During the Second World War several independent business organizations in the US devoted considerable energy to formulating and advocating social and economic policy options for the US government for implementation after the war. This 'planning community' of far-sighted businessmen joined with academics and government officials in a nationwide endeavor to ensure that the colossal levels of productivity achieved by the US during wartime continued into the peace. At its core this effort was part of a wider struggle between liberals, moderates and conservatives over determining the economic and social responsibilities of government in the new post-war order. In this book, Charlie Whitham draws on an abundance of unpublished primary material from private and public archives that includes the minutes, memoranda, policy statements and research studies of the major post-war business planning organisations on a wide range of topics including monetary policy, demobilization, labor policy, international trade and foreign affairs. This is the untold story of how the post-war business planners - of all hues - helped shape the 'moderate' consensus which prevailed after 1945 over a permanent but limited government responsibility for fiscal, welfare and labor affairs, advanced American interests overseas and established.

'While market activity and political activity are often analyzed independently of each other, Wagner demonstrates their interdependence. His novel analysis shows that politics has a level of complexity well beyond the way it is typically depicted in the social sciences, and shows that political activity has more in common with market activity than is commonly recognized. The book offers a wide range of insights and pushes readers to take a more nuanced view of politics.' - Randall G. Holcombe, Florida State University, US Economists typically treat government as something outside the business realm, a sort of 'Lord of the Manor'. Richard Wagner argues that this is the wrong approach and can ultimately be destructive to capitalism and to society. Modern governments are a peculiar form of business enterprise. They face the same problems as regular businesses, such as ascertaining demand and organizing production, and act within the system in a way that can lead to a parasitical relationship with the market. Largely rooted in political economy, this book develops new theoretical ideas and formulations to explain why democracy is a difficult form of government to maintain. The author explores how and why limited governments can morph into a system of destructive politics, and looks at ways to escape this process. This dynamic book will be useful for public choice scholars, economists, political scientists, and lawyers who are interested in political economy in its various guises.

This thoroughly updated second edition incorporates key ideas and discussions on issues such as wider economic impacts, the treatment of risk and the importance of institutional arrangements in ensuring the correct use of technique. Gines de Rus considers whether public decisions, such as investing in high-speed rail links, privatizing a public enterprise or protecting a natural area, may improve social welfare. Key features include: A comprehensive overview of the philosophy of the Cost-Benefit Analysis approach to appraisal to engage students with a basic model for informing responsible decision-making Expert blending of relevant case studies with insightful analysis, enabling students to see the model's application to real-world scenarios An accessible and readable style, which encourages classroom discussions as well as insights for the practical application of this economic tool. Introduction to Cost-Benefit Analysis is an ideal textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students of economics, engaging with important ideas and the latest thinking in the field. It will also benefit economists and practitioners involved in the economic evaluation of projects. Acclaim for the first edition: 'In Introduction to Cost-Benefit Analysis, Gines de Rus provides the conceptual foundations of a cost-benefit analysis undertaken for public investments. . .This book serves well as an introductory textbook for courses in urban planning, public economics, and policy and program evaluation for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. . .economists may find it useful as a guide of the basics of cost-benefit analysis.' - Uma Kelekar, Journal of Planning Education and Research 'Gines de Rus has produced an excellent book which will be very useful to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in public economics as well as to professional economists working with project evaluations. The book can serve as a manual for how to undertake best-practice project analysis within a broad range of projects but in particular within the transportation sector. This text is highly recommended.' - Per-Olov Johansson, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden 'This book shows that cost-benefit analysis does not need to be an esoteric and arcane subject. In a step-by-step presentation, with little more than introductory microeconomics, some clear reasoning, and many examples, Professor Gines de Rus presents the essentials of applied welfare economics concepts. Any undergraduate student or practitioner who wants to start their training in CBA should consider reading this text.' - Massimo Florio, University of Milan, Italy

