The Arab upheaval and the world's biggest financial crisis after the Great Depression were almost simultaneous in their occurrence. The Mediterranean economies now face a dual challenge of a political and financial restructuring in the light of a shaky economic pedestal on which they stand. In light of this socio-political and economic shift in both inland and in world markets, this book offers a thorough analysis on problems, prospects and the way ahead for the financial integration of the South-Mediterranean region. Several perspectives on financial integration and policy recommendations are put forward from a leading group of researchers specializing on the Mediterranean region.

This volume presents selected contributions from the 2018 conference of the International Schumpeter Society (ISS). The selected chapters in this volume reflect the state-of-the-art of Schumpeterian economics dedicated to the three conference topics innovation, catch-up, and sustainability. Innovation is driving catch-up processes and is the condition for a transformation towards higher degrees of sustainability. Therefore, Schumpeterian economics has to play a key role in these most challenging fields of human societies' development in the 21st century. The three topics are well suited to capture the great variety of issues, which have the potential to shape the scientific discussion in economics and related disciplines in the years to come. The presented contributions show the broadness and high standard of Schumpeterian analysis. The ideas of dynamics, heterogeneity, novelty, and innovation as well as transformation are the most attractive fields in economics today and offer the most prolific interdisciplinary connections now and for the years to come when humankind, our global society, has to master the transition towards sustainable economic systems by solving the grand challenges and wicked problems with which we are confronted today. Therefore, the book is a must-read for scholars, researchers, and students, interested in a better understanding of innovation, catch-up, and sustainability, and Schumpeterian economics in general.The chapter "Industrial life cycle: relevance of national markets in the development of new industries for energy technologies - the case of wind energy" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 License via link.springer.com.

Despite the globalization of accounting standards occurring through convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards, local accounting systems are deeply intertwined with each country's unique institutions such as its corporate system, disclosure practices and enforcement mechanisms. First, this book empirically analyzes the effects of globalization and localization of accounting rules on corporate behavior such as earnings management, signaling, investment behavior and dividend payout policy. Second, the book unravels the economic consequences of disclosure based on the concept of self-disciplining enforcement such as management forecasts, environmental disclosures and risk disclosures by Japanese firms. This volume is a step forward in understanding the link between accounting and corporate behavior based on a new institutional accounting approach.

Kessler shows how political considerations distorted the liberalization process in Mexico, leading to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy. Although market reform is promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations. The research examines four periods: the populist administrations of Echeverria and Lopez Portillo, during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of de la Madrid, who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas, who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration, whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process. Kessler also provides a comparison of financial collapse in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.

This book gives readers the theoretical and empirical methods to analyze applied economics. They are institutional economics, information economics, environmental economics, international economics, financial economics, industrial organization, public economics, law and economics, and spatial economics. Because the chapters of this book deal with current topics in these categories, they are relevant not only to researchers and graduate students but also to policy makers and entrepreneurs. As there is uncertainty about the global economy, it is necessary to consider optimal, efficient behavior to survive in the confused world. The book is organized in three parts. Part 1 deals with institutional economics, information economics, and related topics, approached through game theory. Part 2 focuses on environmental economics, international economics, and financial economics, through a microeconomic or econometric approach. Finally, Part 3 concentrates on public economics, social security, and related fields, through microeconomics or macroeconomics.

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, there have been many criticisms weighed against private credit rating agencies. Many claim they only exacerbate financial market volatility by issuing faulty public statements, ratings warnings, and downgrades. This instability increases the uncertainty in business environments and weakens the pace of business investment. Their rating changes also prompt national governments to reduce their spending at a time when fiscal expenditures are crucial for economic recovery. Public Credit Rating Agencies argues for the creation of national public credit rating agencies, offering the first in-depth discussion of their implied role and function operating alongside private agencies. Schroeder provides an up-to-date overview of the ratings industry and the government bodies that monitor its activities. She suggests that the proper implementation of public credit rating agencies will promote the stability of lending, further development and adaptation of new technology, and increase labor productivity and the profitability of new investment in businesses. Finally, this book clarifies the inconsistencies that have surfaced between public budgeting and a rating agency's evaluation of national budgets.

This book provides a detailed assessment of current approaches to transfer pricing in the context of small- and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs), including the newest update of Transfer Pricing Guidelines from 10 July 2017. It analyzes the transfer pricing rules for SMEs across the European Union (EU) and explores two alternative approaches as suitable solutions for current transfer pricing issues. The authors evaluate and discuss alternative approaches like Safe Harbour and Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB). Taking into account the prominent role of SMEs in the European Union's economy, the book also puts forward policy recommendations to achieve the long-term goals of the EU's 2020 agenda.

