The Caribbean economy remains a region with many paradoxes. Despite a relative abundance of natural and valuable resources, including its people, large segments of the region still grapple with significant levels of debt, environmental degradation, high unemployment in the formal sector, climate change, limited progress in technological innovation, increasing energy costs, remittance dependency, tourism dependency, loss of correspondent banking relations, exchange rate, noncommunicable diseases, and domestic politics to name more than a few. The poorest countries still lag and remain far more vulnerable to external factors related to trade and global financial sector issues. This edited volume takes a closer look at the contemporary issues related to the economies of the Caribbean. The book provides an added dimension in that each of the chapters includes the contributions of a scholar with lived experiences in and knowledge of the region. Indeed, the book underscores the detailed evidence-based research and perspectives on topics providing insights into the current landscape of the Caribbean. Ultimately, understanding the Caribbean in its varied contexts is an important milestone in pursuing policies that will contribute to flourishing economies replete with sustained growth and development.

The view that China has become increasingly assertive under President Xi Jinping is now a common trope in academic and media discourse. However, until the end of Xi Jinping's first term in March 2018, China had been relatively restrained in its use of coercive economic measures. This is puzzling given the conventional belief among scholars and practitioners that sanctions are a middle ground between diplomatic and military/paramilitary action. Using a wide range of methods and data - including in-depth interviews with 76 current and former politicians, policy-makers, diplomats, and commercial actors across 12 countries and 16 cities - Sanctions with Chinese Characteristics: Rhetoric and Restraint in China's Diplomacy examines the ways in which China had employed economic sanctions to further its political objectives, and the factors explaining China's behaviour. This book provides a systematic investigation into the ways in which Chinese decisionmakers approached sanctions both at the United Nations Security Council and unilaterally, and shows how China's longstanding sanctions rhetoric has had a constraining effect on its behaviour, resulting in its inability to employ sanctions in complete alignment with its immediate interests.

In hard times, dissension mounts.
The old social contract flounders and cannot be revived.
Forces of reaction assert themselves.
Danger intensifies.
In dark times, opportunity appears.

Such is our time. It is time to debate and define the next social contract, to articulate its political aims and action plan. It is time to change the world.

In "Digging Out: Global Crisis and the Search for a New Social Contract," two brothers from the social and environmental justice movements engage this debate with a revolutionary proposal rooted in the power dynamics of the world's rising service-based economy. They provide a theoretical framework to reinterpret and address festering world problems through local and global initiatives. They urge cultural reinvigoration to deploy our social skills and innovation in service of others. Their proposal confirms the leading role of civil society, and it calls for a worldwide commercial transaction fee to curb financial speculation while adequately and permanently funding a sustainable future.

"Digging Out" proposes a new social contract to advance economic security, social justice, and ecological restoration worldwide. It is a clarion call, urging us to unite and demand the changes necessary for a better tomorrow.

The main theme of this book is the methodological problem of rationality in economic thought. The author investigates the different interpretations of this problem advanced by major figures in the history of economic thought.The book examines the history and rationality of the 'theory of value' from Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall and attempts to understand these arguments and criticisms within a general methodological vein. It goes on to provide a complete historical account of the ideas and arguments on value propounded by Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Jevons, Walras and Marshall as well as by more recent scholars such as Sraffa and Debreu and interprets their methodological differences. The author proposes a novel 'pragmatic-pluralist' methodological interpretation which borrows and creatively synthesizes ideas from many sources, including Wittgenstein (language-games), Searle (performatives), Habermas (communicative reason), hermeneutics, Marx and the pragmatic tradition. Rationality in Economic Thought will be of interest to students and scholars of the history of economic thought, economic methodology and the philosophy of the social sciences.

Economic Growth is an advanced undergraduate text written specifically for one semester courses in growth theory and for first year graduate students to refresh their knowledge. It will also be of great use for scholars and professional economists as the text contains many references to practical policy issues. The author condenses the fundamental issues of growth theory and covers the new ideas in a highly entertaining text, written in a clear and accessible style.

