Wages are the main determinant of living standards for the vast majority of workers and families around the world. This manual describes a new methodology to measure what constitutes a decent but basic standard of living and how much workers need to earn to afford this, making it possible for researchers to estimate comparable living wages around the world and determine gaps between living wages and prevailing wages. The new, practical methodology in this manual draws on 10 years of research and experience to clearly explain each step in the estimation process, based on standards for a low cost nutritious diet, healthy housing, and all other needs including decent health care and children's education. It stresses transparency and the need for time and place specific living wage estimates, and is replete with examples from country studies that have put it to the test. The authors describe how living wages can be estimated in locations and countries where secondary data are limited and make new, practical recommendations on how to value in kind benefits as partial payment of a living wage. An essential tool for Researchers and NGOs interested in wages, poverty, living standards, and corporate social responsibility issues, this manual will also serve company professionals responsible for corporate social responsibility and human resources. It is also an excellent tool for Bank governments and unions, and international organizations such as the United Nations, UNDP, ILO and World Bank involved in setting minimum wages, poverty alleviation programs and trade policies.

In the emerging post-Cold War new world order, the economics and politics of the oil industry will be quite different. New approaches and mechanisms are under way to deal with new challenges and old difficulties, such as environmental imperatives and the uncertainty of prices and availability. This edited volume provides an authoritative and comprehensive view of changing oil markets through informative discussions on global oil reserves, production and consumption trends, futures markets, refining, the political economy, and global environmental concerns. A very useful tool for researchers, scholars, and businesspeople in energy and environmental policy economics, political economics, economics of natural resources, and regional economics.

This topical and important book identifies the short to medium-term economic, financial and social consequences of Brexit. Containing perspectives from leading thinkers across legal, economic and financial fields, it considers both the general effect of UK withdrawal on the European integration process, and the specific impact on the free movement of capital, goods and people. Addressing the main areas within both the UK and the EU that can and will be affected by Brexit, including the financial sector, immigration, social rights and social security, After Brexit: Consequences for the European Union will make fascinating reading for all those currently engaged in the study and practice of Law, Economics, Finance, Political Science, Philosophy, History and International Affairs.

This book addresses the challenge of securing high-paying jobs for American workers. It examines the impacts of a wide range of state and local characteristics-such as low taxes, high-skilled workforce, reliance on manufacturing, and even nice weather-on the economic development of U.S. regions. The author provides a detailed account for each factor's impact on the growth of good jobs. The research focuses on U.S. metropolitan areas and states, tracking employment and income change in these regions from 1990 to the near present. While providing numerous best principles for state and regional policy, the author uncovers the keys to supporting high-paying U.S. jobs in an important book that will prove invaluable to elected officials, economic development practitioners, and students interested in the pursuit of economic development.

This volume documents how families, communities and some groups (single men, young 'scarce' women, parents) adapt and adjust to recent demographic shifts in China and India. It discusses how demographic change interacts with other processes of change, including changes with respect to economic development and globalization, gender, class, caste, families, migration and work. The chapters offer micro-level analyses contextualized in larger processes of change and push further existing understandings of the consequences of the demographic imbalance between men and women in China and/or India, particularly from a gender perspective. As such this book will be of interest to scholars and students in population studies, sociology, international development, gender studies, and Asian studies.

This book is about continuity and change in early nineteenth-century Britain. Against the background of an emerging industrial state, the popularization of liberal laissez-faire principles and the rise of a class-based society, it examines the revival of traditional paternal ideals and considers their influence upon the development of social policy. The poor laws, social distress, child labour and factory reform provide a focus for the analysis. The implications of the revival for the emergence of the collective or welfare state is an important theme.

