Download or read book Comparing Post War Japanese and Finnish Economies and Societies written by Yasushi Tanaka and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book compares two countries with striking parallels in economic and political outcomes, yet with some distinct features in terms of institutional structures, relative size, and culture. Therefore, this book forms a fruitful platform for the study of the similarities and differences in the economic and societal development of Japan and Finland. Despite their geographic distance from one another and the aforementioned differences, both countries experienced rather similar economic and societal development patterns after the Second World War. The study of these societies both individually and through commonalities will provide a unique perspective on the emergence of modern economies and institutions. The book provides comprehensive coverage on issues such as welfare state formation and society, security and military spending, education system, industrial development, international trade, governmental economic policies, energy solutions, and bubbles and their collapse; thus, issues typical for these countries, as well as most modern states, studied from a longitudinal perspective. The book aims to answer a fundamental question in social science: Why do there seem to be common trends and developmental paths among countries differing in size, culture, and economic structure? This book will provide insights for those seeking to decipher how the developments in their own countries came about and where they may be headed to.
Download or read book Warfare and Welfare written by Herbert Obinger and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the first half of the 20th century was characterized by total war, the second half witnessed, at least in the Western world, a massive expansion of the modern welfare state. A growing share of the population was covered by ever more generous systems of social protection that dramatically reduced poverty and economic inequality in the post-war decades. With it also came a growth in social spending, taxation and regulation that changed the nature of the modern state and the functioning of market economies. Whether and in which ways warfare and the rise of the welfare state are related, is subject of this volume. Distinguishing between three different phases (war preparation, wartime mobilization, and the post-war period), the volume provides the first systematic comparative analysis of the impact of war on welfare state development in the western world. The chapters written by leading scholars in this field examine both short-term responses to and long-term effects of war in fourteen belligerent, occupied, and neutral countries in the age of mass warfare stretching over the period from ca. 1860 to 1960. The volume shows that both world wars are essential for understanding several aspects of welfare state development in the western world.
Download or read book Building Markets written by Gyu-Jin Hwang and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2022-11-25 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nowhere in the world presents a more dramatic case of wealth creation than East Asia. Contrary to the common belief that social policy in the economic powerhouses of the region is secondary to their pursuit of economic growth, Gyu-Jin Hwang argues that it has in fact played an integral part in building strong states and competitive market economies.
Download or read book International Trade Competitive Advantage and Developing Economies written by Caf Dowlah and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-30 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Available research suggests that less developed countries have significant competitive advantage over developed countries in three major areas of international trade: agriculture, textiles and clothing (T&C), and cross-border labor mobility. Incidentally, these are also the trade sectors which experienced widespread protectionist measures, especially in developed world, for decade after decade. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), which replaced the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) in 1995, much of the restrictions in T&C trade has been phased out, but still this sector faces much higher tariff and non-tariff barriers than any other manufacturing sector in world economy. The agricultural sector also experienced significant dismantling of deeply entrenched trade barriers under the WTO over the course of last two decades, but the sector still remains plagued with quite extensive domestic supports, export subsidies, and tariff barriers. At the same time, despite both theoretical expositions and empirical trends point to significant potential gains from cross-border labor mobility, the sector remains mired in a complex quagmire of economic and political restrictions around the world. Thus, all three sectors in which less developed countries have exports interests still remain less liberalized than the sectors in which developed countries have exports interests. This book provides an in-depth and up-to-date scholarly analysis of all three trade sectors—agriculture, T&C and cross-border labor mobility—with a penetrating scrutiny of historical backgrounds and developments, crosscurrents of interests and perspectives of both developed and developing countries, and evolving trade patterns and potentials in a more liberalized and globalized world economy. The book also identifies critical economic issues and options for less developed countries in the WTO negotiations for further liberalization of agriculture, T&C, and cross-border labor mobility. This volume will be an important point of reference for students, scholars, and practitioners of international trade, economic development, development economics, and WTO-related issues.