The 642 pages book, "A Citizen's Manifesto " A ray of hope, by Mike Rana caters to the need of information for students, teachers, citizens, leaders, managers, and budding politicians. It gives a kaleidoscopic perspective on the social, political and economic life of our citizens. Forty years of socialistic post-independence governance followed by twenty years with liberalised economy has given India a mixed bag of results. The Indian system is now poised for some bold steps in governance for tackling the four major issues of a growing nation, population, education, poverty and corruption. A Citizen's Manifesto is a condensed reflection of how 'disciplined democracy' is perceived by the citizens of India. A 26-page manifesto of a mock up political party, gives a good overview of what the politicians need to do for the citizens.

Globalization and the Politics of Institutional Reform in Japan illuminates Japan's contemporary and historical struggle to adjust policy and the institutional architecture of government to an evolving global order. This focused and scholarly study identifies that key to this difficulty is a structural tendency towards central political command, which reduces the country's capacity to follow a more subtle allocation of authority that ensures political leadership remains robust and non-dictatorial. Thus, Motoshi Suzuki argues that it is essential for a globalizing state to incorporate opposition parties and transgovernmental networks into policy-making processes. Providing an in-depth analysis of the theories of institutional change, this book introduces readers to a wealth of perspectives and counterarguments concerning analysis of political decision-making and policy adjustment on both the national and international scale. Placing Japanese policy reform in the global context and relating policy reform to leadership's political strategies, the author gives a detailed chronological and analytical overview of Japan's challenging institutional, political and bureaucratic transformations since the Meiji Restoration of the late nineteenth century. Analysis of globalization and policy reform in a non-liberal state, and the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats from an international perspective is included. For those interested in historical and contemporary Japanese politics from a theoretical perspective, particularly the implications of globalization and the politician-bureaucrat relationship, this is an indispensable resource.

This book discusses Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and their potential to protect and maintain critical infrastructure in a variety of global governmental settings. Critical infrastructure is defined as essential services that underpin and support the backbone of a nation's economy, security, and health. These services include the power used by homes and businesses, drinking water, transportation, stores and shops, and communications. As governmental budgets dwindle, the maintenance of critical infrastructure and the delivery of its related services are often strained. PPPs have the potential to fill the void between government accounting and capital budgeting. This volume provides a survey of PPPs in critical infrastructure, combining theory and case studies to provide a comprehensive view of possible applications. Written by a diverse group of international experts, the chapters detail PPPs across industries such as transportation, social infrastructure, healthcare, emergency services, and water across municipalities from the US to New Zealand to Hong Kong. Chapters discuss objectives and legal requirements associated with PPPs, the potential advantages and limitations of PPPs, and provide guidance as to how to structure a successful PPP for infrastructure investment. This book is of interest to researchers studying public administration, public finance, and infrastructure as well as practitioners and decision makers interested in instituting PPPs in their communities.

This book focuses on one of the major challenges facing countries in Eastern Europe, namely the creation and maintenance of jobs in the agricultural sector. It argues that future employment will critically depend upon the completion of the privatization process, as well as improved efficiency and market opportunity. Privatization in Rural Eastern Europe prescribes radical restructuring of the East European countryside and examines the future prospects for restitution and privatization from both national and regional perspectives. The economic and political history of rural Eastern Europe is examined in the context of the transition process. The discussion then develops with the extensive use of detailed country case studies which analyse the growth of private economic activity in Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in a clear and systematic way. The book offers careful consideration of the future of the rural economy and emphasizes the importance of rural diversification and the development of the service sector to create new employment opportunities in rural areas. This book will prove invaluable to academics with an interest in agricultural and transitional economics as well as to businessmen interested in East European agriculture, food processing and farm machinery.

This book explores the hypothesis of the emergence of a 'dependent capitalism' in Central and Eastern Europe. In a first theoretical part, this book presents the main approaches that structure the field of comparative capitalism and then examines this model shaped by the inflow of foreign capital. In an original way, it proposes to integrate the form of the monetary regime into the dependent capitalism analysis and to extend it to Balkan countries. The monetary regime is seen as complementary to the other elements of the institutional configuration of dependent capitalism. In the second part, the authors adopt a historical and empirical perspective. First, they demonstrate how dependent capitalism has emerged in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States over the last 30 years as part of the process of socio-economic transformation that began in 1990. The crisis of 2008 was an indicator of this dependence on Western capital. Secondly, they extend the analysis to the Balkan countries and show that dependence is even stronger for them, particularly in the monetary area, as evidenced by the implementation of currency boards or euroization phenomena.This book is of interest to academics and students, as well as to business and economic policy makers.