Ever since newspaper companies first turned to their governments for support in the 1950s, print media has been supported by state aid in many parts of the world. Today, the principles and practicalities of these subsidies have been called into question, endangering the secure funding of expensive high-quality press output.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of today's global challenges in the print news media's struggle for survival. It presents current practices concerning government subsidies to newspapers for political, economic, and socio-cultural purposes against the background of declining readership and revenues, increased inter-media competition, austerity budgets imposed on national economies and shifting audience tastes. Using the insights of theoretical debates in the fields of media economics, media governance, and modern management theory, the book analyses these issues by investigating the power of government subsidies to shape and control newspaper markets. It brings together experts in these fields to combine theory with industry practices, aiming to help all parties involved to understand the complexity of issues and requirements necessary to preserve the social benefits of print media.

This book select successful cases of poverty reduction and alleviation in the Guizhou province of China, which reflects the highest number and widest distribution of people living in poverty. The local government seeks to achieve sustainable development goals and find multiple solutions to the problem.. The book introduces local experiences and presents the whole process from policy making to practice.

For multinational corporations (MNCs), there is arguably no more important operational function that affects all areas of manufacturing, marketing, management, and finance as international transfer pricing--the practicing of supplying products or services across borders from one part of the organization to another. Its complexity is compounded by the impact of e-commerce, speeding the flow of goods and services; "intangible" assets, such as intellectual property, whose value is difficult to quantify; and the activites of policymakers around the world to update their tax laws and regulations, in efforts to close loopholes that have historically encouraged tax avoidance. In Critical Concerns in Transfer Pricing Policy and Practice, Wagdy Abdallah provides an in-depth overview of these recent trends and developments, and considers their implications for the management of MNCs. In particular, he discusses methods for pricing transferred goods and services in the e-commerce era and analyzes the most recent regulation reforms in such countries as Germany, Mexico, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands. Anticipating increased scrutiny of MNC transfer pricing practices from governments and other external stakeholders, Abdallah outlines a set of practical recommendations for creating a successful transfer pricing system that maximizes value for the company while remaining sensitive to local policies in all of the countries in which it operates.

This book presents China's wealth management market to the public, institutions and research groups. As the money base of Renminbi (RMB or Chinese Yuan) from the central bank increases exponentially in recent years, the overall leverage ratio rises in an alarming rate and the shadow banking issues stick out. Where this massive amount goes has raised huge interest all over the world. This book answers this question in three aspects: What is the money made up? Who is managing the money and how are they doing? The author studied six types of financial institutions that are responsible for channeling the money to industries and individuals. Banks although still the main vehicle for money flows, other financial organizations have taken more and more important roles in the money management market. Insurance, trust, security and mutual funds are the main non-banking business participants. New money management products are innovated, as are the regulations. The money management business in China has experience from starting chaos to a regulated market and the evolution is still going on. Professionals and researchers around the world are watching China's money market closely, studying the mechanisms, looking for business opportunities and trying to theorizing economic rules. This book is a well presented and professionally structured for the above purposes.

This is the thirty-fifth volume in the Brookings Studies of Government Finance series. In the first of its four essays, "Analytical Foundations of Fiscal Policy," Alan S. Blinder of Princeton University and Robert M. Solow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of fiscal policy. After discussing how the influence of fiscal policy on macroeconomic activity ought to be assessed, the authors examine and find inadequate the dictum that government should balance the budget rather than the economy. They defend again both theoretically and empirically the efficacy of fiscal policy against the monetarist challenge. From an examination of the lags and uncertainties in the operation of fiscal policy and an analysis of the 1968 70 income tax surcharge, they conclude that, although much remains to be learned about the econometrics of policy multipliers, the post-surcharge experience in no way undermines the theoretical foundations of fiscal policy. Where the burdens of various taxes fall has been a matter of intense interest to economic theorists in the last twenty years. As public expenditures (and taxpayer resistance) rise, not only must policy makers try to distribute the burdens of taxation equitably, but they must also attempt to move toward national goals by judicious use of tax instruments. George F. Break of the University of California at Berkeley, in "The Incidence and Economic Effects of Taxation," a comprehensive review of recent tax literature, focuses on the theoretical studies that have helped to expand knowledge of tax incidence and the empirical studies that support newly developed hypotheses. In each area he surveys the design of theoretical and general sales and income taxes; the effect of economic choices, both of individuals and businesses, on the national well-being Break indicates the ground still to be covered and the potential benefits of further inquiry. In "Public Expenditure Budgeting," Peter O. Steiner of the University of Michigan explores the literature dealing with the hard questions underlying public expenditures. What is the public interest? How does the community decide whether the government should undertake or finance a given activity, instead of leaving it to a private action or inaction? On what basis should incremental expenditure decisions of governmental units be made? Steiner reviews the various approaches scholars have taken to the difficult questions surrounding the appropriateness of governmental provision of particular goods and services. Although he finds none of the models fully satisfactory, his work contributes to the debate concerning the process by which collective values are articulated and collective decisions come to be accepted as binding. Dick Netzer's "State-Local Finance and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations" clarifies the debate that centered around the initial proposals for revenue sharing. The author, Dean of New York University's Graduate School of Public Administration, explores the appropriate distribution of responsibility for public services among federal, state, and local governments, the appropriate revenue systems for the subnational governments, and the appropriate means of coordinating the systems with the responsibilities.

