Margot P. C. Weijnen, Zofia Lukszo and Geert Deconinck Abstract The infrastructures for electric power and information and telecommunication services are critical enablers for all economic activity. Both of these infrastructure systems evolved over time as networks-of-networks in an institutionally fr- mented landscape. In understanding and steering the emergent behaviour of these infrastructure systems both their physical network complexity and their social n- work complexity pose a formidable challenge. On top of the socio-technical c- plexity of the electricity infrastructure and the information and telecommunication infrastructure as such, the two infrastructure systems show unprecedented mutual interdependency. Unravelling this multi-level interdependency and identifying strategies to curb the new risks and vulnerabilities it implies for the reliability of electric power services is the goal of this book. It clearly shows that technical so- tions alone will not suffice to ensure the future reliability and security of electricity infrastructure operations. Keywords Cybersecurity * infrastructure vulnerability * infrastructure depend- cies * power systems 1. 1 Infrastructures Are Critical Infrastructures are the backbone of the economy and society. Especially the network bound infrastructures operated by public utilities and network industries provide essential services that are enabling for almost every economic and social activity. M. P. C. Weijnen (*) and Z. Lukszo Technology Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P. O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands e-mail: M. P. C. Weijnen@tudelft. nl; Z. Lukszo@tudelft. nl G. Deconinck K. U.

This book discusses the strategic shift in ownership of Aramco, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, and its potential impact on Aramco's role in a post- privatized world. Scheduled to become an IPO in 2018, Aramco is on the verge of becoming the largest IPO on the market. As the world's largest oil and gas company, Aramco's impending privatization has important implications for the world's petroleum market. This book, therefore, undertakes an analysis of Aramco, examining its history, its current role in Saudi Arabia's economy, and its future role as an IPO. The chapters highlight the likely outcomes for Aramco in proceeding with its planned IPO and privatization, as well as the various policy options and models available to it by drawing on the privatization of other national oil companies in Norway , Russia, Brazil, and China. The book also explores the complexities that will be involved in transforming Saudi Aramco to a privatized company-albeit with significant government oversight and control-and addresses key questions on the issues likely to be faced, such as IPO pricing, the listing, domain, and market capacity, and potential stakeholders. As such, this book will be of interest to academic researchers studying energy economics, energy policy, and the political economy of the Middle East, as well as private sector decision makers in energy related fields, international organizations, international oil companies, energy commodity traders, and public sector energy policy makers with interest in Saudi Arabia and Aramco's IPO.

Global crises not only deeply impact the economy and people's livelihoods, they also unsettle basic ideas and assumptions about the meaning and drivers of development. This collection of theoretical and empirical studies explores the substance and politics of policy change following the 2007/8 crisis from the perspective of developing countries.

A recent coinage within international relations, "nation branding" designates the process of highlighting a country's positive characteristics for promotional purposes, using techniques similar to those employed in marketing and public relations. Nation Branding in Modern History takes an innovative approach to illuminating this contested concept, drawing on fascinating case studies in the United States, China, Poland, Suriname, and many other countries, from the nineteenth century to the present. It supplements these empirical contributions with a series of historiographical essays and analyses of key primary documents, making for a rich and multivalent investigation into the nexus of cultural marketing, self-representation, and political power.

This book provides an original and timely insight into the role that the domestic and international political economy played in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, combining an innovative theoretical framework with in-depth bond market analysis.

The focus of this book is the modeling of the location of economic activities, measured in terms of employment, in land-use and transportation systems. These measures are key inputs to models at intra-urban scales of the flows of persons and goods for both urban and transport planning. The models described here are either components of comprehensive models or specialist studies. Economic activities can be defined in terms of jobs or private-sector firms and public service organisations. Different levels of aggregation are used both in terms of organisational and geographical dimensions. In the case of firms and public organizations, a distinction can be made between the organizations themselves and corresponding establishments. For urban simulation models, it is the location of establishments that is important. At the more coarse levels of aggregation that are usually used in comprehensive models, firms and organizations are aggregated into sectors.