Most people have a bias toward seeing the world as they would like it to be. It might be best for some purposes, however, to know the world as it actually is. "Unlimited Progress: The Grand Delusion of the Modern World" can help in that quest. One of the most misleading ideas permeating the modern world is the concept that progress can be almost unlimited. Most of this book focuses on modern science and how it underlies and influences almost all of our general views about what the world is like. Americans have become hooked on progress. Much of this addiction has developed because of the great advances of modern science and related technology. Author Dennis Knight Heffner, M.D., has a broad-based perspective on science, developed over half a century, that will help you understand that there are limits to progress. Being aware of them can help you make important choices affecting your life- especially political choices.

This book provides evaluations of American presidents over the course of 66 years of U.S. economic history, using quantitative data to provide credible, defensible answers to controversial questions like "Whose economic policies were more effective, Ronald Reagan's or Bill Clinton's?" The President as Economist: Scoring Economic Performance from Harry Truman to Barack Obama provides eye-opening insights about matters of critical importance for the future of the United States. Author Richard J. Carroll tackles a topic that he has researched and been focused on for more than 20 years, providing impartial assessments and rankings of each presidential administration according to numerous key performance indicators-quantitative data, not subjective opinions. The final chapter combines all of the data to present a numeric score (Presidential Performance Index-PPI) for each administration that allows an overall ranking of the 11 presidents. The analysis covers 66 years of U.S. economic history, ranging from 1946 through 2011. The earlier administrations of Harry S. Truman through Jimmy Carter set the context against which more recent presidencies are judged. This title will be an invaluable resource for everyone from general readers to students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels, as well as journalists, lobbyists, and anyone directly or indirectly involved in the political process. An appendix provides the official data upon which the rankings are based

This book provides a new understanding of the eurozone crisis across three of the worst hit cases: Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. In contrast to accounts which stress the 'immaturity' of the European 'periphery', as well as more critical narratives that understand these countries as victims of German and core 'economic domination', this book recognises that individual peripheral countries have followed dramatically different paths to crisis, making it difficult to speak of the eurozone crisis as a single phenomenon. Bringing literature from Comparative Political Economy into dialogue with scholarship on Europeanisation, this book contributes the concept of 'divergence via Europeanisation'. It explores the much-overlooked ways in which the negotiation of a 'one size fits all' project of European financial integration has been generative of precarious patterns of economic growth across Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. The book shows that far from their failure or inability to do so, it has been the European periphery's attempt to 'follow the rules' of European integration that explains their current difficulties. This novel understanding of the eurozone crisis should appeal to students and scholars in International Political Economy, European and European Union Studies, Comparative Political Economy, Irish Politics, Greek Politics, and Portuguese Politics.

In Explaining Economic Growth David Lim presents a new analytical framework for explaining the different growth performances of developing countries.Drawing on the growth experience of the newly industrializing economies of East Asia, the author begins his analysis by identifying the sources of output growth and the factors behind them. Recognizing that no one explanation of economic growth is entirely satisfactory, Professor Lim's analysis enables the strengths of existing explanations to be highlighted and used in the construction of more convincing hypothesis of economic growth. An operational framework for identifying the policies needed to produce greater economic growth is also developed. Explaining Economic Growth presents the large and often unstructured development literature within a systematic framework allowing for a series of policy-oriented conclusions. Accessible and yet rigorous, this major new book will be widely used by students, researchers and policy makers concerned with economic growth and development.

In today's multipolar world economy, strategic alignment is a key determinant of competitive advantage. Coca-Cola, Danone, Diageo, DuPont, Lufthansa and Tata are some of the companies that strive for a pragmatic approach to balancing competitive strategies with political and social obligations. Aligning for Advantage argues that to build and sustain corporate success, companies must synchronize business objectives and market positions with political and regulatory activism and social and environmental engagement. Moreover, to be credible and realizable, these external market and nonmarket strategies need to be equally attuned with corporate vision, values, and culture. The book advances a managerial process and conceptual framework for aligning corporate strategy. In some cases alignment may mean deep, strategically embedded partnerships with governments, NGOs, or other stakeholders. In others, alignment may take the form of looser, temporary collaborations with outside organizations. No matter the approach, the relationship between nonmarket and market strategies should be deliberate and genuine, not accidental or artificial. Truly aligned strategies should reconcile and modulate sometimes conflicting external demands in a way that is appropriate for the corporation's geographic and market positions. In the end, companies must leverage their overall nonmarket strategy as a source of competitive advantage.