This book offers a spatial insights on the social mediasphere in the context of digital shutdowns and reflects the dimensions of political economy and of social media in general. Internet shutdowns have been found to be more prevalent in developing countries than in developed countries, with India leading in Internet shutdowns in the world. Internet shutdowns have occurred in India for several reasons, mainly to hinder the spreading of information through social media - this is discussed in detail along with political motives behind this and how this can conflict with government policies, such as the flagship program "Digital India" which is ostensibly meant to improve the infrastructure and expansion of digital information throughout the country. This book suggests new dimensions in the digital spatiality. Furthermore, the digital space is defined and discussed, including its role and how this might be reflected in concepts around spatiality and spaces. More concretely, the book considers the following questions: How is social media reflected in spatial sciences? How does the space differ from more tangible spaces, such as the hydrosphere or atmosphere? How do (computer/mobile phone) screens behave as a space/place in the context of behavioural sciences? How is this reflected in what is shaping and reshaping the spatiality of digital gadgets? Do digital gadgets change the socialization process that's often considered a path towards how we develop in society? How do internet shutdowns affect the political economy and what patterns can be seen in how individuals, companies and the internet industry in particular react to these shutdowns in India?

This book is written in honor of Horst Brezinski and explores a wide and diverse range of topics related to comparative economic studies. Containing contributions from a number of former Presidents of the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies, the chapters discuss the hard budget constraint, economic transformation in Central Eastern Europe, illiberal democracy, sovereign wealth fund, higher education, the euro, the shadow economy, multinational companies, and economic power. Additional attention is given to new areas of study such as the digital economy and sports economics. This book aims to examine comparative economies across a wide range of geographical areas including China, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States and will be relevant to those interested in emerging and transition economies, the political economy, economic policy, and international relations.

This book outlines the connection between the principles of proportionality of state intervention and strategies made by the European Union. It describes underlining reasons for the occurrence of the global economic recession and available intervention options for governments to the EU markets.This book works out several possibilities EU countries use with the help of state intervention to actively intervene in the market economy. The author critically assesses the proportionality of interventions in the markets of EU members. With regard to the European economic recession, the book highlights the background of the global financial and external debt crisis. In this context, possible measures for growth promotion processes of the EU are also described.The book will appeal to lecturers and students of economics disciplines worldwide, political advisors of EU member states and decision-makers of the European Central Bank; as well as, in principle, all interested readers who would like to learn more about fiscal policy in the European Union.

This book explores the shift towards individual responsibility that is increasingly evident in welfare systems across the world. The book will be of interest to students and scholars across sociology, social policy, and political science, with a particular focus on migration, minorities, political discourse, securitisation, social justice and human rights. "This book offers a compelling read, analysing how workfare is legitimated in the Central European context, through the innovative metaphor of "political farming." The analytical framework brings together several distinct streams of theorizing (critical discourse studies, critical security studies, governmentality, boundary-making, and the dynamics of ethnic relations) seamlessly and effectively. Through a very nuanced discursive analysis, Kissova shows how the poor, the offenders, and the "unadaptable" - categories policymakers use to talk about material need recipients - are linked pathologically with criminality, abuse of the system and other negative perceptions. This is a must-read text for anyone interested in how political actors justify questionable legislation that cements inequality in today's neoliberal milieu." - B. Nadya Jaworsky, Associate Professor, Sociology, Masaryk University, Czech Republic "Lenka Kissova's book is clearly written and carefully researched. Her interdisciplinary insight and discursive analysis of parliamentary debates on Slovak "workfare" policies illustrates the deliberate, precise and politicized colocation of Roma marginalization and economic disadvantage, in a manner that starkly illustrates systemic racism dressed up as morally necessary regulatory reform. Moreover, her research has broader comparative and methodological relevance given how she layers in and utilizes governmentality, securitization and legitimation theory, unmasking how neoliberal economic assumptions and dog whistle politics, woven into the speech of politicians, works to demonize recipients as real or potential cheats and criminals, enact further social exclusion and heighten inequality and fear while not-so-subtly promoting existing prejudices. Her overarching metaphor-that of parliamentarians engaging in "political farming" where their ideas seed and take root in fertile soil of the national landscape resulting in regulatory "products"-effectively demonstrates how social reality generally and state regulation specifically can be constructed divorced from actual evidence, a process beyond her specific case and critically relevant to our times." - Barbara J. Falk, Professor, Department of Defence Studies, Canadian Forces College/Royal Military College of Canada, Fellow, Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada

The question of economic transformation is an immediate and practical one for the English-speaking Caribbean. In the postindependence period, Caribbean governments seemed blissfully unaware that the inability to transform their economies was leading to serious unemployment problems. The statistics are quite stark. Unemployment rates in the Caribbean range from 6% in the more prosperous states to 23% in the less prosperous ones. This use of economic transformation and job creation continues to be a major challenge in the first decade of the twenty-first Century. This is the subject that is treated with impressive urgency in this volume entitled Economic Transformation and Job Creation: The Caribbean Experience.

