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Advances in Integrated Soil Fertility Research in sub-Saharan Africa : Challenges and Opportunities
Food insecurity is a central concern and a fundamental challenge for human welfare and economic growth in Africa. Low agricultural production, results in low incomes, poor nutrition, vulnerability to risks and lack of empowerment. Land degradation and soil fertility depletion are considered the major threats to food security and natural resource conservation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Investments in technology, policy and institutional reforms are needed to increase agricultural productivity to ensure food security and sustained national economies. Past research has generated numerous soil fertility management technologies which if adopted could propel the African continent out of the poverty trap. However, these technologies have had little, if any, impact due to low adoption by the smallholder farmers.
African Land Reform Under Economic Liberalisation: States, Chiefs, and Rural Communities
This book offers unique in-depth, comprehensive, and comparative analyses of the motivations, context, and outcomes of recent land reforms in Africa. Whereas a considerable number of land reforms have been carried out by African governments since the 1990s, no systematic analysis on their meaning has so far been conducted. In the age of land reform, Africa has seen drastic rural changes. Analysing the relationship between those reforms and change, the chapters in this book reveal not only their socio-economic outcomes, such as accelerated marketisation of land, but also their political outcomes, which have often been contrasting.
Making European Merger Policy More Predictable
Making European Merger Policy More Predictable analyses European Merger Control with regard to its capacity to generate predictability among the concerned parties. Starting from the premise that predictability is of overwhelming importance for the functioning of market economies, Voigt and Schmidt ask to what degree European Merger Control has been predictable over the last couple of years. The authors show both theoretically and empirically that there have been serious shortcomings with regard to the predictability of competition policy. They identify the insufficient recognition of the consequences of globalization on the competitive processes as well as an often inconsistent application of economic theory as the root causes for the lack of predictability. The inconsistent application of economic theory is particularly relevant with regard to potential competition and the evaluation of collective dominance. The authors generate a substantial number of proposals that could help to improve predictability. On this basis, Voigt and Schmidt critically assess the recent reforms of European Merger Control.
Italian Institutional Reforms : A Public Choice Perspective
Using a public choice perspective, this book explains the evolution and political and economic impact of recent changes to the Italian institutional framework. Because these changes are so numerous and broad, their implementation serves as a case study for other Western governments. Particular attention is paid to the introduction of the EURO, the reform of voting from proportional to majoritarian rule, the impact of corporatism, constraints imposed by the Maastricht Treaty, and the switch from a highly centralized government to a federal organization.
Competition Policies in Emerging Economies : Lessons and Challenges from Central America and Mexico
Do small developing economies, or SDEs, need a specific competition policy to create competitive markets? Against the backdrop of globalization, protectionist policies that promote state ownership and heavy regulation of key industries are proving increasingly ineffective for driving growth. Countries around the world are instituting reforms to promote competition and business creation, yet the economic and political concentration of power, feeble judicial systems, and the scarcity of human and financial resources pose special challenges to SDEs. Competition Policies in Emerging Economies features an in-depth analysis of two strategic industries — telecommunications and banking — in several Central American nations which sheds light on the dynamics of the transition to deregulation and trade liberalization. Examining the lessons learned from these experiences and presenting discussion of political, legal, economic, financial, cultural, and organizational issues, the book provides unique perspectives on competition policy and economic development.
Company Tax Reform in the European Union : Guidance from the United States and Canada on Implementing Formulary Apportionment in the EU
This book is important reading for both tax policymakers and business leaders. It breaks the mold of conventional thinking by demonstrating that formulary apportionment is a practical way to solve the income-allocation problems confronting the European Union. Equally important, the book gives the advocates of arm’s-length allocation methods some challenging food for thought.
Chinese Railways : Reform and Efficiency Improvement Opportunities
Although being huge by any measure, Chinese Railways are a bottleneck for economic growth in China. The state-owned enterprise returns a small profit but is severely capacity constrained and burdened with inefficiency. A comprehensive reform and efficiency improvement program needs to be developed in order to enable Chinese Railways to support further GDP growth in China. Application of industrial economics to the case of Chinese Railways suggests that moderate deregulation of e.g., the freight business could make Chinese Railways fit for future growth. Operational improvements need to complement this development, such as a redesign of the schedule or the introduction of value added services in the freight business. Based on interviews with Chinese experts, benchmarking with railways in the US, Germany, Russia, and Japan as well as broad coverage of Chinese-language sources, the book makes detailed recommendations on how to design a comprehensive turnaround program for Chinese Railways.
Challenges at the bank for international settlements : An economist's (Re)View
This book reveals, next to monetary policy and financial crisis, less well known topics such as insolvency, collective action clauses, international mediation and management of central banks.
CGE models and capital income tax reforms : The case of a dual income tax for Germany
The book suggests a novel way how the effects of tax reforms especially in the field of capital income taxation can be measured by means of dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models.
Business Education and Emerging Market Economies : Perspectives and Best Practices
Business Education in Emerging Market Economies discusses the impact of business education on emerging markets and explores curricular innovation, pedagogical approaches, and strategic alliances in the context of industrializing economies. Emerging markets consist of eighty percent of the world's population and some 75% of its trade growth in the foreseeable future according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The potential economic growth of emerging markets has prompted a need to understand the dynamics of these markets, their business institutions, and their educational systems. The pressures of globalization and the recent economic reforms that swept across emerging, developing, and transitioning, economies have had a positive impact on the demand for business education and business knowledge from the developed and industrialized countries. As a result, many methods were developed to transfer know-how from the developed markets including learning through imitation, using western style pedagogical approaches, attending universities in industrialized countries, learning through experience and practice, and using information technology. The conclusion we reach is that business and management education in emerging markets is fast changing the way in which these markets operate and are perceived – business educators are catalysts for greater economic integration.