This book enables readers to better understand, explain, and predict the future of the nation's overall economic health through its examination of the black working class-especially the experiences of black women and black working-class residents outside of urban areas. How have the experiences of black working-class women and men residing in urban, suburban, and rural settings impacted U.S. labor relations and the broader American society? This book asserts that a comprehensive and critical examination of the black working class can be used to forecast whether economic troubles are on the horizon. It documents how the increasing incidence of attacks on unions, the dwindling availability of working-class jobs, and the clamoring by the working class for a minimum wage hike is proof that the atmospheric pressure in America is rising, and that efforts to prepare for the approaching financial storm require attention to the individuals and households who are often overlooked: the black working class. Presenting information of great importance to sociologists, political scientists, and economists, the authors of this work explore the impact of the recent Great Recession on working-class African Americans and argue that the intersections of race and class for this particular group uncover the state of equity and justice in America. This book will also be of interest to public policymakers as well as students in graduate-level courses in the areas of African American studies, American society and labor, labor relations, labor and the Civil Rights Movement, and studies on race, class, and gender. Contributes new information and fresh perspectives on the ongoing debate regarding the significance of race versus class Suggests a number of lessons all Americans can learn from the black working class Provides a insightful critique of the first black American president's record on race and addressing socioeconomic class differences Supplies an unprecedented examination that simultaneously examines the diversity of the black working class as well as its historical impact on shaping and foreshadowing the U.S. economy over many generations

Looking at how Latin American countries have coped with the 1994 Mexican crisis and the earlier debt crisis of the 1980s, this book reveals the full extent of what has come to be known as the tequila effect. Written by distinguished economists and financiers from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, the volume also examines the social, political, and economic issues associated with ever-expanding trade and globalization.

The book opens with chapters considering the impact of the Mexican crisis on Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela, and it provides an interesting account of the events leading up to the crisis itself. In the following section, the contributors examine issues of economic growth by considering such topics as the need for a new growth strategy, by comparing the Latin American and Asian economies, and by looking at the Cuban economy from a trading partner's perspective. The final section takes an indepth look at the complex issues of neoliberalist versus neopopulist thinking in shaping Latin America's economic policies for the 21st century.

In "Cuba and the Future," nine leading Cubanologists analyze the causes, nature, and scope of the Cuban crisis and assess the prospects for the future. They suggest that in spite of the severity of the crisis--which Castro himself calls the worst in the country's history--the regime may well survive, at least for the near-to-intermediate future. Although the forces undermining political stability are enormous, there are also powerful factors reinforcing the state's control.

The book offers an in-depth research of the economic situations along the Belt and Road and the initiative's cooperation prospects, opportunities and challenges. It draws on economic data, including those on trade, investment, infrastructure, urban distribution, industrial cooperation, financial integration and revision of historical and political background. The Belt and Road initiative (BRI) comes from not only the ancient Silk Road, but also a long-term international cooperation between China and relevant countries. As a China-led initiative, the BRI is built upon China's international vision according to its development process. Therefore, the book also discusses how China balances its own development process among different domestic regions, and how the Initiative fits into the changes of global economic system and brings positive change for developing and developed economies involved, on the long haul. Furthermore, this book aims to find out precise direction of the initiative in order to assess appropriate implication on development under current globalization and provide valuable experience for future economic synergetic development by reviewing the past cooperative experience as references for policy-making and prospective engagementIn terms of methodology, analyses were conducted applying multi-methods with best available evidence to enrich the understanding of the potential of the BRI in terms of socio-economic impact on cooperation and difference and similarities of economic, cultural characteristics and political system among countries.

Development Corruption in South Africa examines governance matters with a focus on corruption. This rich empirical body on governance variables and governance performance is a welcome addition to South African government literature.

This is the first book to comprehensively analyze key issues regarding innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development in the Japanese agricultural sector. Despite the fact that innovation and entrepreneurship are vital to the development of modern Japanese agriculture, there have been comparatively few studies in this field; in addition, they have been virtually none on measures for developing entrepreneurial human resources or innovation in agriculture. The agricultural sector's declining competitiveness and sustainability as an industry in Japan are serious concerns, especially in combination with an aging labor force and decreasing farmland. To date, Japanese agricultural policies have largely concentrated on accumulating farmland and securing a sufficient agricultural labor force. However, from the perspectives of industrial and regional development, policies focusing on creating innovation, the driving force of economic development, have been recognized as being more effective. Moreover, there have been some recent developments concerning innovation and entrepreneurship in various regions of Japan. This book provides a wealth of significant findings from studies on successful cases involving e.g. agricultural clusters, agriculture-commerce-industry collaborations, networking, franchising, and corporate entry-induced innovation utilizing limited regional resources; and how they have contributed to the development of each region. The interrelationships between innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development are then clarified, and effective policies to promote Japanese agriculture and rural areas are suggested. Given its scope, the book contributes to the advancement not only of farm management science, but also of regional science and related fields.