This book shares essential insights into the implementation of monetary policy in various East Asian countries. Highlighting case studies from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Singapore, leading economists and practitioners from central banks illustrate how dependent effective monetary policy is on the institutional and financial market environment, as well as on successful implementation and communication. The respective contributions cover various aspects of monetary policy implementation, such as: How is inflation targeting handled? For what purposes and how do central banks operate on financial markets, and what are the (at times unintended) effects? How do currency market interventions help achieve the monetary policy targets set by individual countries or areas? In addition, Asian experiences are contrasted with those from the Eurozone.

Identity in the Age of the New Economy is a multi-faceted view of contemporary employment and identity that questions a number of the myths related to the so-called new economy, knowledge society or network society. It argues that one of the most striking things about much contemporary theorizing on work and identity is the epochalist terms in which it is framed: changing forms of identity and subjectivity are assumed to be consequences of a shift to an entirely new economic, social and cultural era, signalled by concepts such as postmodernity, risk society, network society or new economy. The book deviates from the epochalist claim and follows the path of recent years' sociological/social-psychological analyses of identities, presenting detailed empirical studies of relational identities in scattered and temporary work practices. The authors demonstrate how identities are endogenous variables, focus on highly educated contingent employees and direct the analyses from the politics of interests to the politics of identities. Exploring the nexus between identity and the organization of work life, this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary book will be of great interest to both academics and practitioners in the fields of human resource management, industrial relations and psychology. It will also appeal to those with an interest in organization theory.

This book addresses the implications of current thinking on precarity, precariousness and the precariat for the study of International Relations and International Political Economy. Drawing on a broad range of critical theoretical resources including literatures on aesthetics and psychoanalysis as well as feminist, Foucauldian, Marxian and postcolonial social theory, it explores the implications of precarity thought for three concepts: Sovereignty, Solidarities and Work in International Relations. Does precarity re-inscribe or undermine the logic and practices of sovereignty? As a common condition and point of mobilization, does precarity represent a new labor activism or does it find ethical grounds for solidarities that destabilize identities? How is precarity located, practiced and occluded in work relations? Running counter to the contemporary impulse to grasp precarity and processes of its proliferation in homogenized terms as either being ensconced in national imaginaries, or as ushering in a condition of global precarity and a global precariat class, the book also underscores the entanglements of the global, national and local in the discursive and material production of precarity and precariousness in the present conjuncture.

Political Entrepreneurship explores the role of political entrepreneurs in regional growth and entrepreneurial diversity. The authors define a political entrepreneur as a politician, bureaucrat or officer within the publicly funded sector who encourages entrepreneurship for growth and employment using innovative approaches. This book aims to enrich the established research on entrepreneurship with in-depth knowledge of the conditions conducive for political entrepreneurship in Sweden. Political entrepreneurs have the potential to be innovative and encourage entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial diversity by fundamentally challenging the prevailing formal and informal institutions. It is argued that, in times of economic stress, political entrepreneurship is essential to find new ways of promoting growth, employment and welfare. By using social science and economics perspectives, this study complements the dominant business administration research on entrepreneurship by increasing our knowledge of the economic and political contexts in which entrepreneurship and private enterprise is conducted. This book is essential reading for students, researchers and policymakers interested in politics, economics and entrepreneurship, as well as for those working in the public sector. Contributors include: D.E. Andersson, S. Andersson, A.E. Andersson, P. Assmo, C. Berggren, T. Bromander, C. Karlsson, M. Nilsson, C. Silander, D. Silander, P. Stroemblad, M.-L. von Bergmann-Winberg, Y. von Friedrichs, E. Wihlborg

This book aims to define comparative economics and to illustrate the breadth and depth of its contribution. It starts with an historiography of the field, arguing for a continued legacy of comparative economic systems, which compared socialism and capitalism, a field which some argued should have been replaced by institutional economics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The process of transition to market capitalism is reviewed, and itself exemplifies a new combination of comparative analysis with a focus on institutional development. Going beyond, chapters broadening the application of comparative analysis and applying it to new issues and approaches, including the role and definition of institutions, subjective wellbeing, inequality, populism, demography, and novel methodologies. Overall, comparative economics has evolved in the past 30 years, and remains a powerful approach for analyzing important issues.