In the twentieth century the application of national taxes to income from international business has created complex yet fascinating issues. The co-ordination of national jurisdiction to tax international income has rested formally on a network of bilateral treaties, but its practical administration has relied on a community of specialists; business advisers on the one hand and national officials on the other. The rapid growth of transnational corporations has put great pressure on the international tax system, especially due to the increasing difficulty of ensuring that the internal transfer prices between related firms in different countries reflect a fair and acceptable allocation of costs and profits. Furthermore, the widespread use of intermediary companies formed in tax havens has led to complex counter-measures and a constant process of treaty renegotiation and interaction with national law. The increasingly close administrative co-operation of tax authorities has been criticized as secretive and often arbitrary. Yet proposals for a more comprehensive framework and clearer legitimizing principles and procedures have conflicted with both the vested interests of international firms and with sensitivities about national sovereignity. But major reforms are necessary, even if implemented piecemeal.

Using perspectives from law, economics and social science, this book provides a systematic introduction to the major problems of international taxation of business income. In doing so, it retrieves important policy issues that have become buried in technical intricacies of the international taxation system.

This book is an examination of the sovereign risk and debt limit issues facing the Eurozone (crisis/post crisis) and the need for alternative mechanisms to fund the capital investment requirements of the region.

In his latest work, Macesich examines democracy and its economic counterpart, the free market, and the place of money (monetary and fiscal policy as controlled by the state bureaucracy) in such a system. DeTocqueville warned in the first half of the 19th century that democracy could falter as a consequence of citizens' diminished interest in restraining central authority. And now, there is evidence that vote-maximizing behavior of politicians and politically induced cycles in such key variables as inflation, unemployment, government transfers, taxes and monetary growth have become a critical problem in American democracy. The author examines, then, how best to consider money, monetary policy and the monetary regime--increasingly a function of political/bureaucratic pressures--against the argument for a liberal, freely functioning trading world and for fully-employed, prosperous countries.

This study considers the constraints that must be placed on the exercise of discretionary authority by vote maximizing bureaucracies and political elites if democracy is to thrive and prosper. Satisfactory resolution of these issues is basic to reducing monetary uncertainty and stabilizing the long-term price level, according to Macesich. These issues are deeply rooted in traditional American ideology and experience, and the author makes this clear in weaving together historical, institutional, theoretical, philosophical, and empirical results in the case of money and monetary policy.

Decentralism of political power to regions and local government occurs worldwide in response to demands from the periphery. Such devolution of power raises a number of problems - political, financial, and legal. By gathering together important papers from a series of workshops sponsored by the SNS Constitutional Project and the Center for European Integration Studies, this volume presents a number of these problems from a truly interdisciplinary perspective. The authors believe that fiscal federalism, while originating in formally federal states, is relevant also to the analysis of state-local relationships in unitary states with some degree of regional or local authority. Among the topics they cover are the division of responsibilities and powers of taxation, bailouts, systems of equalization, and state grants, as well as problems related to democracy and citizens' rights. While the book's primary focus is Nordic, its international perspective is enhanced by contributions from Europe, Canada, and the U.S.

Praise for the Classic Guide to the Bond Market

"This is simply the most comprehensive, useful look-it-up book on municipal bonds I’ve ever read (said with all due respect to The ABC of Municipal Bonds my dad wrote in 1937 when I was nine). Read Fundamentals cover to cover. I’m keeping mine in my briefcase, under my arm, at my fingertips. No accountant, financial advisor, attorney, new bond salesman, reporter, regulator, test-writer, cautious, suspicious first-time investor in municipal bonds, or dinner guest is ever going to catch me again with a question about municipal bonds I can’t answer."–Jim Lebenthal, Chairman, Lebenthal & Co.

