How can developing countries become high-income nations? What are the reference points for measuring national development, public leadership and government performance? What is the nexus between public policies and geopolitical, political, emotional, historical, national governance-related, social and cultural norms, forces and factors which shape the process of the state building? This second edition of the book elaborates on many of these critical interconnections, focusing on 9 years after Georgia's Revolution of Roses in November 2003. The book explains what can be accomplished in two electoral terms at a given starting level of GDP per capita and which pitfalls to avoid. It contributes to documenting an almost decade-long history of Georgia.

Procurement is a critical government activity, yet very little scholarly attention is devoted to procurement fraud in public policy, public management, or public financial management research. While many publications focus on the stages of the procurement process and appropriate protocols to follow for successful procurements, the opportunities for exploitation of the process have not been as widely studied. Procurement fraud is similarly understudied in the white-collar crime literature, where attention has primarily been placed on corporate crime or political corruption. This book extends criminal justice and white-collar crime scholarship by using these literatures to frame public procurement fraud. Additionally, organizational behavior approaches are applied to public procurement fraud to explain possible motivations for this type of occupational crime. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to provide insights into the characteristics of individuals who abuse the procurement process for personal gain, and it offers some strategies for detecting and preventing further abuse. Original research is also presented and compares the offender-based and offense-based characteristics of the perpetrators of public procurement fraud with those of street and white-collar criminals. The intention of this book is to elevate the issue of public procurement fraud and to align it with criminal justice and white-collar crime scholarship.

On 8 November 1995 we organized the conference Is Inheritance Legitimate? Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA). The conference brought together economists, philosophers and other social scientists to discuss the issues of bequest and inheritance. The conference programme featured five invited contributions; the revised versions of these five papers consitute the core of this book (Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7). Also included in this book are the written versions of the comments presented by the two discussants (Chapters 5 and 8). We also gave the opportunity to the authors who defended two radically different opinions on bequest and inheritance to comment upon one another's position (Chapters 9 and 10). Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; it situates the debate on inheritance in a broader ethical and economic framework, and summarizes the main points of the book. The conference was organized as part of a research project funded by the Flemish Fonds voor Wetenschap'pelijk Onderzoek (project number G. 0032. 95). Within UFSIA the conference was hosted by the 'Vakgroep Arbeidseconomie' of the Studiecentrum voor Economisch en Sociaal Onderzoek (SESO) and the Centrum voor Ethiek. The secretarial staff of SESO, in particular Annernarie Bunneghem and Linda Teunkens, did an excellent job in organizing the conference. Patricia De Bruyn and Tom Schatteman were extremely helpful in preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Antwerp, January 1997. Guido Erreygers and Toon Vandevelde, Editors CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This book presents a multidimensional perspective on the interlinkage between human development, community characteristics and public service delivery with special reference to India. The chapters in the book analyze the influence of public service delivery on human development from neo-classical as well as Marxian point of view. Thus, the expositions in the book provides a balanced mix of macro and micro approaches in the study of development. The analytical discussions are supplemented by case studies and empirical estimates so as to demonstrate the applicability of the theory and the theoretical discourse about human development, community network and the success and failures of critical public services in the Indian context. The methodology followed in the chapters involves critical survey of existing literature, case studies, field survey and use of econometric techniques as well as statistical tools of index construction. While contributors are primarily scholars from neo-classical economics discipline, some are intellectuals from the field of political economy and development studies. Given the wide array of development perspectives, this book is of interest not only to students and researcher of development economics, social science and management, but also a valuable reading for development practitioners and policy makers, who would be interested in understanding how community and public institutions interact to determine access to health, education and social security services that shapes the wellbeing of disadvantaged populations. The lessons and implications are extremely pertinent to other emerging economies, in particular those in South Asia.