This book investigates the political conditions and policies most likely to bring about progress toward inclusive development, drawing on in-depth analyses of four cases studies with distinct development trajectories (Mexico, Indonesia, Chile and South Korea). While exclusion and differential inclusion have long been features of development in the Global South, economic globalization has introduced new forms with which Global South countries must grapple. The book highlights the main policy drawbacks of most official approaches: neglect of the need to enhance the role and capacity of states, the focus on certain types of poverty alleviation strategies, and the tendency to disregard the need for productive employment generating activities and rural development. Neglect of issues of power and politics, however, is the most glaring inadequacy. Teichman argues that making progress toward inclusive development is primarily a political struggle. It requires a committed leadership with broadly based societal support - an inclusive development coalition - which includes usually small but politically important middle classes.

This report is a partial result of the China's Quarterly Macroeconomic Model (CQMM), a project developed and maintained by the Center for Macroeconomic Research (CMR) at Xiamen University. The CMR, one of the Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China, has been focusing on China's economic forecast and macroeconomic policy analysis, and it started to develop the CQMM for purpose of short-term forecasting, policy analysis, and simulation in 2005. Based on the CQMM, the CMR and its partners hold press conferences to release forecasts for China's major macroeconomic variables. Since July, 2006, twenty-six quarterly reports on China's macroeconomic outlook have been presented and thirteen annual reports have been published. This report, the twenty-sixth quarterly report, has been presented at the Forum on China's Macroeconomic Outlook and Press Conference of CQMM on February 26, 2019. This conference was jointly held at Beijing by the CMR and the Economic Information Daily at Xinhua News Agency

This book covers the multi-faceted incentives, trade-offs, and challenges associated with the economics and politics of resource efficiency investments. By contributing a wide range of empirical evidence, practitioners' insights, and policy perspectives, this book carefully examines the role of resource efficiency in reconciling environmental and economic considerations. It also discusses the critical role of resource efficiency investments in mitigating climate change and enabling sustainable development. Featuring expert insights from academia, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, this book provides a policy oriented guide, reference, and toolbox for unlocking the potential of resource efficiency. To this end, it identifies practical measures for overcoming barriers and creating smart incentives for leveraging resource efficiency investments. Overall, this book brings together evidence to develop innovative ideas and strategies for improving the efficient use of resources and advancing clean and sustainable development. "This book is an important and timely contribution", Angel Gurria, Secretary General, OECD

This uniquely interdisciplinary volume analyzes the challenges posed by the heterogeneity of the world where radically different players are crammed into increasingly limited political, commercial, social, and ecological space. The rapid rise of Communist Party-ruled China is posing serious challenges to the postwar politico-economic architecture dominated by the United States. Russia, once expected to become a partner of the liberal Western international order, has started behaving in an increasingly unilateral fashion. The developing world is more characterized by failed governance rather than convergence to liberal democracies as was hoped by many Western authors. Given links provided by low-cost carriers, the Internet, and trade and investment, we simply cannot shield ourselves from influences, whether benign or malign, from neighbors on this planet.The authors, including political scientists, economists, social physicists, and experts on complexity theory and informatics, examine how interactions among actors with different properties can cause problems, and they analyze risks resulting from the interactions. While employing a variety of approaches to address topics such as economic interdependence among democracies and authoritarian states, the development assistance regimes, internal conflicts in developing countries, and cyber security, the whole volume presents a clear overview of challenges and risks the world is facing. This work makes a valuable contribution to students of social sciences as well as to practitioners interested in the emerging global order.

Noted economist Douglas Vickers reexamines the relationship between economics and moral philosophy. That relationship, once very strong, is again the subject of increasing attention and discussion both within and beyond the academy. Vickers reestablishes the substantial bridges between ethical philosophy and economics. He addresses three main issues: first, the historical means by which economics has consciously surrendered its original association with ethical categories and criteria; second, the need to articulate the appropriate thoughtforms and vocabulary of ethical theory; and third, the illustration of areas in economics where ethical awareness is desirable and should be allowed to exert influence. This work is a major analysis which will be of considerable interest to economists, the business community, government regulators, and all concerned with economic decisionmaking in modern society.