American manufacturing is on life support--at least, that's what most people think. The exodus of jobs to China and other foreign markets is irreversible, and anything that is built here requires specialized skills the average worker couldn't hope to gain. Not so, says Dan DiMicco, chairman and former CEO of Nucor, America's largest steel company. He not only revived a major US manufacturing firm during a recession, but helped galvanize the flagging domestic steel industry when many of his competitors were in bankruptcy or headed overseas. In American Made, he takes to task the politicians, academics, and political pundits who, he contends, are exacerbating fears and avoiding simple solutions for the sake of nothing more than their own careers, and contrasts them with the postwar leaders who rebuilt Europe and Japan, put a man on the moon, and kept communism at bay. We need leaders of such resolve today, he argues, who can tackle a broken job-creation engine by restoring manufacturing to its central role in the U.S. economy--and cease creating fictitious service businesses where jobs evaporate after a year or two, as in a Ponzi scheme. With his trademark bluntness, DiMicco tackles the false promise of green jobs and the hidden costs of outsourcing. Along the way, he shares the lessons he's learned about good leadership, crisis management, and the true meaning of innovation, and maps the road back to robust economic growth, middle-class prosperity, and American competitiveness.

This book deals with the nature of contemporary globalisation. Maurice Mullard aims to show that globalisation is not an inescapable, unstoppable process somehow beyond human control, rather that it represents, and is being shaped by, a series of deliberate policy choices and policy decisions. The emphasis of this fascinating work is on how these policy choices are creating new forms of economic inequalities and also political elites that distort the democratic process.The mapping of winners and losers goes beyond the usual analysis of the rich North versus the poor South, by including an examination of the widening inequalities in the North and the emergence of new elites in the South. Policies of privatisation and liberalisation of water and electricity create new political elites. The author reveals the shift in the North towards multi national corporations with their emphasis on profits and stock market prices, while at the same time incomes for most employees have either stagnated or actually declined. The standard discourse on globalisation and market flexibility often blurs the issues of declining trade union influence and corporations moving to countries offering lower labour costs. Maurice Mullard herein attempts to rectify this imbalance. The Politics of Globalisation and Polarisation is interdisciplinary and will therefore be relevant for academics and researchers of politics, social policy, public policy and economics. Scholars involved in globalisation will find this book to be a major contribution to the ongoing debate.

NATO is facing a unique crisis questioning its existence and future. This book provides a detailed in-depth economic and critical analysis of the issues. It considers whether NATO has a future and what it might look like 70 years ahead. NATO is undergoing a process of dramatic change, reorganising its functions, funding and strategic responsibilities to address growing regional and global threats. This book not only explores the contentiousness of economic and financial burden-sharing and the associated political and diplomatic stresses involved in the pursuit of common strategic objectives, but contributes to a further debate concerning the expanded scope and roles of the Alliance in the 21st century. This book combines NATO's political controversies, complexities and conflicts with a treatment of the underlying theoretical economic frameworks. This book is essential reading for students in military staff colleges, university International Relations and Strategic Affairs Departments, but also to those working in government defence establishments, independent think tanks and political and economic institutions, generally.

This handbook presents a collection of high-quality, authoritative scientific contributions on cross-border migration, written by a carefully selected group of recognized migration experts from around the globe. In recent years, cross-border migration has become an important and intriguing issue, from both a scientific and policy perspective. In the 'age of migration', the volume of cross-border movements of people continues to rise, while the nature of migration flows - in terms of the determinants, length of stay, effects on the sending and host countries, and legal status of migrants - is changing dramatically. Based on a detailed economic-geographical analysis, this handbook studies the motives for cross-border migration, the socio-economic implications for sending countries and regions, the locational choice determinants for cross-border migrants, and the manifold economic-geographic consequences for host countries and regions. Given the complexity of migration decisions and their local or regional impacts, a systematic typology of migrants (motives, legal status, level of education, gender, age, singles or families, etc.) is provided, together with an assessment of push factors in the place of origin and pull factors at the destination. On the basis of a solid analytical framework and reliable empirical evidence, it examines the impacts of emigration for sending areas and of immigration for receiving areas, and provides a comprehensive discussion of the policy dimensions of cross-border migration.