This book finds that the R&D and technological innovation of a country is not a result, but a factor, of sustained economic growth. Bazhal develops Schumpeter's theory to argue that genuine economic growth - especially in transitioning and developing countries - is only possible with innovation. With a particular focus on the work of Ukrainian economists, Tugan-Batanobvsky and Vernadsky, the text seeks to move the discipline forward and explain why innovation has become a primary factor of economic development in recent decades and why its role will become even more dominant in the future. Chapters interrogate whether modern economic theory can explain how we ensure the effective functioning of the market economy. The book shows that explanations of economists and politicians regarding the nature of the current economic and financial crisis, and the causes of huge gaps in levels of wealth in market economies, demonstrates that there are not enough satisfactory answers to this question.

Reevaluating NAFTA seeks to answer the question: has NAFTA integrated North America? A fifteen-year NAFTA appraisal finds trade expansion boosting optimism, but also unveils stark asymmetry between developed and developing countries as well as top-heavy NAFTA regulations seriously constraining ground-level integration. Using empirical data analysis and a wide-reaching theoretical context, this book seeks to evaluate the results of NAFTA's 'fifteen-year itch' to identify what worked and what didn't, and ultimately, to point to the future of North American integration.

Austerity has dominated the policy agenda in the past decade. Although it appeared to end with the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to harsh cutbacks in the future cannot be ruled out. In this incisive analysis, Diane Perrons shows that while austerity policies have devastating effects on people's lives, their gendered dynamics are particularly conspicuous: budget cuts have been overwhelmingly aimed at services used by women. She shows how the gender aspects of this economic and social catastrophe intersected with a range of other factors, making the experience of austerity very different for different groups - and highly unjust. Not only that, it undermined responses to COVID-19. She finishes by critiquing the justifications for austerity policies and asks whether there are compelling alternatives that can re-invigorate economies and societies after the pandemic, and avoid a return to austerity. This compelling book will be essential reading for activists, policymakers and students of feminist political economy everywhere.

Effective, meaningful caregiving requires a well-coordinated and informed effort guided by various highly skilled specialists across several interrelated professions, including psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists. Multidisciplinary Coordinated Caregiving addresses the information needs of these interrelated professionals, contributing to the direct care of individuals and serving as an essential resource for those who ultimately create collaborative approaches to contemporary caregiving plans. In addition, the volume provides a wealth of evidence-based research findings to facilitate ongoing dialogue about multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on and interventions for the complex challenge of caregiving in America. Key areas of coverage include: * The status of professional caregiving in the United States. * Nursing perspectives on the state of family caregiving. * Psychological aspects of caregiving. * A human development, lifespan perspective on caregiving during late life. * Public health contributions to caregiving. Multidisciplinary Coordinated Caregiving offers a wealth of insights for those researchers, practitioners, and graduate students who seek to optimize the care of individuals across such fields as psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and educational policy making.

This book delivers a fresh and fascinating perspective on the issue of the minimum wage. While most discussions of the minimum wage place it at the center of a debate between those who oppose such a policy and argue it leads to greater unemployment, and those who favor it and argue it improves the economic well-being of low-income workers, Levin-Waldman makes the case for the minimum wage as a way to improve the well-being of middle-income workers, strengthen the US economy, reduce income inequality, and enhance democracy. Making a timely and original contribution to the defining issues of our time-the state of the middle class, the problem of inequality, and the crisis of democratic governance-Restoring the Middle Class through Wage Policy will be of interest to students and researchers considering the impact of such approaches across the fields of public policy, economics, and political science.

This book is a study of the actors and institutions that shaped decision-making on privatization in the Russian oil industry between 1992 and 2006. Li-Chen analyzes the origins of privatization as a policy on a macro, industry-wide level, as well as presenting three in-depth case studies of privatization on a company level.