This book takes as a starting point that welfare states in developed societies do not provide systems of social insurance against the risk of an early death. In contrast to the way in which economically developed countries provide ways of insuring citizens against other possibilities, such as unemployment and disease, no such social insurance mechanism exists for early death. It aims to demonstrate that, despite the impossibility to compensate the victims of a short life once they are identified, and despite the impossibility to identify the persons who will be short-lived (when they are still alive), it is nonetheless possible to construct a social insurance against the risk of a short life by means of age-based statistical discrimination favouring all young persons. Combining philosophical literature with economic analysis, the book re-examines the ethical foundations of social insurance, and proposes a major reform of the welfare state: the construction of a social insurance against a short life. It shows how such an insurance system could be constructed by partially 'reversing' existing pension systems, by offering a period of retirement to all young adults before they start their career. Such a 'reversed' pension system would allocate more free time and opportunities to younger members of society before they enter the labour market, and, hence, this system would also improve the lives of the - unidentified - young persons who will turn out to die prematurely. The book discusses the social desirability of this new system, as well as its financial feasibility and societal consequences, examining how pension allowances paid to young adults may be financed by the work of senior workers. As such, this book demonstrates how the universal uncertainty about the duration of life can be reconciled with the idea of social justice. With an accessible and interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of interest to academics working in a range of fields, including economics, public finance, social insurance, the economics of ageing and the welfare state, economic ethics and political philosophy.

This timely book reveals that the budget deficits and accumulating debts that plague modern democracies reflect a clash between two rationalities of governance: one of private property and one of common property. The clashing of these rationalities at various places in society creates forms of societal tectonics that play out through budgeting. The book demonstrates that while this clash is an inherent feature of democratic political economy, it can nonetheless be limited through embracing once again a constitution of liberty. Not all commons settings have tragic outcomes, of course, but tragic outcomes loom large in democratic processes because they entail conflict between two very different forms of substantive rationality; the political and market rationalities. These are both orders that contain interactions among participants, but the institutional frameworks that govern those interactions differ, generating democratic budgetary tragedies. Those tragedies, moreover, are inherent in the conflict between the different rationalities and so cannot be eliminated. They can, as this book argues, be reduced by restoring a constitution of liberty in place of the constitution of control that has taken shape throughout the west over the past century. Economists interested in public finance, public policy and political economy along with scholars of political science, public administration, law and political philosophy will find this book intriguing. Contents: Preface 1. Budgeting: The Elusive Quest for Fiscal Responsibility 2. Budgeting and Political Economy: A Theoretical Framework 3. Budget Deficits, Ricardian Equivalence, and Macro-Micro Supervenience 4. Property Rights, Societal Tectonics, and the Fiscal Commons 5. Parliamentary Assemblies as Peculiar Market Bazaars 6. Taxation, Fiscal Politics, and Political Pricing 7. Regulation as Alternative Taxation 8. Public Finance for a Constitution of Liberty Bibliography Index

Basic information is provided on how contribution programs can be used in community-based development with satisfying results for all. Senior corporate managers are encouraged to go beyond traditional giving and to consider other areas. Concrete suggestions and a review of the experience of some of the pioneers are presented. For companies and foundations which have limited resources, but have a desire to participate, several techniques of indirect investments in social development are shown.

This introductory textbook on social choice theory makes the social choice theoretic framework and its main results, that have a direct bearing on the discourses on electoral rules and policy evaluation, accessible to a larger audience. The text is essentially self-contained. No previous knowledge of mathematical logic or relational algebra is assumed. Whatever technical prerequisites are needed, are developed in the text itself. Although the text is at an introductory level, there has been no compromise on rigor. Unlike most introductory books, the relevant proofs are not omitted; rather, they have been explained in detail. The text has a large number of examples so that the concepts and results become clear to the reader. There is a large number of exercises with full solutions provided at the end of the text, so that the reader can check her/his understanding of the material.

This book examines US-Swiss relations in the context of Swiss banking secrecy and Holocaust related claims from World War II until the end of the 1990s. During World War II, Switzerland had been purchasing Reichsbank's gold and safeguarded the assets of the victims of Nazi Germany. This deeply impacted US-Swiss relations in the 1990s, and fueled a major conflict over dormant accounts and heirless assets of Holocaust victims. The US pressured Switzerland for Holocaust restitution using economic sanctions and a negative PR campaign. This culminated in a billion-dollar settlement, a reevaluation of wartime history by the Swiss, and a blow to Switzerland's international image. This book analyzes US policy towards Switzerland as a case of projection of US economic, as opposed to military power.