This book suggests that the scope and breadth of regulatory reforms since the mid-1980s and particularly during the 1990s, are so striking that they necessitate a reappraisal of current approaches to the study of the politics of regulation. The authors call for the adoption of different and fresh perspectives to examine this area. The contributors to this volume analyse how regulatory regimes that were once peculiar to the US and a few industries have, in recent years, come to define the best practice of governance over the world capitalist economy and over numerous social and economic sectors. They go on to suggest various explanations for the expansion of regulatory institutions, addressing some of the most critical problems and offering new methodological techniques to enable further study. The contributions also provide distinct cross-national and cross-sectoral comparative approaches, and emphasise the changes in the economic and social context of regulation and the implications of these developments on the rise of the regulatory state. These changes, together with the general advance in the study of regulation, undoubtedly demand a re-evaluation of the theory of regulation, its methodologies and scope of application. This book is a perceptive investigation of recent evolutions in the manner and extent of governance through regulation. Scholars and students of comparative politics, public policy, regulation theory, institutional economics and political sociology will find it to be essential reading. It will also prove a valuable source of reference for those working or dealing with regulatory authorities and for business managers in private industries and services operating under a regulatory framework.

This book discusses Samuel Pufendorf and his contributions to the development of the European Enlightenment and the emergence of economics as a social science. Born in 1632 in Saxony, Pufendorf wrote widely on natural law, ethics, jurisprudence, and political economy and was one of the most important figures in early-modern political thought. Although his work fits within the intellectual framework of natural jurisprudence, there is an argument to be made that his ideas promoted the development of economics as a distinct discipline within the social sciences. Written by participants in the 34th Heilbronn Symposion in Economics and the Social Sciences, the contributions to this volume give an overview of Pufendorf's influence on other authors of the Enlightenment, such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, as well as addressing the theoretical implications of his extensive writings. Further chapters place a special focus on Pufendorf's discussion of economic matters, such as property rights theory, price theory, taxation, and preferences and decision-making. The book concludes with analyzing Pufendorf's influence on Adam Smith, his anticipations of elements of modern economic theory, and his impact on the history of economic thought. Providing a fresh look at one of the foundational scholars of social science, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students of the history of economic thought, political economy, economic history, and political philosophy.

Although the full extent of the potential damages from global warming remain unknown, scientists have long argued that action should be taken now to mitigate any possible adverse consequences. However, in making such policy recommendations, economic arguments need to be considered as much as scientific ones. This volume examines the appropriate economic incentives for implementing policy to mitigate climate change and then exposes the flaws in current international agreements. The book begins by providing the economic foundations for understanding climate change. It examines how Kyoto's flexibility mechanism departs from more efficient and less-costly approaches for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and highlights the problems that terrestrial carbon credits pose for emissions trading. Unique case studies of Canada, Japan and The Netherlands indicate that most countries will be unable to meet their own Kyoto obligations. The author then uses an economic analysis of the potential damages to show that even though some countries will experience a detrimental effect from climate change, the majority will actually benefit. In this way, he clearly demonstrates that not only will current policies do little to avert global warming, most countries will also have less incentive to sign up to any future international agreements. Academics, economists and policymakers involved in the climate change debate will find this succinct yet comprehensive analysis of the economic instruments available for mitigating climate change to be essential reading.

This book asks, how would a stable, prosperous economy of the future look if one started with a blank sheet of paper? Given that the world's economy is locked into a coevolution with nature, the urgency of this question is brought into stark relief by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and ongoing climate change. While physical technologies to build such an economy mostly exist, the social technologies, in the form of institutions, governance and policies, do not. The development of these social technologies will necessitate a reconsideration of economic norms: in particular, what is the economy for, and what are we, as actors within it, striving for? This book integrates normative, institutional, political and economic requirements into a systematic framework to drive our present growth economy toward a future planetarian one. It outlines a suite of interrelated policies to increase the economy's material efficiency, establish a basic living standard, and reform the money system, while along the way eliminating economic debt and balancing government budgets. The framework and policies together form a paradigm of market planetarianism: the idea that the power of markets may be used to steer the economy toward a desired long-term goal. The methodological aspects of this paradigm are covered in the companion volume, Economics of a Crowded Planet.