The relationship between public investment and regional economic development is of perennial interest and is particularly topical now as issues of infrastructure and innovation are high on policy agendas in many countries. Public investment is often viewed as a possible method for 'jump-starting' lagging regional economies and also as a requirement for the continued development of more prosperous regions. Public Investment and Regional Economic Development provides a systematic analysis of the complex relationship between public investment and regional economic development. The authors offer new insights into the key issues of regional growth, and present a broad variety of perspectives ranging from transport and housing infrastructure through to human capital and innovation. With contributions from leading regional scientists, and each themed section of the book prefaced with an editorial introduction to ensure coherence, this illuminating book is sure to offer policymakers new research insights into key issues of regional growth. Academics and researchers of urban and regional planning, geography and economic development will also find the book of great interest.

Analytical Transport Economics opens with a critical examination and overview of the scope of transport economics. Next, the production of transport, travel demand, transport externalities and transport markets are thoroughly analysed. The distinguished group of contributors then examine transport policy, both regarding infrastructure and transport markets. Specific attention is paid to the role of government after deregulation and to the transport policy of the European Union. Transport infrastructure is also analysed in view of its effects on the wider economy. Finally, the role of transport in a number of more specific situations is considered, that is in an urban environment, in transitional economies and in developing economies. This book is a considerably revised version of the well-received European Transport Economics (1993), described as 'A book every transport scientist should have in his possession' - Professor Eddy Van de Voorde, University of Antwerp, Belgium. There are a number of new chapters, a few that had lost their usefulness over time have been omitted, and others have been thoroughly revised and updated. With its strong international focus, academics and advanced students of economics, transport economics and public policy as well as policymakers within government and private enterprise will find this book essential reading.

The contributors to this book, from the US and Japan, explore the main issues involved in the international trade, foreign direct investment, and macro/financial relations of the United States and Japan and provide guidance to policymakers for measures to help overcome Japan's economic stagnation since the early 1990s.The book is divided into three parts. Part I contains an empirical analysis of trade diversion under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a theoretical analysis of time in determining the structure and effects of trade with an application to Japan, and an empirical analysis of Japan's changing import behavior. Part II is focused on foreign direct investment (FDI), trade, and the behavior and structure of Japanese firms. Part III deals with macro/financial issues of current interest and importance in Japan. The analytical focus of the chapters is intended to enhance the understanding of the issues addressed and to provide some guidance to policymakers in the design of measures that will improve economic efficiency and welfare and help to overcome the economic stagnation that Japan has experienced in the past decade or more. Economists, political scientists and policymakers will find the analysis provided in this volume invaluable in understanding the Japanese economy and economic relations between Japan and the United States.

There exists considerable disagreement about whether the United States president has a direct and measurable influence over the economy. The analysis presented in Economic Actors, Economic Behaviors, and Presidential Leadership suggests that while the presidents have increased their rhetoric regarding the economy, they have not had much success in shaping it. Despite attempts to tailor rhetoric to influence specific actors, the presidents are incredibly ineffective. Considering this research, Arthur argues that the president s decision to address the economy so often must stem from a symbolic placation or institutional necessity that is intended to comfort constituencies or somehow garner electoral advocacy from the party s base. No other viable explanation exists given the lack of results presidents obtain from discussing the economy and their persistent determination to do so. This discrepancy suggests that presidential rhetoric on the economy is, at best, a tool used to appear concerned about the economy to everyone and toeing the party-line to their base. Moreover, it allows them to present the facade to their constituents that they are in control of a crucial facet of American life."

Today's globalised world means offshore finance, airport boutiques and high-speed Internet for some people, against dollar-a-day wages, used t-shirts, and illiteracy for others. How do these highly skewed global distributions happen, and what can be done to counter them? New Rules for Global Justice engages with widespread public disquiet around global inequality. It explores (mal)distributions in relation to country, class, gender and race, with international examples drawn from Australia to Zimbabwe. The book is action-oriented and empowering, presenting concrete proposals for 'new rules' in regard to climate change, corruption, finance, food, investment, the Internet, migration and more.