'A brilliant critical and fresh look at the public choice school of thought.' - Paul Streeten This book challenges theories of public goods, public enterprise and public choice on three fronts. Government action reflects wider interests and commitments than just the material self-interest assumed as primary by the three theories. Government contributes to the productivity and quality of the modern mixed economy in ways not captured by theories stressing the inherent superiority of private markets. Lastly, old and new ideas within established traditions of political thought justify government action beyond the libertarian argument for limited government.

"Charles Konigsberg has done a great service for American taxpayers-- giving all of us a clear, direct and meaningful guide to the $3 trillion of our money that goes to the government to fund programs that shape our daily lives (for better or worse.) For one used to wading through gobbledygook or impenetrable jargon, the plainspoken, straightforward actual English in this book is especially refreshing. Every American concerned about federal taxing and spending--Democrat, Republican or other, budget analyst or average citizen--should have this book." Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute "This is an extremely useful book--both for those seeking a comprehensible introduction to the complexities of the federal budget and to practitioners needing a quick refresher course." Alice M. Rivlin, former Director, Office of Management and Budget, and Congressional Budget Office "Charles Konigsberg, who advised my good friend Pat Moynihan on fiscal policy, explains in clear and concise language why the United States is on a dangerous fiscal path, with entitlement programs, particularly the health care entitlements, growing at an unsustainable rate due to rapidly rising health care costs." Bob Kerrey, former Senator from Nebraska and current President of the New School ____________________________________________________________ America's Priorities explains in clear, concise, nonpartisan language how the U.S. government raises and spends $3 trillion per year. The book provides plain English explanations of the budget process, major Federal spending programs, Federal taxes, and the reasons for the major swing from deficits in the 1980s to surpluses in the late 1990s and back to rapidly increasing debt in the current decade. A broad spectrum of readers will find the book useful: journalists, political and financial commentators, the government and financial sectors, the academic community, and voters looking for a nonpartisan explanation of how our elected officials are prioritizing public resources. Charles S. Konigsberg has over two decades of bipartisan experience in the White House and U.S. Senate, having served as General Counsel at the Senate Finance Committee, Minority Chief Counsel at the Senate Rules Committee, Staff Attorney at the Senate Budget Committee, and 4 years as an Assistant Director at the Office of Management and Budget.

Valuing Intellectual Capital provides readers with prescriptive strategies and practical insights for estimating the value of intellectual property (IP) and the people who create that IP within multinational companies. This book addresses the crucial topic of taxation from a rigorous and quantitative perspective, backed by experience and original research that illustrates how large corporations need to measure the worth of their intangible assets. Each method in the text is applied through the lens of a model corporation, in order for readers to understand and quantify the operation of a real-world multinational enterprise and pinpoint how companies easily misvalue their intellectual capital when transferring IP rights to offshore tax havens. The effect contributes to the issues that can lead to budgetary crises, such as the so-called "fiscal cliff" that was partially averted by passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act on New Year's day 2013. This book also features a chapter containing recommendations for a fair and balanced corporate tax structure free of misvaluation and questionable mechanisms. CFOs, corporate auditors, corporate financial analysts, corporate financial planners, economists, and journalists working with issues of taxation will benefit from the concepts and background presented in the book. The material clearly indicates how a trustworthy valuation of intellectual capital allows a realistic assessment of a company's income, earnings, and obligations. Because of the intense interest in the topic of corporate tax avoidance the material is organized to be accessible to a broad audience.

This book explores the various economic and institutional factors that explain why huge investments are made in unworthy transportation mega-projects in the US and other countries. It is based on research, the general literature, economic analyses, and results from a specifically collected database showing that a significant proportion of implemented mega-projects have been found to be inferior ex-ante or incapable of delivering the returns they promised ex-post. Transportation infrastructure and other public investments of a similar scope ("mega-projects") reflect public sector priorities and objectives, non-pecuniary as well as financial constraints, and a range of decision-making processes. This book describes how decisions made in the public sector with respect to transportation infrastructure investments are affected by the large populations and territories they serve, the estimation of the substantial opportunity costs they entail, the formal procedures instituted for quantitatively appraising projected outcomes and monetary returns, and the political environment in which these decisions are made.