This major work provides an assessment of Adolf Lowe's work and explores areas for future research in relation to his important contribution to economics, in particular his belief that economics is inseparable from social inquiry.The book opens with an overall evaluation of Lowe as a perceptive historical, political and sociological observer, presented through a number of personal recollections by Robert Heilbroner, Claus-Dieter Krohn and Marion Countess Donhoff. They analyse Lowe's intellectual and socio-political development during the Weimar Republic and how this period influenced some of his later works. The second part assesses Lowe's major contribution to the development of business cycle theory, and the roots of his analysis of structural and economic change. The book also examines Lowe's pioneering work in the field of traverse analysis. It concludes with a discussion of Lowe as 'economic philosopher' and his concern with the extent to which contemporary Western societies can balance the conflict between freedom and order.

How do governments make key decisions on vital economic questions of national importance? Can they advance the national interest on issues that are highly politicized? How do they respond to competing pressures from the international and domestic environments? Forming Economic Policy explores these and other questions in Canada and Mexico, two very different countries which share a common vulnerability to the world economy. Using the case of energy, the book argues that policymakers will address the national interest, but only episodically with the onset of major national crises that invoke a higher and sustained sense of national priorities. These crises are frequently induced by the interaction of domestic and foreign political and economic forces. The conclusions are surprising. Despite profound political and economic differences between these two countries, policymakers have behaved in remarkably similar ways when arriving at key policy decisions. The explanation - which integrates two competing views of politics, the pluralist and the statist - has important implications with regard to the political processes in those states which, like Canada and Mexico, are exposed to the world economy and face problems of political legitimacy at home. Forming Economic Policy will appeal to students and teachers of political economy and comparative politics as well as to those interested in the politics of energy policy.

With a population of 1.2 billion and nearly two decades of spectacular growth, China promises to become one of the world's largest economic powers and consumer markets in the next century. A salient feature of the contemporary Chinese economy is the significance of state intervention toward business in the form of 'preferential policies'. Thanks to these policies, a firm's location, ownership type and area of business largely determine whether it should receive privileges of disadvantages in the regulated business environment. The fast changing preferential policies have had great influence on a wide range of economic activities, including foreign direct investment. The extent, complexity and variety of these policies are bewildering to both investors and academics who study the Chinese economy.State Intervention and Business in China is a systematic study of China's preferential economic policies. Dr Lu and Dr Tang present these policies in three categories, namely, the investor-oriented, the region-oriented, and the industry-oriented policies. The authors give a clear account of policies including: preferential tax rates, state bank loans, trade protection and subsidies, and licensing schemes. The book provides the in-depth political economy analyses that reveal the sources and functions of these policies. By offering empirical observations on the impact of state intervention on regional development and economic structures, this book sheds new light on the prospects for China's economic policy making. State Intervention and Business in China will be indispensably for scholars and specialists who are interested in contemporary Chinese economy and society. It is also a valuable guide for doing business in China.

China has undergone a remarkable transition over the past thirty years from a centrally-planned economy to a more market oriented one. The transformation of business in China has been correspondingly evident. This book gives an interdisciplinary analysis of the evolution of business development in China and the 'marketization' of industry during this period within a complex framework of legal, political, and economic reform aims.
The book includes twelve original business case studies to provide industry-specific analysis of the overarching macroeconomic and legal developments. It examines both domestic enterprise reform in China and the evolving treatment of foreign firms in the context of both corporate laws and economic policies, and how business is likely to evolve as economic and legal reforms rapidly increase during the twenty-first century, notably with regard to China's increasing global integration.