Download or read book Cultural Differences and Economic Globalization written by Roger White and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-23 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic globalization is the process of increased integration among nations, characterized and fostered by three elements of international trade- goods and services, international capital flows, and international migration. In recent decades, international economic integration has increased both in depth (more pronounced bilateral connections) and in breadth (connections have become more commonplace), thus, the global economy has become increasingly integrated. Societies receive tremendous net benefits from economic globalization, however, accessing these benefits may be limited by cross-societal cultural differences. This book examines cultural differences as a potential impediment to economic integration. Relying on rigorous statistical and econometric techniques, the analyses indicate that higher transaction costs, due to greater cultural distance, inhibit both the volume of trade flows and the successful completion of trade deals. Cultural distance appears to reduce foreign direct investment, as well as divert investment to less culturally-distant destinations. This book finds a negative relationship between migration flows and cultural distance. It considers the common criticism that repeated and intensified integration diminishes cultural differences, resulting in cultural homogeneity. This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the relationships between cross-societal cultural differences and economic globalization. It will be of great interest to scholars and students who study globalization, international economics, and cultural studies.
Download or read book Irish Economic Development written by Eoin O'Leary and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-20 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a discerning narrative on the spectacular rise and fall of the so-called Celtic Tiger economy. It depicts Ireland as a micro-state with a unique reliance on foreign-assisted businesses, driven in part by a favourable taxation regime. It shows that rent-seeking by trades unions and property developers contributed to the fall since 2002. Although the country’s highly centralized government’s pre-disposition to lobbying has yielded international successes, it has also resulted in recurring self-inflicted crises since 1970. This volume shows how Ireland’s export-led growth is associated more with the attraction of foreign-assisted businesses than with the development of critical masses of internationally competitive indigenous businesses. Although the success of foreign-assisted businesses in the pharmaceutical, ICT and finance sectors has been influenced by tax advantages, many of these businesses have been involved in highly productive activity in Ireland over a number of decades. The problem of rent-seeking is shown to have undermined Irish competitiveness in the internationally traded and sheltered sectors. The Irish policy mind-set is shown to lean towards distribution rather than growth. While this has been advantageous for how ‘Ireland Inc.’ interacts with other governments and international businesses, it has also resulted in a failure to resist the destructive effects of capture by lobbies. In conclusion, this book considers future opportunities offered by the EU’s smart-specialization policy and future threats from increased international tax competition. It argues that unless Irish citizens and policymakers change deep-seated attitudes and mind-sets towards business development, the country’s performance for the next number of decades will more likely resemble serial under-achievement than that of a high-performing EU state.
Download or read book Corruption Economic Growth and Globalization written by Aurora A.C. Teixeira and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-14 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corruption is increasingly placed on top of the agenda of national governments and supra national institutions, such as the OECD, UN or the World Bank. A necessary condition for promoting sustainable economic growth is the pre-existence of a stable political system which is able to control corruption. Corruption, however, is a very complex issue, associated with institutional and cultural specificities, personality traits related to individualistic values, and criminal personalities. In this book the social, political and economic realities that prevail in particular settings are viewed from an interdisciplinary, multidimensional, and a multi country perspective. This book is divided into three parts. The first part presents a comprehensive, theoretical and empirical framework of corruption with an overview of literature on economic growth and corruption. Part two, encompasses the in-depth analysis of several countries, ranging from middle corrupted contexts like Portugal, to highly corrupted countries including Serbia, Russia, Thailand and China- the latter viewed from the perspective of firms from a very low corruption country such as Finland. The final part explores the prevention and control of corruption, looking at the public sector in Thailand and fighting corruption with different strategies. This volume is of the interest of those who study international economics, development economics or organised crime.
Download or read book Decentralization and Infrastructure in the Global Economy written by Jonas Frank and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-03 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subnational dimension of infrastructure has emerged as one of the greatest challenges in contemporary public finance policy and management. Ensuring the efficient provision of infrastructure represents a challenge for all countries irrespective of their level of centralization or decentralization. This book proposes an innovative approach for the strengthening of decentralized public investment and infrastructure management. Decentralization and Infrastructure in the Global Economy: From Gaps to Solutions covers the most important aspects of infrastructure investment in a decentralized setting. It discusses infrastructure gaps and the quality of subnational spending; how functional responsibilities, financing and equalization can be designed; sector-specific arrangements in high expenditure areas, such as health, education and roads; key steps of the public investment cycle and management; and analyses the political economy and corruption challenges that typically accompany decentralized infrastructure projects. This book challenges some of the well-accepted principles of intergovernmental fiscal relations and will be useful to researchers and practitioners of public finance policy and management.