Important lessons for policy makers are provided here as contributors evaluate the effectiveness of domestic economic policies and the recommendations of international organizations such as the World Bank regarding the economic development of developing countries. Challenges posed by debt problems, corruption, population dynamics, poverty, and the absence of adequate human and physical capital are highlighted. Contributors cast doubts on the conclusions of the prevailing theories of economic development with patterns of economic change over the course of the 20th century. Their findings point out the issue of inadequate social capability as a critical factor in understanding the lack of economic development in many developing countries. They suggest that contemporary theorizing tends to pinpoint necessary but insufficient conditions for the successful implementation of development strategies in these countries.

Despite the accelerating pace of globalization, it is impossible to ignore the marginalization of the developing world, as billions of people continue to slip deeper into poverty. While many theories, policies, and practices have been proposed to help redress the disparities between the "haves" and the "have-nots," only recently have proponents of sustainable economic development and entrepreneurship discovered each other. In this provocative and timely book, A. Coskun Samli fills the gap by making the connections explicit and arguing that entrepreneurship may be the only hope for countries that have fallen into the trap of relying on foreign aid and bowing to the pressures of multinational conglomerates driven by short-term profit-maximizing goals. Samli builds the case that some cultures are more entrepreneurial than others, and demonstrates the importance of creating the right conditions, infrastructure, policies, and educational systems that inspire and support new business creation.

This book examines the gendered structures of global financial markets. It maps out crucial economic, cultural and socio-historical processes which excluded women from (formal) financial activities in Britain and then on a global scale. The author argues that, with the contemporary deepening of financial markets, there has been a resultant shift as women are targeted world-wide as an emerging market for credit and finance, which has crucial implications for increased levels of insecurity and risk.

After the introduction of a new economic policy of 1991, India is increasingly portrayed as a big emerging market for consumer goods and for broadcasting and communications services. Policies for telecommunications, computer software and television broadcasting in India have also shifted fundamentally. The book considers communications policies in light of the role of communications in social and economic development and global patterns of trade and investment in communications and services.

This book examines what we can gain from a critical reading of Marx's final manuscript and his conclusion of the "systematic presentation" of his critique, which was the basis for Engels's construction of the third volume of his infamous 'Capital'. The text introduces the reader to a key problemof Marx's largely implicit epistemology, by exploring the systematic character of his exposition and the difference of this kind of 'systematicity' from Hegelian philosophical system construction. The volume contributes to establishing a new understanding of the critique of political economy, as it has been articulated in various debates since the 1960s - especially in France, Germany, and Italy - and as it had already been initiated by Marx and some of his followers, with Rosa Luxemburg in a key role. All the chapters are transdisciplinary in nature, and explore the modern day relevance of Marx's and Luxemburg's theoretical analysis of the dominance of the capitalist mode of production.

This new Handbook addresses the state of the art in the application of operations research models to problems in preventing terrorist attacks, planning and preparing for emergencies, and responding to and recovering from disasters. The purpose of the book is to enlighten policy makers and decision makers about the power of operations research to help organizations plan for and respond to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and public health emergencies, while at the same time providing researchers with one single source of up-to-date research and applications. The Handbook consists of nine separate chapters: Using Operations Research Methods for Homeland Security Problems Operations Research and Homeland Security: Overview and Case Study of Pandemic Influenza Deployed Security Games for Patrol Planning Interdiction Models and Applications Time Discrepant Shipments in Manifest Data Achieving Realistic Levels of Defensive Hedging Mitigating the Risk of an Anthrax Attack with Medical Countermeasures Service Networks for Public Health Preparedness and Large-scale Disaster Relief Efforts Disaster Response Planning in the Private Sector

In his 1982 State of the Union address, Ronald Reagan vowed to return power to the states. Rather than take the more traditional route, he chose to instill the "new federalism" through intergovernmental regulatory relief. This book assess the policy's success and the problems it has caused. The book is based on several cases studies from different policy areas. Intergovernmental relations, nuclear energy policy, and environmental policy are discussed in detail. The authors have drawn extensively on public documents as well as interviews with members of congress, executive department officials, and those involved with special interest groups.

