This book explores the central economic and political issues defining the modern world. With contributions from a number of world renowned economists, a range of topical debates are discussed in an accessible and practical manner. The topics discussed include the current economic and political backdrop, global economic shifts, challenges within central banking and financial integration, the international monetary and financial system, and geopolitical tensions. Particular attention is given to the transition to a low carbon economy, the perils of public debt, the post-COVID-19 recovery, and the conflict in Ukraine. This book aims to envisage the economic challenges and opportunities that will be faced in the years to come. It will be relevant to students, researchers, and policymakers interested in economic policy and the political economy. Chapter-No.17 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book addresses the causes and consequences of the international financial crisis of 2008. A range of esteemed contributors explore developments in the United States, where the crisis of 2008 originated, as well as the smallest country affected, Iceland, by evaluating developments since 2008. Currently, many countries are facing similar problems as Iceland did in 2008: this book is of interest to economists and policy makers in these countries to study what happened in Iceland, and why the recovery of that economy was strong and swift. The chapters in this book originate from panel discussions and conferences and explore areas including regulation, state projects and inflation.

This book charts the fall of productivity and the rise of inequality within global economies and societies. Set out through a series of economic models, the impact of falling rates of productivity, particularly in the USA, are examined in relation to lowering interest rates, the lifting of the stock market, and an increasingly unequal distribution of wealth. The economic impact of COVID-19, including the increased tendency to work from home and renewed public debt pressures, are contextualised within broader issues of wage suppression and discontent within the labor force to highlight how average workers have been left behind. The rise of China and the geopolitical tensions that it has created is also discussed. This book sets out the macro and microeconomic innovations that can create a revival in productivity growth in the coming years. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in global economic trends and the political economy.

Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps and an international group of economists argue that economic health depends on the widespread presence of certain values, in particular individualism and self-expression. Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps has long argued that the high level of innovation in the lead nations of the West was never a result of scientific discoveries plus entrepreneurship, as Schumpeter thought. Rather, modern values—particularly the individualism, vitalism, and self-expression prevailing among the people—fueled the dynamism needed for widespread, indigenous innovation. Yet finding links between nations’ values and their dynamism was a daunting task. Now, in Dynamism, Phelps and a trio of coauthors take it on. Phelps, Raicho Bojilov, Hian Teck Hoon, and Gylfi Zoega find evidence that differences in nations’ values matter—and quite a lot. It is no accident that the most innovative countries in the West were rich in values fueling dynamism. Nor is it an accident that economic dynamism in the United States, Britain, and France has suffered as state-centered and communitarian values have moved to the fore. The authors lay out their argument in three parts. In the first two, they extract from productivity data time series on indigenous innovation, then test the thesis on the link between values and innovation to find which values are positively and which are negatively linked. In the third part, they consider the effects of robots on innovation and wages, arguing that, even though many workers may be replaced rather than helped by robots, the long-term effects may be better than we have feared. Itself a significant display of creativity and innovation, Dynamism will stand as a key statement of the cultural preconditions for a healthy society and rewarding work.

It is now widely accepted that expansionary fiscal or monetary policies alone are unlikely to help Europe's ailing economies. Solving Europe's economic problems requires reform of the economic institutions that influence economic activity and the way the economy responds to macroeconomic shocks. This volume employs novel approaches to the study of some of these institutions. The group of contributors in this book come from academia and international organizations in Europe and the USA. They focus on trade unions, which affect real-wage flexibility and the provision of training to workers. They also concentrate on employment protection legislation, which discourages firms from firing old workers and also from hiring new ones. The structure of housing market imperfections that can greatly affect regional mobility is also discussed. Labour economists and scholars of European studies, as well as economic policymakers, will read Labour Market Adjustments in Europe with great interest.

This book addresses the causes and consequences of the international financial crisis of 2008. A range of esteemed contributors explore developments in the United States, where the crisis of 2008 originated, as well as the smallest country affected, Iceland, by evaluating developments since 2008. Currently, many countries are facing similar problems as Iceland did in 2008: this book is of interest to economists and policy makers in these countries to study what happened in Iceland, and why the recovery of that economy was strong and swift. The chapters in this book originate from panel discussions and conferences and explore areas including regulation, state projects and inflation.