Increasing world demands for water call for new institutions and rules to minimize economic and political conflicts. Growing water quality problems from industry and agriculture only further exacerbate supply problems. Such conflicts can jeopardize economic and, in some parts of the world, even social order. To help understand the benefits and pitfalls of possible alternative organizations, the contributors focus on local, interregional and international cases, using a variety of economic analysis methods. Practitioners, students, and scholars will find this work a valuable resource in water policy, environmental policy, resource economics, and civil engineering.

This new volume maps the complex interplay of demographic and socioeconomic changes in the United States, where rapid aging and ethnic diversification are merely the most salient of the many issues with major long-term implications. Drawing on The United States Census Bureau's post-2010 detailed projections, as well as a wealth of data distilled from authoritative sources, the authors tackle many of the urgent policy questions raised by America's changing population. The book explores the ways economic markets are adapting to an older and more diverse customer base, how the projected demographic change will impact public service demand, the growing economic disparities between asset-rich baby boomers and youth struggling for economic security, and how the projected demographic patterns will change the fiscal, economic, education, health, and housing sectors and alter the social structures and processes impacting American households and the diverse array of America's future population. A thorough survey of major demographic patterns in the USA up to 2050 is followed by an assessment of how these will affect socioeconomic, public service, fiscal, economic, and social structures and mechanisms, down to the size and composition of households. The analysis then considers possible variations of outcome predicated on alternative dynamic patterns between demographics and socioeconomics. Cutting through the politics and communal anxieties with hard, cutting-edge data, this study will be a primary source for all those who must use its contents to guide their decisions.

This book investigates the potential of the Spanish Sociedades Laborales (SLs) as an instrument of active labour market policy for re-turning the unemployed to the labour market and also the transferability of the scheme to other EU Member States. Spanish Sociedades Laborales (SLs) - mostly small and micro enterprises - are a qualified form of conventional corporation, majority-owned by their permanent employees. Unemployed persons can capitalise their unemployment benefits as a lump sum to start a new SL or to recapitalise an existing SL by joining it. This makes SLs similar to start-up subsidies for the unemployed, an established instrument of active labour market policy across the EU. The new 2015 Law on Worker-Owned and Participatory Companies substantially modernised the concept of SLs 30 years after its inception. The book tackles two currently widely discussed policy issues at both the EU level as well as the national level, i.e., reactivating unemployed in the context of ALMP and encouraging employee co-ownership in the context of the economic reform agenda in particular with regard to corporate governance, regional economic stimuli and distributive justice.

This book re-examines and brings to light the libertarian components of Marx's and Engel's political and economic thought. Central to the book is a discussion of the notion of freedom in Marx and Engel's work. In a post-Soviet world, there is a need to revise Marxism in the search for a libertarian foundation of political economy. The book argues that the libertarian foundations were present in Marx's and Engel's work and utilizes contemporary theory's of freedom to re-interpret and analyse their original work.

This book illustrates how global economic progress has reached its upper limit under the current economic paradigm, and how the next major revolution in global progress will rely on our ability to tap into the collective knowledge of the "everyday genius" to drive innovation, free market competition, artistic influence, and other advances that will allow humanity to overcome its greatest challenges. This volume proposes a grant-based program that will allow innovators to pursue their passions and benefit society as a whole. Such a program will reflect the end of the industrial age, when technology is satisfying many basic needs and creating space for individuals to pursue meaningful, fulfilling careers with the potential to improve our quality of life. Our current economic state mirrors the beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, and Aspirational Revolution shows how the immediate future will redefine what it means to be human by revolutionizing the manner in which we acquire and utilize the resources necessary for our continued survival. This book is the catalyst by which this transition will occur, providing the models upon which new paradigms will be built - a brand new conception of fundamental economic theory.

This book is devoted to the analysis of the three main financial crises that have marked this century: 2001 Argentina's defaulting on its external debt, the American subprime crisis in 2008, and the current European debt crisis in Europe. The book pursues three major objectives: firstly, to accurately portray these three financial crises; secondly, to analyze what went wrong with mainstream economic theory, which was unable to foresee these types of economic turmoil; and thirdly, to review macroeconomic theory, re-evaluating Keynes' original contribution to economic analysis and pointing out the need to rebuild macroeconomics with a view to studying economic illness rather than trying to prove the non-existence of economic problems.