"Judy Wesalo Temel gives us the Rosetta stone of the municipal bond market, the key to unraveling the many mysteries of ‘muni’s.’ Her book, a fresh take on the old standard Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds, updates chapter and verse on everything from investing to underwriting, from over-the-counter to over-the-Internet. The style is clean, crisp, and as simple as this complex subject can be. Are you a novice who wonders how to invest in bonds? She lays out the basics. Examples are easy to follow–even the mathematical ones that are critical to explaining how municipal bonds work. At the same time, there is plenty of meat for the pros. Whether you need to start from square one and learn all about municipal bonds and how they work, or need a ready reference for specific technical questions you run across as a market professional, this book is for you."–Kathleen Hays, Economics Editor, Credit Markets Reporter, and "Bond Belle" CNBC

"This is a must-read for every scholar, banker, and public official concerned with local government finance in the United States. Judy Wesalo Temel has done the impossible: she has clearly and insightfully explained how we finance the development of the nation's vital public infrastructure. This is an important book, one that will be required reading for professionals responsible for planning, designing, and evaluating publicly financed projects–the health care, transportation, and educational facilities that all citizens rely upon. The bond market is an essential element in the life of local and state government, and this book makes it understandable to all Americans."–Mitchell Moss, Henry Hart Rice Professor of Urban Planning and Director, Taub Urban Research Center, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University

Transfer pricing is a dynamic and multidimensional topic that has captured the attention of academicians, corporate executives, and tax authorities for many decades. The issues of transfer pricing are very complex and the stakes are extremely high because more than 40 percent of international trade is trade between related entities. This book examines many important tax and management issues related to transfer pricing. These issues include new transfer pricing regulations and their implications, the selection of proper transfer pricing methods, major environmental variables, and issues concerning the administration of a transfer pricing system. The author also presents many interesting findings from a recent study on U.S. transfer pricing practices.

The author begins by describing the nature of intrafirm transactions in a corporate environment and the significance of intrafirm transactions in international trade. Recent changes and major transfer pricing legislation and regulations in the United States are explained. New transfer pricing regulations in Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the European Community and their implications are also discussed. These are followed by a presentation on research methodology and profile of 143 respondent firms. The author then explains the findings on transfer pricing methods and environmental variables of international transfer pricing. Current transfer pricing practices are compared with those of an earlier study done in 1977. Other issues such as system objectives, resolution of policy conflicts, and policies on outside purchases are covered by this monograph. General conclusions from this research and suggestions for further research are also provided.

Gordon maintains that the United States must implement policy measures to reduce the large amounts of capital it is borrowing from the rest of the world--a problem she attributes, mainly, to low private savings rates and high federal budget deficits. She explains how the United States became a debtor nation, describes the changes in global capital markets that occurred in the 1980s, and analyzes the extent of global capital requirements, the drop in the U.S. savings rate, and the policy measures that could be taken to raise it. Unlike most discussions that focus on faulty international trade practices as a cause of U.S. deficits, Gordon places a large share of the responsibility on U.S. macroeconomic policies. Concise, readable, lucid, Gordon's book will be useful to professionals in banking and finance, and to academics and upper-level students of international business, finance, and economics.

This user-friendly book aims to summarize the principal topics of Chinese Taxation and offers readers a general overview of the Chinese Taxation and informative updates on tax changes. The book provides a variety of facts, figures, graphs and data in an easy-to read table format. Firstly, the book proposes an introduction to taxation and to the Chinese tax system, secondly, it focuses on direct taxes, indirect taxes and other taxes and, in the end, it covers international taxation. Moreover, the book offers a quick overview of the Chinese M&A taxation and of the Chinese Free Trade Zones.

This volume presents selected papers from the 18th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, with major emphasis placed on highlighting the latest research developments in the economics of innovation, public economics, and management. The articles in the volume also address more specialized topics such as luxury fashion, weather derivatives, health management, islamic bonds, and life satisfaction, among others. The majority of the articles focus on phenomena observed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and South Asia, representing a unique contribution to understanding contemporary research challenges from a different perspective.

This book provides compelling arguments for the exclusive concern with efficiency ('a dollar is a dollar') in all specific areas of public economic policy, leaving the objective of equality to be achieved through the general tax/transfer system. Public policies should ultimately maximize the sum of individual welfares which should be individual happiness rather than preferences. Relative-income and environmental disruption effects cause a bias in favour of private spending which is no longer conducive to happiness socially. Welfare can be increased more by higher public spending on research and environmental protection, including the perfection of the techniques of brain stimulation to increase happiness.