National economies are linked through flows of capital and goods. This book addresses those linkages, analyzes their benefits for economic development, and evaluates a country's opportunities to reap the best possible rewards by influencing the linkages. The book focuses on the role of product characteristics in international economics and their impact on economic development. After an introduction to the topic, it analyzes the influence of product sophistication on growth, and offers alternative means of measuring product characteristics. In turn, the book provides evidence for the impact of foreign equity on the characteristics of the products that firms produce. Moreover, it presents empirical findings that prove that the quality of a country's legal and institutional framework is influenced by said country's predisposition to trade rule-of-law-intensive goods.

The pivotal role of the school leader as a factor in effective schools has been corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research over the last decades. School improvement researchers have also demonstrated increasing recognition of the importance of school leaders for all stages of the school improvement process. The school leader is most often cited as the key figure in the individual school's development, either blocking or promoting change, acting as the internal change agent, overseeing the processes of growth and renewal. In view of these ever-increasing responsibilities of school leaders for ensuring and enhancing the quality of schools, school leadership has recently become one of the central concerns of educational policy makers. Moreover, in most countries, the tasks and structures of schools and of the education system are changing. These change processes strongly influence the leadership of schools.

The chapters of the book vividly reflect the ideas and experiences regarding current issues and trends in school leadership and leadership development from both perspectives, research and practice. They comprise insights from recent research findings and their consequences for the leadership of schools. They look at the growing importance placed on activities to "professionalize" school leaders, among them: training and development programs and selection procedures. They also examine the professional standing and the level of decision-making authority that school leaders in various countries have.

The pivotal role of the school leader as a factor in effective schools has been corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research over the last decades. School improvement researchers have also demonstrated increasing recognition of the importance of school leaders for all stages of the school improvement process. The school leader is most often cited as the key figure in the individual school's development, either blocking or promoting change, acting as the internal change agent, overseeing the processes of growth and renewal. In view of these ever-increasing responsibilities of school leaders for ensuring and enhancing the quality of schools, school leadership has recently become one of the central concerns of educational policy makers. Moreover, in most countries, the tasks and structures of schools and of the education system are changing. These change processes strongly influence the leadership of schools.

The chapters of the book vividly reflect the ideas and experiences regarding current issues and trends in school leadership and leadership development from both perspectives, research and practice. They comprise insights from recent research findings and their consequences for the leadership of schools. They look at the growing importance placed on activities to "professionalize" school leaders, among them: training and development programs and selection procedures. They also examine the professional standing and the level of decision-making authority that school leaders in various countries have.

This book presents the work of Ceija Stojka (1933 –2013), an Austrian Romni writer, painter, activist, and musician, and survivor of the Holocaust. Beginning in the 1980s, Stojka created over a thousand drawings and paintings, whose subjects range from landscapes and recollections of her happy, prewar existence as part of a large horse-trading family to the mounting oppression of the Roma under the Nazi regime. Having survived the three concentration camps Ravensbrück, Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz as a child, Stojka left behind an oeuvre depicting her personal experience of arrests, exterminations, survival, and liberation, which was shared by millions. This book serves as an extension of the comprehensive Ceija Stojka exhibition that is hosted by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York between May and September 2023.

Beauty, terror, majesty, awe: mountain worlds have fascinated humankind since time immemorial. Stephan Huber ascends the snow-covered peaks "en miniature". In his sculptures he imitates the relief of the mountains and creates theatrical-looking, object-like works. This comprehensive volume reflects in powerful images the Alpine cosmos which Huber has been investigating for more than four decades. Stephan Huber’s “Mountains” can be found everywhere: in museums like the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Bonner Kunstmuseum and the Messner Mountain Museum, and also as large-scale installations in the public space. His monumental contribution to the Venice Biennale in 1999 received international acclaim. In addition to the famous snow-white sculptures of mountain peaks, the publication also assembles early book objects, fictional expeditions, multiples and exhibition views. Essays and an extensive conversation with Reinhold Messner about the interior and exterior mountain worlds round out the volume.