The allocation of subsidies is often regarded as a fundamental role of governments in order to realise and maintain benefits to society. The possibility that public subsidies could actually be counterproductive contradicts common perception. The authors of this challenging book present recent evidence which, in their view, suggests that subsidies may in fact turn out to be a contemporary plague. Public Subsidies and Policy Failures provides extensive analysis of the theory and political economy of public support policies, demonstrating how subsidies can harm the environment, distort trade, and benefit those in society who do not require support. Furthermore, they often fail to achieve the desired and expected goals. The authors employ a theoretical framework to illustrate the impact of subsidies on developed and developing economies, as well as on international trade. They examine public subsidies in various natural resource and industrial sectors and discover that many turn out to be policy failures. They also investigate the various barriers and lock-in mechanisms by which subsidies become entrenched in economic and political structures. The book goes on to propose concrete actions, policy strategies and international 'Grand Deals' which will engender effective subsidy reforms. Scholars, researchers and students will welcome this rigorous investigation into the political and economic costs and benefits of public subsidies. International trade organisations and policymakers will also benefit from the strategic emphasis.

Regulatory regimes appear wherever market economies exist and whenever there is competition for limited resources. However, the rationale of public regulation of markets, as well as the mechanisms that characterise regulatory regimes, is not well understood. The State, Regulation and the Economy illustrates how economic theory, whether positive or normative, is not convincing in explaining the complex interactions between the state and the market. Instead, the book examines regulation and state intervention from an institutional and historical perspective. Utilising empirical evidence from Scandinavia and the US, the authors argue that the form and content of state interventionism is strongly influenced by historical and path dependent factors, and go on to propose an approach which illuminates the role of specific historical events in forming regulatory policy. Various aspects of regulation are discussed with reference to infrastructure and network industries, one of the few areas in the economy where the role of the state has changed dramatically during the past two decades. The authors believe that the fast changing attitudes and policies towards regulation might be better understood by applying a longer time horizon combined with analysis based on new institutional economics. Scholars of economics, business administration, economic history and political science, as well as those wishing to gain a greater insight into the historical dimension of regulation, will find this an original and valuable book.

This book traces the development and impact of regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa and addresses a timely question: do REC members, and the REC itself, positively influence member states’ behaviors towards other members and more broadly, regionally and continentally due to REC membership? ‘Changing member states’ behaviors’ is measured across three ‘interconnected, fundamental dimensions of societal-systems’ proposed by Marshall and Elzinga Marshall in CSP’s Global Repot 2017. These are i) the persistence of conflict or its counterpoint, achieving peace, ii) fostering democratization and better governance, and iii) achieving socio-economic development and (as proposed by this research, a fourth dimension), iv) being active participants in multilateralism? Is membership in a REC ultimately beneficial to the member and other countries in the region? While there are no clear and obvious – at least, discernible traditional – benefits such as increase in trade (perhaps because Africa’s overall trade relative to the world is about 3 percent), there are other non trade benefits (e.g., decrease in conflict, coercion to take certain actions towards peace and refrain from others, coups and wars) presenting in REC member states. These in/actions, abilities, coercions, exclusions and cooperation instances are outlined and discussed in the book.