Download or read book Measuring National Income in the Centrally Planned Economies written by William Jefferies and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-27 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1991 "Communism" collapsed. The cold war was over and the West had won. Whole cities, Moscow, St Petersburg, Warsaw, Beijing, Budapest and Bucharest, whole countries indeed, were privatised for nothing or next to nothing. This was probably the greatest expansion of the world market in history. And yet, according to national income measurements of the CIA, OECD, World Bank and IMF, this gigantic expansion of market production, led to a decline in market production in the very countries where it was introduced. How to explain this paradox? This book traces the origin of the West’s national income measurements, from their origin in the 1923/4 Balance developed in the USSR, to the USA in the early 1930s via two Soviet exiles, Simon Kuznets and Wassily Leontief, and then back to the USSR again, after a vigorous debate, through a protégé of Kuznets, Abram Bergson. The AFC imputed national incomes to a centrally planned economy, based on physical not income measurements. This book provides a detailed assessment of the failure of the AFC method to measure the real growth of actual market production during the transition period. This book provides a detailed account of the application of national income measurements to the centrally planned economies. It assesses all of the major contributors to this debate, including Colin Clark, Naum Jasny, Alexander Gerschenkron, G.Warren Nutter and Abram Bergson. It provides a new much higher, estimate of the expansion of market production during the transition period, based on an estimate of the actual growth of real market production. It discusses the very significant implications of this re-estimate for contemporary theories of globalisation.
Download or read book Capitalism and the World Economy written by Toshiaki Hirai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-16 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization is a phenomenon which has attracted much attention in the past, but there are still many questions that remain unanswered. This book categorizes globalization into three types: Financial Globalization, the collapse of the Cold War order and the ensuing convergence toward the capitalistic system; and the rise of the emerging nations. The globalization of capitalism has two implications. One is trust in the market economy system and support for a minimal state while another is an aspect of the Casino Capitalism as typically seen by the rampant emergence of hedge funds. This book explores both the light and shadows cast by globalization, endeavoring to identify both positive and problematic effects of the globalization process on the world economy. For this purpose we would first examine the nature and the feature of the world capitalism in relation to globalization. Then we would discuss and investigate the path along which important nations - first the developed nations (the USA, EU and Japan), followed by the emerging nations (BRICs) - have proceeded under the influence of globalization. Focusing on this phenomenon from diverse points of view, which is to be taken by the first-rank contributors in their fields, will be extraordinarily fruitful for understanding not only the world capitalism. This collection, from a selection of leading international contributors, will not only shed light on world capitalism as it is now, but will also offer pointers as to its future directions.
Download or read book The Economics of Terrorism written by Peter J. Phillips and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brutality is the defining characteristic of terrorism. It is despairing to learn that this brutality is the outcome of purposeful, rational, human behaviour. In this purposefulness, however, there lies the key to the interpretation, explanation and understanding of terrorist behaviour. Ultimately, it is in this purposefulness that we shall also find the key to overcoming terrorism. Economic analysis highlights this purposefulness, this rationality, and in doing so provides a different perspective from which to approach the threat of terrorism and the task of pre-empting and pursuing its perpetrators. This book develops this economic perspective within a series of important contexts, each characterised by particular types of terrorist behaviour, choices and strategies. The Economics of Terrorism brings new insights on how to deal with such challenges as the terrorist group’s choice of attack method and target location, terrorist financing and ‘copycat’ behaviour.
Download or read book Poverty Inequality and Growth in Developing Countries written by Atsushi Maki and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many problems regarding poverty, inequality and growth in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Policy makers at the national level and at international institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others have implemented various policies in order to decrease poverty and inequality. This book provides empirical observations on Asian countries and Africa. Each chapter provides theoretical and empirical analysis on regional case studies with an emphasis on policy implications. The book will be of use to many who wish to assess and improve policies in developing countries and mitigate poverty and inequality, and stimulate growth, by drawing on relevant empirical research and economic theories. Clearly, there have been numerous policy failures and the book aims to provide a basis for improving policies and outcomes based on relevant empirical observations.