Sovereign states commonly use tax incentives in order to attract investment and capital from abroad. Although it has been recognized for many years that the forms and features of these incentives can often have harmful effects, there has not until now been a clear, in-depth, full-scale study of what these effects are, how they come about, and how they can be minimized or avoided. Within this volume, Carlo Pinto crystallises the extensive European and American literature in the field, locating his legal analysis in an EU law context that offers a framework within which tax lawyers in both government and business can find common ground. This volume builds an authoritative synthesis and proposal in its detailed discussions of all aspects of the theory and practice of tax competition, including the following: evidence of interjurisdictional tax competition in the US experience and what the EU can learn from it; methodologies to study tax competition; economic evidence of tax competition in Europe; Member States' "benchmark" tax systems; internal market distortion provisions of the EU Treaty (Articles 96 and 97) and relevant EMU provisions. It also examines the: applicability of state aid provisions (EC Treaty Article 87) to direct tax measures; the EU "Code of Conduct" Group; OECD countermeasures against harmful tax competition; and CFC legislation. In the course of his presentation the author analyses various tax regimes and court cases from most EU Member States, outlining the issues and clarifications each brings to the central questions. His final proposal demonstrates that the beneficial effects of tax competition - decrease in direct tax burden, improved efficiency in public administration, enhancement of employment and development - need not be fraught with the risk of fiscal degradation. This is a significant development in the success of the projected harmonisation of taxation in the European Union.

This non-technical volume analyses topical problems of public finance in a changing world characterized by growing mobility of production factors, liberalized economic policy regimes, and the formation of new nations. It discusses alternative views of government and the way we measure its activities; the modern welfare state and its impact on entrepreneurship and employment; issues of fiscal coordination and income redistribution in a world with many jurisdictions; and the problems of raising government revenue and of allocating property rights in transition economies.

Handbook of Economic Stagnation takes a broad view, including contributions from orthodox and heterodox economists who examine situations in countries and worldwide regions, including Japan and the Euro area. To be sure, stagnation is periodically relieved by short economic bursts usually brought on by unsustainable asset price bubbles. Once the bubbles burst, stagnation returns. This book's fresh, comprehensive approach to the topic makes it the premier source for anyone affected by these cycles.

This unique book gives a measure of the direct financial costs and benefits to a city of constructing a sports stadium without injecting biases and values into the situation. The literature on the indirect economic impact of these projects is reviewed and discussed. Private and public stadium projects are compared with respect to construction costs, use, and amenities. The work has an introduction that deals with the justification of subsidies, a comparison of ownership plans of the facilities, and a review of the literature. Following this are 15 chapters dealing with individual stadium projects. A summary and analysis of financial and non-financial data are followed by a conclusion.

Challenges to the Welfare State examines and assesses cultural, economic and political problems facing welfare states in Europe and North America and provides policy suggestions to alleviate these problems. An important group of authors identifies the relative merits of welfare state systems in the United States and Europe. They consider the transition of the welfare state in former Communist countries to more market oriented systems and the status of the European welfare state in the context of deepening European integration. More specifically, these experts address the question of whether further integration in Europe will result in an environment where all citizens are guaranteed only certain basic social rights and are encouraged to take private financial responsibility for health care, pension provision and insurance. The nature of social insurance institutions, the problems of ageing populations and the backlash against increasing taxation are also considered. The authors conclude that the reduction of existing government debt in the context of the move towards European Monetary Union will require either considerable increases in taxation or a significant reduction in entitlements. This book will be required reading for scholars and students of economics, social and public politics, politics and public administration.