Throughout world history, what human beings ate was determined by what local producers cultivated, and what they planted was determined by seasonal cycles. After the harvest, farmers reclaimed the seeds so that they could replant them the following season. Today, however, these age-old practices that guided countless generations are becoming extinct. What we eat, the quality of our food, and even the tastes that we develop are dictated by powerful corporations who are driven by the profit motive. This book investigates the corporate dominance of the world's seed supply. The seed is nature's gift and the first link in the food chain. This life form is becoming the exclusive intellectual property of the corporation. The advent of genetically modified seeds and strict patent protection accorded to them enable companies to own the seed even after the farmer has bought, planted, and harvested the seed. Multinational corporations have a monopoly control over seeds and the accompanying pesticides which is leading to monocultures in the food system and the disappearance of traditional methods of farming. Local producers are forced to buy seeds each year, thereby fostering a feudalistic relationship of perpetual dependence. An imbalance of power has emerged and farmers are transformed from producers to consumers by these new arrangements. The leap to embrace biotechnology and genetically modified foods has been quite swift and conducted without the public's knowledge. The food that our stomachs ingest may be increasingly bad for us. Case studies from four developing countries are presented for consideration.

Ten years after the collapse of communism in Poland, the debate continues over the impact of the transition to a market economy. Whilst few actually say the socialist system could - or should - have been preserved, the path of change has been far from smooth, and has produced both winners and losers in the race to reform. This book assesses the prevailing attitudes of both support and disenchantment among Poles towards transition, in the light of their own experiences. In particular Janice Bell uses statistical indicators on economic well-being, regional voting results and public opinion survey data to analyse the socio-economic influences on patterns of voting behaviour, and finds unemployment to be a crucial denominator. Groundbreaking in its perspective, this study will appeal to all those concerned with the social implications of reform programmes in former communist countries.

Processes of neoliberal globalization have put national trade unions under pressure as the transnational organization of production puts these labour movements in competition with each other. The global economic crisis has intensified these pressures further. And yet, economic and political integration processes have also provided workers with new possibilities to organize resistance. Emphasizing the importance of agency, this book analyzes transnational labour action in times of crisis, historically and now. It draws on a variety of fascinating cases, across formal and informal collectives, in order to clarify which factors facilitate or block the formation of solidarity. Moving beyond empirical description of cases to an informed understanding of collective action across borders, the volume provides an insightful theorization of transnational action.

The main theme of this study is the political economy of policy reform in less developed countries and post-socialist countries. Given the complexity of economic development and transition, Joachim Ahrens views failures in policy reform, poor public sector management, rent-seeking, corruption, and over-centralization as systematic, though not exclusive, instances of institutional failure. This interdisciplinary study looks for ways of constructing effective market-enhancing governance structures that provide appropriate incentive systems to cope with such failures. No blueprint is offered, but the book provides a conceptual governance framework that can be applied in a comparative way to analyze economic, political, and social obstacles to policy and institutional reform. The concept is not only used to analyze the politico-institutional foundation of policy reform in East Asia and Eastern Europe, but it also allows to elaborate country specific strategies to craft institutional safeguards that help overcome impediments to development and transition. This innovative book, which overcomes the conventional perspective of a government-market dichotomy, will be of interest to researchers, students, policymakers and all those concerned with the impact of the dialectic interaction between political and economic forces on economic development.

In the midst of political decline and burgeoning financial problems in the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire became embroiled in a borrowing frenzy, which eventually resulted in the financial collapse of the empire. Under political pressure and with the growing need for external funds, the Ottoman court compromised its fiscal sovereignty by ceding the most liquid revenue sources to a financial administration controlled by European creditors. In this book, Murat Birdal sheds light on the handling of the external debt crisis, one of the most controversial periods of Ottoman economic history. Based on extensive archival research foreign archives, he explores the pivotal role of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) in the peripheralization of the Ottoman economy. This book will be invaluable to scholars of Ottoman, Middle East and economic history.

