NAFTA has been described by one expert as being a partial customs union. It is, in any case, a special kind of free trade area because it consists of two highly developed economies and one large third world economy. In this book, the contributors examine the specific interests of the three member countries, Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the creation of NAFTA. They also assess the influence of this trade area on their economics. Looking to the future, doubts are expressed about the feasibility of using NAFTA (a hope expressed by the USA) as a stepping stone in the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Instead, the contributors see the consolidation of MERCOSUR in Latin America and the creation of a new Trans-Atlantic Market - as proposed by Sir Leon Brittan - as more likely developments.

Originally published in 1979, The Investment Behaviour of British Life Insurance Companies provides a critical analysis of the investment policy of the life insurance industry for the period of 1962-76, and attempts to construct an econometric model of the investment behaviour. It looks at the portfolio composition of life funds and their position in the markets for securities in terms of their gross purchases and sales and net acquisitions. It also considers the principles on which life offices appear to operate the principles on which life offices appear to operate in respect of investing their 'reserves' to meet future contingent liabilities. This book will appeal to those working in the field of economic and business.

Originally published in 1979, The Investment Behaviour of British Life Insurance Companies provides a critical analysis of the investment policy of the life insurance industry for the period of 1962-76, and attempts to construct an econometric model of the investment behaviour. It looks at the portfolio composition of life funds and their position in the markets for securities in terms of their gross purchases and sales and net acquisitions. It also considers the principles on which life offices appear to operate the principles on which life offices appear to operate in respect of investing their 'reserves' to meet future contingent liabilities. This book will appeal to those working in the field of economic and business.

NAFTA has been described by one expert as being a partial customs union. It is, in any case, a special kind of free trade area because it consists of two highly developed economies and one large third world economy. In this book, the contributors examine the specific interests of the three member countries, Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the creation of NAFTA. They also assess the influence of this trade area on their economics. Looking to the future, doubts are expressed about the feasibility of using NAFTA (a hope expressed by the USA) as a stepping stone in the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Instead, the contributors see the consolidation of MERCOSUR in Latin America and the creation of a new Trans-Atlantic Market - as proposed by Sir Leon Brittan - as more likely developments.

A tale about the second American civil war, alternative energy and demonic possession, WINDFALL is part political thriller, part love story, and part paranormal epic. To all appearances, Seth Tatton is a middle-of-the-pack attorney just keeping his head above water. But he has a side job, killing people for shadowy cabal of politicians, billionaires and military leaders. With each assignment, he learns more about their plot and their aims, and he grows more intrigued. Even in his secret life, things are not what they seem, because there's something inside of Seth. And it has big plans for him, plans that it and others like it have nursed for centuries. But when Seth is assigned to watch a troubled young woman, all of those plans fall into question. A semi-finalist for the 2013 Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize, WINDFALL is the latest novel from Pushcart-Prize nominated poet, and author of The Last Bad Job and Another Broken Wizard, Colin Dodds.

Lynn and Marv are childhood friends, now in their late twenties, one a struggling musician, the other a salesman. One night, far from home, alcohol, recklessness and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv. A few weeks later, when Caroline is arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death. "The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets... Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it's tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts... makes the characters more endearing." -Kirkus Reviews Lynn and Marv, now in their late twenties, are beginning to question the choices they've made. One is a struggling musician, the other a salesman. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv. A few weeks later, she's arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death. Praise for Colin Dodds' Another Broken Wizard "Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks...He runs through the streets of the city and nearby towns and takes the reader with him...Dodds is a master of writing the town life and capturing all of the said and unsaid. His characters are so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day." -Worcester Pulse Magazine "Masterfully written with all the grit and grisly humor of returning to one's dingy blue collar hometown, Another Broken Wizard is the compelling, tightly-woven story of a couple of 30-year old boyhood chums who don't grow up until it's too late." -Boston Literary Magazine "It kept me nostalgic for something that isn't my story, isn't my town, and I got really emotionally involved. I may have shed a tear at the beautifully foreshadowed climax, and I do not cry easily Seriously. Give it a read." - Illiterarty.com "Another Broken Wizard is a terrific coming-of-age tale that rings utterly true. Dodds has a gift for conveying the sounds of his people and their world. He can make highway hypnosis as fascinating as a gang brawl. And he has a natural radar for locating the perfect detail to evoke the sense of what it feels like to be caught between the past and the future, between loyalty and logic, and between the security of the known and the impulse to evolve. Though I came of age in the primordial mists, it somehow felt like he was giving me a tour of my own past. Another Broken Wizard is compulsively readable. I'll be giving this book to some of my friends." - Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist, and Box Nine "Dodds has written a fine novel. He has a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male. Joe's recklessness and gang feud creates a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge." -Kevin Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History