Since its sovereign debt crisis in 2009, Greece has been living under austerity, with no apparent end in sight. This volume explores the effects of policies pursued by the Greek state since then (under the direction of the Troika), and how Greek society has responded. In addition to charting the actual effects of the Greek crisis on politics, health care, education, media, and other areas, the book both examines and challenges the "crisis" era as the context for changing attitudes and developments within Greek society.

A critical analysis of Australia's neoliberal state and role in the American imperial project in Asia. In exposing the causal mechanisms for violence and prospects for more wars it argues for emancipatory alternatives to the existing dominant and anti-democratic neoliberal governmentality.

This work provides a consistent and empirically meaningful definition of surplus and suggests an analytical framework for studying economic growth and stagnation using that concept. The book also presents a case study of the role of surplus in economic growth. In the first part of the work, a method is developed emphasizing the links to classical economic theory and the logical flaws of the earlier works. The second part examines the role of surplus in one country, and tests the classical hypotheses about growth in the long run and in a cross-section of countries.

This book provides a complete analysis of educational production and costs using the nonparametric technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book focuses on estimation of technical, allocative and scale efficiency in the public sector characterized by the influence of exogenous socio-economic variables. State of the art DEA models will be presented and fully discussed. Specific education topics important to policy makers including adequacy, efficiency, productivity, environmental costs and equity will be analyzed. To illustrate how these techniques can be applied to school systems worldwide, the authors use data on Australian elementary and high schools to develop nonparametric measures that will help inform current policy debate in Australia. They also discuss the applicability of these analysis techniques and methodologies to certain related scenarios.

The purpose of the book is to provide a comprehensive analysis of educational production using numerous DEA models that have been developed. Chapters 3 7 and 9 were developed in the literature as extensions to the basic DEA models. Each chapter explains why new advances in DEA were needed in order to carry out accurate analysis of educational production, and then presents the use of these new techniques within the context of educational performance, productivity, and cost. These extensions were based on public sector production in general, and educational production in particular. The models showed that traditional DEA improperly controlled for exogenous factors of production like the socioeconomic conditions prevalent in the education setting. In addition, models of educational funding typically use ad hoc and simple approaches that often assume that schools operate efficiently. This book uses economic and mathematical models to further our understanding of educational production while providing various measures of economic performance. The authors use current data on Australian schools to highlight important policy questions related to efficiency, economies of size and how scarce resources can best be spent to improve performance.

This research focus comes at an important watershed moment in the Australian Federal Governments current involvement in designing new nationally consistent funding models for both government and non-government schooling sectors with effect from 2014. A new National School Resourcing Standard is proposed to be implemented signaling a move to resource adequacy, school efficiency and value for money dimensions. These proposed innovative schooling resourcing developments will enable the Australian school efficiency and productivity studies to serve as the basis to evaluate the funding changes, in order to determine whether there have been significantly different student performance outcomes in the transition from a centralized to a new decentralized set of school funding arrangements."

In this book the author investigates the impact of demographic change on economic growth. As a result of the current financial crisis, a new view on economics has been demanded by various scientists. The author provides such a new view on economic growth, using a methodology of system dynamics. By applying this method, the author focuses on characteristics of complex systems and analyzes aging and shrinking processes, and not only positive growth. Delays and feedback processes are also considered. This leads to deeper and revealing insights into economic behavior. In doing so, a new semi-endogenous growth model is developed by introducing a specific and detailed population sector (demographic growth model). The book shows and analyzes the behavior of such a model and tests several policy scenarios in a transfer chapter to apply the new theoretical approach on real world problems. The major results are summarized in 15 principles of demographic growth.