This volume historicizes the use of the notion of self-interest that at least since Bernard de Mandeville and Adam Smith's theories is considered a central component of economic theory. Having in the twentieth century become one of the key-features of rational choice models, and thus is seen as an idealized trait of human behavior, self-interest has, despite Albert O. Hirschman's pivotal analysis of self-interest, only marginally been historicized. A historicization(s) of self-interest, however, offers new insights into the concept by asking why, when, for what reason and in which contexts the notion was discussed or referred to, how it was employed by contemporaries, and how the different usages developed and changed over time. This helps us to appreciate the various transformations in the perception of the notion, and also to explore how and in what ways different people at different times and in different regions reflected on or realized the act of considering what was in their best interest. The volume focuses on those different usages, knowledges, and practices concerned with self-interest in the modern Atlantic World from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries, by using different approaches, including political and economic theory, actuarial science, anthropology, or the history of emotions. Offering a new perspective on a key component of Western capitalism, this is the ideal resource for researches and scholars of intellectual, political and economic history in the modern Atlantic World.

Es una obra magistral como complemento al libro Productividad, aqui el autor detalla con un lenguaje sencillo la importancia que tiene conocer el metodo de la productividad para la superacion personal y el desarrollo organizacional; expone que existe una incongruencia entre el conocimiento y la conducta egoista del poder, al comparar los adelantos tecnologicos con la pobreza y desigualdad que hay en el subdesarrollo, y que la principal causa de este problema es por utilizar informacion falsa o maquillada, en lo social, en lo politico y en lo economico; porque es inutil o esteril, plagada de mentiras y enganos hacia los mas necesitados, como resultado de la ausencia de valores humanos, por falta de etica y de moral de forma generalizada. Lo que presenta es conocimiento de dominio publico o universal, el que se ha destilado y refinado a traves de los tiempos, con un enfoque de vida, en particular de la humana; esto indica que no existe ninguna excepcion, el libro esta dirigido a todos los que poblamos este maravilloso mundo para disfrutarlo; donde el dinero es el unico elemento comun que utilizamos directa o indirectamente, dia a dia, los cerca de siete mil millones de personas que actualmente habitamos el planeta; es usado desde el polo norte hasta el polo sur y de oriente a occidente. Bajo ese entendimiento, recomienda conocer la esencia y el significado del dinero para crear la riqueza, saber de donde surge o nace, y al conocer su origen entender su acceso; porque este es abundante y escaso dependiendo del interes en obtenerlo. Analiza que el conocimiento esta estrechamente vinculado al dinero y a la eficiencia y a la productividad, para desarrollar los diversos campos de la economia, de la politica y la sociedad civil. El metodo de la eficiencia-productiva, es un conocimiento de aplicacion universal, es el buen manejo del dinero para tener rentabilidad en toda la extension del concepto.

The China-Africa relationship has so far largely been depicted as one in which the Chinese state and Chinese entrepreneurs control the agenda, with Africans and their governments as passive actors exercising little or no agency. This volume examines the African side of the relation, to show how African state and non-state actors increasingly influence the China-Africa partnership and, in so doing, begin to shape their economic and political futures. The influx of public and private sector Chinese actors across the African continent has led to a rise of opportunities and challenges, which the volume sets out to examine. With case studies from Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Zambia, and across the technology, natural resource, manufacturing, and financial sectors, it shows not only how African realities shape Chinese actions, but also how African governments and entrepreneurs are learning to leverage their competitive advantages and to negotiate the growing Chinese presence across the continent.

Greening Auto Jobs: A Critical Analysis of the Green Job Solution details current and problematic understandings of what constitutes a "green job." Adopting an approach grounded in critical political economy, this book presents a framework to scrutinize the green job solution and the theoretical framework which overwhelmingly informs contemporary green job creation efforts and ecological modernization. The text also explores the tensions that encircle the world of work and environmental action, often referred to as "jobs versus the environment," by detailing the conflicting commitments of political-economic actors to the idea of green job creation. These conflicts are outlined through an examination of the political-economic debate that has surrounded the Australian Government s environmental plans from 2008 to 2012 and the conflicting positions of Australian trade unions on environmentally transitioning the world of work. Interviews with key political-economic actors provide in-depth and nuanced understandings of the varied perspectives of political and union leaders in Australia. The second part of the book presents a detailed case study of the posited green job solution within the specific context of the Australian automotive manufacturing industry. The case study is also informed by interviews with key industry, union, and policymakers. The automotive industry is scrutinized not only because it has expressed going green as important to its long-term economic future, but because the Australian Government declared that its $6.2 billion "New Car Plan for a Greener Future" policy would create green jobs. Therefore, the book engages with the task of examining the three multinational vehicle producers operating in Australia Ford, GM Holden, and Toyota and how they have responded and engaged with the idea of green jobs, greening the manufacturing process, and the vehicles they produce in Australia."