Microeconomics, Growth and Political Economy is the first of two volumes which collect together many of Professor Lipsey's writings on economics, some of which are previously unpublished or currently inaccessible. This book contains papers on economic growth and technical change, monetary and value theory, the theory of second best, international trade theory, political economy and methodology. A separate book, On the Foundations of Monopolistic Competition and Economic Geography, contains works on oligopoly and location theory, all coauthored with Curtis Eaton. The book begins with a new autobiographical introduction to the intellectual development, personal achievements and the fields of interest of Richard G. Lipsey and is divided into five parts. The first part considers various aspects of economic growth and technical change taking into account the structuralist view, markets and the globalization of the economy. Part two is concerned with the microeconomic issues of second-best theory and monetary and value theory. The third part looks at trade theory and surveys customs unions and competitiveness. Political economy is considered in the fourth part, which contains essays on topics such as the balance of payments, the survival of the market economy, international liquidity theory and American trade policy. The final part features papers on methodology. Microeconomics, Growth and Political Economy is an essential reference companion to the work of Richard G. Lipsey, one of the most important economists of our generation.

The Economic Theory of Socialism and the Labour-Managed Firm focuses on market socialism and the relevant debate among economic theorists. It argues that market socialism is the only rational form of socialism and that market socialism with labour-managed firms is by far the best form of market socialism. The book begins with a critical review of the contributions to the economic theory of socialism. The second part discusses the economic theory of labour-managed firms and pays particular attention to the adverse labour-supply curve, underinvestment, monitoring and the separation of ownership and control. The final chapters discuss problems such as the control of economic activity in labour-managed firms, worker motivation and incentives. This book will be of particular use to students and academics interested in comparative economic systems and to specialists in politics and sociology with an interest in alternative forms of economic organization.

Institutionalist analysis is increasingly used as a key research tool for economists confronted with the shortcomings of mainstream economic analysis and the problems presented by the transformation of socio-economic systems in Eastern Europe. On Economic Institutions brings together leading economists working in a wide range of research traditions who examine theories of institutions and institutional change. This important volume shows that the failure of most neoclassical economic analysis to consider economic institutions is a major shortcoming in scholarship which seeks to describe and understand crucial economic phenomena. After discussing the dynamics of institutional change, the contributors examine the explanatory variables necessary for researching institutions and pay particular attention to 'efficiency' as the key variable used by neoclassical institutional analysis. Later chapters examine the processes of institutional change focusing on issues such as path dependency, selection mechanisms and institutional dynamics, and methodological issues in analysing economic institutions. An introduction by the editors places these papers in context and traces the development of economic research across the various schools. Economists from both neoclassical and institutionalist schools, as well as economic historians, are making increasing use of institutionalist analysis as a key research tool. In bringing together cutting-edge theory and research on economic institutions, this important volume will be welcomed by scholars working in evolutionary and institutionalist research traditions, as well as by organizational theorists and sociologists.

The Chinese Economy in Transition provides an analysis of the economic reforms introduced under Deng Xiaoping. It attempts to answer the question: what was the economic system that the Chinese were trying to reform and what approach have they adopted to reform it?Whilst the book focuses primarily on economic issues, it also explores the political and social environment and concentrates on three broad areas of the Chinese economy: agriculture, industry and macroeconomic management. Within these broad areas the focus is on two major themes: competition and cooperation, and central authority and regional autonomy. This book will be of special interest to senior undergraduate and postgraduate economics students, academics and China analysts.

The Making of Eurasia investigates the multi-layered spectrum of China and Russia's Eurasian policies towards each other, ranging from competition to cooperation, as well as the role of regional actors in between. The book examines the impact of and responses to the dynamic Sino-Russian interaction in the wake of China's Belt and Road initiative, focusing on the selected case studies of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan, but also on inter-regional implications across the Eurasian space. With China's imprint on inter-regional politics and ambition to make a distinctive Chinese contribution to 'globalization' and Russia's vision of a 'Greater Eurasia' in which Moscow stakes out a place for itself as an indispensable power, other regional actors adopt policies that respond to and co-shape the resulting centrifugal forces. Meanwhile, power shifts are underway on a global plane, as the normative divide between Russia and the West has widened, and as the Sino-American rivalry is intensifying. The book therefore also sheds light on the effects of Eurasian power shifts on global governance in a context where global 'leadership' is contested, and in which the US and Europe are re-defining their relationship not only towards a self-confident China but also towards each other. As such, this study will provide valuable insight for students and scholars of Eurasian Asia Studies, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Relations at large.