Jim Monaghan really didn't want to go back to Worcester. But his father's open-heart surgery and Jim's sudden unemployment forced his hand. Making daily trips from the hospital to his father's empty apartment, Jim seeks out his childhood best friend, Joe Rousseau. But Joe has problems-a feud with a local gang. And Joe's plan to resolve the matter only makes things worse. Tending to his father and embarking on an ICU romance in the day, Jim tries to help his friend. He follows Joe into Worcester nights defined by drugs, guns and fistfights. As the danger escalates, Jim makes a painful choice to save his friend, and then has to live with the consequences. Another Broken Wizard is a book about straddling childhood and adulthood, straddling a fading industrial home town and the information-economy world of our attenuated aspirations, straddling the love for a friend and self preservation. It is an evocative portrait of Worcester, Massachusetts-both its place in the 21st century and its past. "Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks...He runs through the streets of the city and nearby towns and takes the reader with him...Dodds is a master of writing the town life and capturing all of the said and unsaid. His characters are so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day." -Worcester Pulse Magazine "Masterfully written with all the grit and grisly humor of returning to one's dingy blue collar hometown, Another Broken Wizard is the compelling, tightly-woven story of a couple of 30-year old boyhood chums who don't grow up until it's too late." -Boston Literary Magazine "It kept me nostalgic for something that isn't my story, isn't my town, and I got really emotionally involved. I may have shed a tear at the beautifully foreshadowed climax, and I do not cry easily Seriously. Give it a read." - Illiterarty.com "Another Broken Wizard is a terrific coming-of-age tale that rings utterly true. Dodds has a gift for conveying the sounds of his people and their world. He can make highway hypnosis as fascinating as a gang brawl. And he has a natural radar for locating the perfect detail to evoke the sense of what it feels like to be caught between the past and the future, between loyalty and logic, and between the security of the known and the impulse to evolve. Though I came of age in the primordial mists, it somehow felt like he was giving me a tour of my own past. Another Broken Wizard is compulsively readable. I'll be giving this book to some of my friends." - Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist, and Box Nine "Dodds has written a fine novel. He has a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male. Joe's recklessness and gang feud creates a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge." -Kevin Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History

The Last Bad Job is the story of a reporter on a hell of an assignment: Five months on a New Mexico desert compound to cover the next Jonestown. For one reporter, it could be a career-maker. But when a cult member close to him drowns herself, he decides to run for it, and sets unimaginable events into motion. What ensues is a dark and comic journey through sex, drugs, cults, suicide, the apocalypse, and what comes after it. Available for the first time from the author of the widely acclaimed novels Another Broken Wizard and What Smiled at Him comes The Last Bad Job-a book the late Norman Mailer touted as showing "something that very few writers have; a species of inner talent that owes very little to other people." Praise for Colin Dodds' What Smiled at Him: "The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets... Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it's tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts... makes the characters more endearing." -Kirkus Reviews Praise for Dodds' Another Broken Wizard "Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks...He runs through the streets of the city and nearby towns and takes the reader with him...Dodds is a master of writing the town life and capturing all of the said and unsaid. His characters are so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day." -Worcester Pulse Magazine "Masterfully written with all the grit and grisly humor of returning to one's dingy blue collar hometown, Another Broken Wizard is the compelling, tightly-woven story of a couple of 30-year old boyhood chums who don't grow up until it's too late." -Boston Literary Magazine "It kept me nostalgic for something that isn't my story, isn't my town, and I got really emotionally involved. I may have shed a tear at the beautifully foreshadowed climax, and I do not cry easily Seriously. Give it a read." - Illiterarty.com "Another Broken Wizard is a terrific coming-of-age tale that rings utterly true. Dodds has a gift for conveying the sounds of his people and their world. He can make highway hypnosis as fascinating as a gang brawl. And he has a natural radar for locating the perfect detail to evoke the sense of what it feels like to be caught between the past and the future, between loyalty and logic, and between the security of the known and the impulse to evolve. Though I came of age in the primordial mists, it somehow felt like he was giving me a tour of my own past. Another Broken Wizard is compulsively readable. I'll be giving this book to some of my friends." - Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist, and Box Nine "Dodds has written a fine novel. He has a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male. Joe's recklessness and gang feud creates a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge." -Kevin Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History