The microeconomic foundation of the theory of money has long represented a puzzle to economic theory. Why is there Money? derives the foundations of monetary theory from advanced price theory in a mathematically precise family of trading post models. It has long been recognized that the fundamental theoretical analysis of a market economy is embodied in the Arrow-Debreu-Walras mathematical general equilibrium model, with one great deficiency: the analysis cannot accommodate money and financial institutions. In this groundbreaking book, Ross M. Starr addresses this problem directly, by expanding the Arrow-Debreu model to include a multiplicity of trading opportunities, with the resultant endogenous derivation of money as the carrier of value among them. This fundamental breakthrough is achieved while maintaining the Walrasian general equilibrium price-theoretic structure, augmented primarily by the introduction of separate bid and ask prices reflecting transaction costs. The result is foundations of monetary theory consistent with and derived from modern price theory. This fascinating book will provide a stimulating and thought-provoking read for academics and postgraduate students focusing on economics, macroeconomics, macroeconomic policy and finance, money and banking. Central bankers will also find much to interest them within this book. Contents: Introduction: Why is There No Money? 1. Why is There Money? 2. An Economy Without Money 3. The Trading Post Model 4. An Elementary Linear Example: Liquidity Creates Money 5. Absence of Double Coincidence of Wants is Essential to Monetization in a Linear Economy 6. Uniqueness of Money: Scale Economy and Network Externality 7. Monetization of General Equilibrium 8. Government-Issued Fiat Money 9. Efficient Structure of Exchange 10. Microfoundations of Jevons's Double Coincidence Condition 11. Commodity Money Equilibrium in a Convex Trading Post Economy 12. Efficiency of Commodity Money Equilibrium 13. Alternative Models 14. Conclusion and a Research Agenda Bibliography Index

This book covers the Tax Treaties which The People's Republic of China has signed with various nations of the European Region. This book is a collection of the treaties, supplementary materials, and selected implementing circulars. It is edited and ordered according to geographical/economic criteria and accompanied with integrated with tables, domestic tax systems reports, and accompanying circulars and treaty model texts. This book has never been compiled for Chinese tax treaties before, providing a new resource for firms and researchers to access the materials with ease. This book has the potential to be a part of a volume on China double tax treaties, and the book will encompass the entirety of China's Global Tax treaties. The intended readership of this book will be primarily professionals who are working in both the international accounting and legal industries. These readers frequently reference the treaties through the course of their normal business for the purpose of forming optimum tax structures and corporate structuring. However, it is also foreseeable that this book will be of interest to academic researchers in multiple fields from geo-politics, accounting, legal to economics.

This Palgrave Pivot offers comprehensive evidence about what people actually think of "nudge" policies designed to steer decision makers' choices in positive directions. The data reveal that people in diverse nations generally favor nudges by strong majorities, with a preference for educative efforts - such as calorie labels - that equip individuals to make the best decisions for their own lives. On the other hand, there are significant arguments for noneducational nudges - such as automatic enrollment in savings plans - as they allow people to devote their scarce time and attention to their most pressing concerns. The decision to use either educative or noneducative nudges raises fundamental questions about human freedom in both theory and practice. Sunstein's findings and analysis offer lessons for those involved in law and policy who are choosing which method to support as the most effective way to encourage lifestyle changes.

"Advances in Taxation" publishes articles dealing with all aspects of taxation. Articles can address tax policy issues at the federal, state, local, or international level. The series primarily publishes empirical studies that address compliance, computer usage, education, legal, planning, or policy issues. These studies generally involve interdisciplinary research that incorporates theories from accounting, economics, finance, psychology, and/or sociology. Although empirical studies are primarily published, analytical and historical manuscripts are also welcome.

The Public Sector R&D Enterprise combines a primer on how government R&D programs actually work with a sophisticated methodology for prospectively putting a dollar figure on the value of R&D investments before they are made.

Critics of qualitative educational evaluation frequently assume this approach is a monolithic entity rather than a multitude of varied approaches. This collection dispels this myth by comparing, contrasting, and clarifying various qualitative approaches. It represents a wealth of practical alternatives designed to add to the evaluator's arsenal. The editor has combined classic papers with newer writings to present a comprehensive coverage of varied approaches in the field--including ethnography, naturalistic inquiry, generic pragmatic (sociological) qualitative inquiry, connoisseurship and criticism, and a few completely new qualitative approaches--which are presented in this work by their founders or major proponents.