable world economy? What are the implications of the emerging new competitors for Europe's competitiveness? Using an innovative, integrated framework of analysis, the contributions in this book combine a wide array of complex theoretical and methodological approaches.

The entrepreneurs of China are dynamic and contributing positively to economic development, but unlike Western entrepreneurs, they are uncertain and insecure about government policies and their position in society. This book shows that in the history of China and in the politics of the 1980s, all are influenced by culture and have created an entrepreneurial class that is ambiguous and fragile. Yet the entrepreneurs are moving China toward economic development, and this is giving rise to a new economic culture which honors profit-making ventures. The Chinese Communist Party is making room for entrepreneurs and consumers in the economic arena. The study supports the idea that entrepreneurship is the key to economic development, but it also shows that private entrepreneurship influences government policy and traditional values. It also points out the vital role of the consumer.

China's emerging financial markets reflect the usual contrast between the country's measured approach toward policy, regulatory, and market reform, and the dynamic pace of rapid economic growth and development. But they also offer unusual challenges and opportunities. In the past five years, the pace of opening and reform has accelerated sharply. Recapitalization and partial privatization of the largest banks, and the allowance of some joint venture and branch operations for foreign financial institutions, are making rapid headway in developing and expanding financial services and improving access to domestic business and households. This book provides the most extensive look available at the evolving Chinese financial system. It begins with alternative perspectives on the evolution of the financial system and the broad outlines of its prospects and potential contribution to economic growth. Three articles review broad aspects of the financial system. Franklin Allen, Jun ''QJ'' Qian, Meijun Qian, and Mengxin Zhao lead off with overviews of the banking system and performance of the equity market and other institutions.

The logic behind European monetary cooperation and integration can only be understood through an examination of French efforts to maximize their monetary power in relation to Germany and America. This book provides a detailed and historically-informed study of the motives and economic and political attitudes that shaped French policy on European developments over a 30-year period, from the collapse of the International Monetary System in the late 1960s and early 1970s through to the start of EMU on January 1, 1999.

Written by a group of international experts, this book focuses on three interdependent themes: (a) origins and consequences of the current debt crisis; (b) the systemic nature of the crisis; (c) national and international policy efforts to avoid a global collapse and bring about lasting reforms in the Euro zone and in the financial system.

The Return to Europe examines the ability of the central and south east European economies to withstand competitive pressures on entry to the EU. Trade with the EU largely involves the export of labour intensive goods in exchange for human capital intensive goods. The export structure of central European economies, which have attracted foreign direct investment, is improving. The Balkan economies remain dependent on exports of low-wage products. Will this create permanent divisions in Europe, with implications for European security?

In this book, a leading observer of the international financial system assesses official efforts to address the problem of financial crises in emerging markets. Professor Eichengreen describes the progress that has been made in limiting the frequency of crises and strengthening the international financial system. He also shows that initiatives in this area have unintentionally made life more difficult for the poorest countries. He therefore argues that efforts to limit the threat to the international financial system need to be linked to an increase in development assistance. Another place where official efforts have fallen short, the author argues is in creating new ways of resolving crises. He shows that official financing through the International Monetary Fund is part of the problem. The IMF's financial rescues allow investors to escape without losses, in turn encouraging them to lend without due regard to the risks. This only makes the international system more crises prone. That the IMF has repeatedly come under pressure to bail out crisis countries reflects the absence of other acceptable ways of resolving the financial difficulties of emerging markets. Not lending threatens to expose the international financial system to a disorderly and disruptive crisis. At the same time, radical new alternatives like an international bankruptcy court or international lender of last resort would create more problems than they solved-even if there was the political appetite for such ambitious schemes, which there is not. The author concludes that the best way to enhance the efficiency and stability of international financial markets is by pushing for changes to the provisions of loan agreements that will enhance the capacity of creditors and debtors to resolve financial problems on their own.

This book examines humanitarian interventions in the post-Cold War era within the context of the development of global capitalism. It argues that protection of human rights is a noble idea and it is often our duty to use force to uphold these rights. However, Ivan Manokha shows that within the context of the late-modern world characterised by a global form of capitalism such attempts to promote and protect human rights have an unintended consequence of contributing to the perpetuation of poverty and poverty-related problems resulting from the functioning of the global political economy.

This study examines the relative successes and failures of reform programs in Poland and Czechoslovakia, as well as the causes of these successes and failures. It provides a synthesized and comparative study of efforts to achieve systemic economic transformation. The work begins with the identification of background forces in these two countries--cultural, social, political, and economic--analyzing their impact on micro-responsiveness to reform policies. Then, within the framework of these forces, the author traces the causes of the two economies' reform failures during and since the Communist era. The central purpose of the work is to provide objective lessons for economies attempting systemic transformations or implementing development policies. This work will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in development economics and comparative economic systems and policies.

The Political Economy of Regionalism; The Case of Southern Africa challenges prevailing wisdom, showing how ruling political elites and 'big business' join forces with certain external actors in order to promote market integration and economic globalization, boost regimes, and to satisfy group-specific and even personal interests. Only rarely do these forms of regionalism contribute to the poor and disadvantaged, who instead opt out, and survive through informal economic regionallsms or seek to create regionalisms rooted in civil society.