In this fully revised second edition of a well-regarded and popular text, Patrick McNutt presents more ideas and challenges to all those interested in political economy and public choice. The author evaluates a range of public choice concepts including rent-seeking, voting and voter behaviour, and the growth of government and bureaucracy. New material in this second edition includes: * the introduction of a moral choice set and a new methodology for the treatment of the concept of fairness * a positive theory of rent-seeking with empirical estimates * the issue of legal barriers to entry and related themes; in particular how a legal barrier can affect consumer welfare * a critical evaluation of the exchange and allocation of economic power and income inequality in developing countries * an overview of the global political economy which identifies the contribution of public choice.

This nontechnical book provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary survey of political economy that can easily be understood by any reader with an introductory-level background in economics. As 21st-century political debate becomes polarized across ideological lines, students and citizens need to understand the underlying values on which contending arguments are based. The current political gridlock calls for a deeper appreciation of the competing perspectives in political economy. Now revamped for a third edition, Political Economy: A Comparative Approach supplies a truly interdisciplinary examination of the development and evolution of political economy from the Enlightenment onward, drawing material from the realms of political theory, sociology, philosophy, and history as well as from economics to present detailed comparisons of competing perspectives on a variety of current issues. The book begins with an introduction to political economy that provides readers with an overview of the historical development of the discipline, followed by in-depth analyses of four ideological perspectives in political economy-Classical Liberalism, Radicalism, Conservatism, and Modern Liberalism. The author then applies each of the four ideological perspectives to a range of contemporary issues, such as the role of government, economic instability, poverty, labor relations, discrimination, education, culture, the environment, and international trade. Readers will gain insight into the methods and practice of political economics as well as better understand the history of political/economic thought and the effects of historical processes-European industrialization, for example-on modern debates. Provides in-depth historical analysis of the development of political/economic ideologies and their influence on contemporary debates among social scientists as well as the general public Gathers ideas and policy proposals from many prominent social scientists representing divergent ideological perspectives into a single volume Analyzes the roles of science and ideology in the development of political economy Exposes students to the findings of advanced social science research in easily understood and accessible language

Praised for its authoritative coverage, Global Political Economy places the study of IPE in broad theoretical context and has been updated to cover the rise of populism, Brexit, the USMCA, US-China trade wars, tariffs, refugees and global migration, the Keynesian-monetarist debate, Fordism, automation, the "gig" economy, global value chains, climate change, cryptocurrencies, and the residual effects of global economic crises and regional relationships and impacts. Written by leading IPE scholar Theodore Cohn, now joined by his prolific colleague Andy Hira, this book equally emphasizes theory and practice to provide a framework for analyzing current events and long-term developments in the global economy. This text is suitable for both introductory and advanced IPE courses. New to the Eighth Edition Expands upon the growing US-China competition in many areas of the global political economy. Discusses the problems Brexit is posing for Britain and the European Union (EU). Explores the growth of populism. Focuses more on environmental degradation/climate change along with the increase in global migration. Incorporates a new theme of South-South global economic relations. Highlights the relationship among economics, geopolitics, and security issues. Emphasizes the importance of global value chains. Looks at the potential for future global financial crises. Updates and expands the number of tables, figures, and graphics throughout. Provides an updated Test Bank and new PowerPoint slides in an Instructor's e-Resource.