Economy & Finance

Drawing on a cross-disciplinary perspective from history and social science, this book examines what is common to neoliberalism, and where it differs, in four Nordic countries across four key sectors of liberalization: capital markets, labor markets, industrial relations and the welfare state.

This monograph analyses the evolution of the welfare state in Spain from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. It basically relies on estimates of public social spending from 1850 to the present and offers comparisons with the rest of Europe.

This book explores the opportunities and epistemological and structural challenges facing higher education in postcolonial South Africa, and argues for a fundamental transformation to meet the needs of the 21st century. This book will be an essential read for researchers and policy makers working on higher education in South Africa.

This book provides the concepts and methodologies of probabilistic structural performance assessments and predictions for deteriorating structures, with emphasis on marine structures and special consideration of system reliability, risk, longevity, sustainability, and optimal decision-making.

Das Buch befasst sich mit einer praxisrelevanten Ausgleichspflicht innerhalb der Erbengemeinschaft. Konkret geht es um die Frage, ob ein Erblasser mittels Teilungsanordnung einen Miterben zu einem Ausgleich aus seinem Privatvermögen verpflichten kann, wenn dieser dem Miterben per Teilungsanordnung mehr Nachlassgegenstände zuweist, als ihm wirtschaftlich per Erbquote zustünden. Dieser Frage ist der Autor auf zwei verschiedenen Wegen nachgegangen: Zum einen hat er untersucht, ob die im Rahmen der Rechtsnachfolge von Todes wegen durch qualifizierte Nachfolgeklausel in den Gesellschaftsanteil einer Personengesellschaft anerkannte Ausgleichspflicht auch auf die Fallgestaltung der überquotalen Teilungsanordnung übertragen werden kann. Zum anderen hat er sich im Einzelnen mit den bereits vorgebrachten Argumenten der Rechtsprechung und Fachliteratur befasst und diese umfassend gewürdigt. Die Thematik wurde bislang kaum argumentativ untersucht. Auf die offenen Fragen gibt das Buch nun Antworten.

This volume investigates the history of the parliamentary assemblies of Sweden, Poland and Hungary in the final period of the ancien régime, offering an analysis of these three representative assemblies in a systematic comparative framework for the first time.

The extreme protectionism that contributed to a collapse of world trade in the 1930s is examined in light of the recent economic crisis. The recent economic crisis--with the plunge in the stock market, numerous bank failures and widespread financial distress, declining output and rising unemployment--has been reminiscent of the Great Depression. The Depression of the 1930s was marked by the spread of protectionist trade policies, which contributed to a collapse in world trade. Although policymakers today claim that they will resist the protectionist temptation, recessions are breeding grounds for economic nationalism, and countries may yet consider imposing higher trade barriers. In Trade Policy Disaster, Douglas Irwin examines what we know about trade policy during the traumatic decade of the 1930s and considers what we can learn from the policy missteps of the time. Irwin argues that the extreme protectionism of the 1930s emerged as a consequence of policymakers' reluctance to abandon the gold standard and allow their currencies to depreciate. By ruling out exchange rate changes as an adjustment mechanism, policymakers turned instead to higher tariffs and other means of restricting imports. He offers a clear and concise exposition of such topics as the effect of higher trade barriers on the implosion of world trade; the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930; the reasons some countries adopted draconian trade restrictions (including exchange controls and import quotas) but others did not; the effect of preferential trade arrangements and bilateral clearing agreements on the multilateral system of world trade; and lessons for avoiding future trade wars.

A new approach for introducing unemployment into the New Keynesian framework. The past fifteen years have witnessed the rise of the New Keynesian model as a framework of reference for the analysis of fluctuations and stabilization policies. That framework, which combines the rigor and internal consistency of dynamic general equilibrium models with such typically Keynesian assumptions as monopolistic competition and nominal rigidities, makes possible a meaningful, welfare-based analysis of the effects of monetary policy rules. But the conspicuous absence of unemployment from the standard New Keynesian model has given rise to both criticism and attempts to rectify this anomaly. In this book, Jordi Galí, one of the major contributors to the New Keynesian literature, offers a new approach to introducing unemployment into that framework. Galí's approach involves a reinterpretation of the labor market in the standard New Keynesian model with staggered wage setting (rather than a modification or extension of the model, as has been proposed by others). The resulting framework preserves the convenience of the representative household paradigm and allows one to determine the equilibrium levels of employment, the labor force, and hence the unemployment rate conditional on the monetary policy in place. Galí develops the basic model, embedding it in a standard New Keynesian framework with staggered price and wage setting; revisits the relationship between economic fluctuations and efficiency through the lens of the new model, developing a measure of the output gap; and analyzes the relation between unemployment and the design of monetary policy.

This is a practical guide to improved medium-term decision-making for business leaders. The Possibility Wheel gathers the latest global evidence - so you can explore more opportunities, develop resilient choices leading to more robust decisions and enjoy better outcomes.

Imagining After Capitalism is the culmination of professional futurist Andy Hines's 10-year exploration of what comes next after capitalism. Arguing that the absence of compelling positive alternatives keeps us stuck in a combination of fear, denial, and false hope, he offers three " guiding images" for the long-term future: an environmentally-driven Circular Commons, a socially-and politically-driven Non-Workers' Paradise and a technology-driven Tech-Led Abundance.

How do we manage to transition to a more sustainable world without the collapse of the economy?Capitalism has brought about many positive things. At the same time, however, it is ruining the climate and the environment, so that humanity's very existence is now at risk. 'Green growth' is supposed to be the saviour, but economics expert and bestselling author Ulrike Herrmann disagrees. In this book, she explains in a clear and razor-sharp manner why we need 'green shrinkage' instead. Greenhouse gases are increasing dramatically and unchecked. This failure is no coincidence, because the climate crisis goes to the heart of capitalism. Prosperity and growth are only possible if technology is used and energy is utilised. Unfortunately, however, green energy from the sun and wind will never be enough to fuel global growth. The industrialised countries must therefore bid farewell to capitalism and strive for a circular economy in which only what can be recycled is consumed. Herrmann makes a convincing argument that we won't get anywhere without personal restrictions and government planning. Her example for a solution is the British war economy of the 1940s. This is not a utopian scenario, but a comprehensive example of the restrictions and government-led plans needed now and in the future.

Intelligent Machinery Fault Diagnostics and Prognostics: The Future of Smart Manufacturing uses an interdisciplinary approach to provide a well-rounded understanding of smart manufacturing.