Download or read book Human Development and Capacity Building written by Maria Fay Rola-Rubzen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacity building looks at developing the infrastructure, institutions and people and is critical to the development and participation of humans in the economy and society. Capacity building ranges from schools, roads and hospitals through to health and welfare systems, education, communication and information sharing, participation and voice, governance and opportunity. This book aims to outline the nature and scale of the capacity building challenges facing countries in the Asia Pacific region. Human Development and Capacity Building presents case studies from selected countries with an emphasis on rural development and programs that enhance opportunity and participation in the economy. It focuses on issues arising from women development in Pakistan, indigenous union voice in the French Pacific, job creation programs in Indonesia and the role of international aid and labour agencies in capacity building in Myanmar. The rich coverage will be of invaluable use to those interested in capacity building.
Download or read book The Local Impact of Globalization in South and Southeast Asia written by Bart Lambregts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past two decades, several millions of IT-enabled services jobs have been relocated or ‘offshored’ from the US and Europe to, in particular, low cost economies around the world. Most of these jobs so far have landed in South and South-East Asia, with India and the Philippines receiving the bulk of them. This has caused profound changes in the international division of labour, and has had correspondingly wide social and economic effects. This book examines how this ‘next wave in globalization’ affects people and places in South and South-East Asia. It brings together twelve case studies from India, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong and Thailand, and explores how and for whom services offshoring creates opportunities, triggers local economic transformations and produces challenges. This book in addition compares how different countries take part in this ‘second global shift’, investigates service-sector driven economic development from a historical perspective, and engages with the question whether and to what extent services offer a new promising avenue of sustained economic growth for developing countries. It argues that service-led development in developing countries is not easy for all the workers involved, or a guaranteed path to sustained economic development and prosperity. This volume stands out from other books in the field in its exploration of the social and economic outcomes in the cities and countries where services have been located. Based on cutting edge empirical research and original data, the volume offers a state-of-the-art contribution to this growing debate. The book provides valuable insights for students, scholars and professionals interested in services offshoring, socio-economic development and contemporary transformations in South and South-East Asia.
Download or read book Low carbon Sustainable Future in East Asia written by Soo-Cheol Lee and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East Asia is a key region in the global economy, including both the second and third largest global economies already and, led by China, continuing to expand at a rapid rate. This economic growth has led to unprecedented gains in prosperity in the region but it has also led to increasing environmental pressures and energy issues. This book assesses ways in which East Asia can continue or even increase existing rates of economic growth while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental degradation. Using advanced modelling approaches, future scenarios for four East Asian countries are assessed in detail, including analysis of particular challenges in each country (e.g. coal power in China, nuclear power in Japan). Prospects for each country’s energy system are assessed in detail and the potential effects of various types of Environmental Tax Reform in the four countries are also considered carefully. The final section of the book explores the interaction between trade liberalization, a key driver of growth, and emission levels in the East Asia region.
Download or read book Moving Out of Poverty written by Jonna P. Estudillo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-20 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The words of US President John F. Kennedy, "the rising tide lifts all boats," can be applied to inclusive growth in contemporary Asia, where the poor are able to participate in and benefit from economic growth. Moving Out of Poverty explores three channels through which economic growth confers gains to the poor and improves the status of women. The first is creation of productive employment, as labor is typically the most abundant asset of the poor, and economic growth has created jobs in labor-intensive sectors. The second is investment in schooling which, coupled with increased opportunities to earn income, has elevated womens' status in society. The third is increased availability of improved infrastructure, which directly impacts increasing household income from wage work and self-employment activities. This book will be of great value to development economists, students and researchers interested in rural economies in Asia, and policymakers engaged in poverty reduction.
Download or read book The International Monetary System Energy and Sustainable Development written by Sung Jin Kang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-11 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Korea was the first non-G7 member and Asian country to host the recent G20 Summit, acting as a bridge between advanced and developing nations. At the G20 Seoul Summit, green growth as well as development and a global financial safety net were on the agenda. Against this backdrop, the aim of this book is to comment on and suggest how to go about setting agendas and shaping further discussions of future summits. The book consists of three major parts: the first part discusses the role of G20 in reforming international monetary system, the status of the IMF since the European sovereign debt crisis, the use of the yuan as the world’s reserve currency, and the establishment of a more resilient global financial system. The second part examines trade measures in times of volatile energy prices, the impact of merchandise price volatility on the G20 economies, the EU’s pricing policies and the world’s price volatility, high oil prices and Russia, and oil markets in South America. The third part reviews G20’s financing for green growth, green growth and sustainable development within the G20 framework, and G20’s role in addressing climate change and green growth. This book offers an in-depth review of major issues discussed at the recent summits and will be of interest to policy makers.