Banking Sector Liberalization in India : Evaluation of Reforms and Comparative Perspectives on China
Banking Sector Liberalization in India explores in detail the changes in the Indian banking sector over the last 20 years, and puts them into a comparative perspective with the Chinese banking sector. For this purpose, the author develops a detailed indicator-based framework for assessing the liberalization of a banking sector along various process steps based on financial liberalization and transformation studies. This framework, along with the indicators for the process and the results of liberalization, is applied to the banking sectors in India and China to test for the effects of liberalization on the sector and the macro level. The key finding is that while liberalization has improved the sectoral performance, it has so far had no effect on the macro level. The book features a detailed description of recent reforms in the Indian banking sector, a set of indicators for evaluating banking sector reforms, and a large number of graphs with key figures for the banking sectors in India and China.
Asias debt capital markets : Prospects and strategies for development
The book has three parts. Part I describes the characteristics and historical origins of these markets. Part II examines the contemporary bond markets and shows how they contribute to general welfare, describes the relationship between the banking sector and capital markets, and assesses prospects for reform in Asia's governmental and corporate debt markets. Part III explains the micro-level impediments and obstacles that must be the first targets of any reform efforts, provides an appraisal of attempts at regional cooperation to stimulate structural reform, and lastly contributes proposals to accelerate the growth and reach of bond markets throughout Asia.
Applied Research in Environmental Economics
Sustainable development, climate policy, and biodiversity conservation are examples of issues on the current political agenda in many countries. These themes are also subject to economic research, and economic insights are increasingly finding their way into the design of environmental policy. Still, the reception of academic findings by policy makers as well as the timely identification of policy-relevant questions by economic researchers often seem to be problematic. This volume attempts to vitalise the exchange between policy makers and academics. It offers a snapshot of environmental economic research on a range of policy-relevant problems.
Adequacy, Accountability, and the Future of Public Education Funding
This book is about public education reform and the future of pubHc education funding. Given the many articles, books, and conferences that have focused on the issue of public education reform, it is reasonable to ask whether the world needs still another volume on this subject. In my defense, I would argue that, although there is a large literature on public education reform, there is precious little that tries to sketch the big picture. Too often, both in research and in practice, it is easy to lose sight of the forest, for all the focus on the individual trees. While such detailed analysis is of critical value, that value derives both from its specificity and from its ability to fit into a larger, coherent whole.
Accounting and Financial System Reform in Eastern Europe and Asia
Accounting and Financial System Reform in Eastern Europe and Asia is the second in a series to examine accounting and financial system reform in transition economies. The first book used Russia as a case study. The present volume in the series examines some additional aspects of the reform in Russia and also looks at the accounting and financial system reform efforts that are being made in Ukraine, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Armenia and five Central Asian republics.
Accounting and Financial System Reform in a Transition Economy: A Case Study of Russia
Much has been written about the economic and political problems of countries that are in the process of changing from centrally planned systems to market systems. Most studies have focused on the economic, legal, political and sociological problems these economies have had to face during the transition period. However, not much has been written about the dramatic changes that have to be made to the accounting and financial system of a transition economy. This book was written to help fill that gap. Using Russia as a case study the authors examined all the major aspects of accounting reform, starting with problems of implementation. They also examined the current state of auditing in Russia. They also devote chapters to corporate governance issues, the Russian tax system and the problems Russian enterprises face when they try to attract foreign direct investment.
50 Years of EU Economic Dynamics : Integration, Financial Markets and Innovations
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Union experts present their analyses of historical developments and new economic challenges for the EU. After a reflection on historical dynamics, the contributors point out the dramatic economic shifts between Europe, Asia and the US. Representatives from major central banks (including the ECB), other leading banks, and academia analyze the dynamics of the Eurozone and financial market integration in the context of globalization and economic growth. Furthermore, the authors discuss the challenges of information and communication technologies by means of various country analyses. Moreover, the Schumpeterian prospects for Europe and the Lisbon Agenda, the long-term challenges of EU pension reforms, emission trading systems in the EU, and options for a new EU constitution are highlighted. At the bottom line of this EU analysis are major implications for investors, managers, policy-makers and the public at large in both the EU and the global economy.
Managing Care : A Shared Responsibility
The concept of genuine responsibility, recognizing the complexity of health care and the need for stakeholder-specific interpretations of responsibility, proposes as the underlying premise of responsibility (at least in regard to health care) the social agreement that distributive choices should be made on the basis of the premise of deliberate reciprocity. When all parties share the same foundation on which the notion of responsibility is built the resulting trust and cooperation among stakeholders enables them to find morally appropriate solutions in reforming health care.This book that is at the same time provocative and important. It proposes to change the way we think about deploying healthcare resources. It will accomplish its goal for readers who are willing to be challenged at a basic level. Intellectually sound and a very good read too.
Logischer empirismus, lebensreform und die deutsche jugendbewegung : Logical empiricism, life reform, and the German Youth Movement
Investigate the roots of Logical Empiricism in the context of the Life Reform and the German Youth Movements. Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach are the key protagonists; they both belonged to the German Youth Movement and developed their early philosophical views in this setting. By combining scholarly essays with unpublished and hard to access manuscripts, letters, and articles, this volume recasts our understanding of the early years of Logical Empiricism
Learning through Community : Exploring Participatory Practices
A collection of case studies that explore the learning that people do through community engagement. Developed within a network of Canadian researchers and their community partners, it explores learning that is organized by the learners themselves, collectively, rather than as individuals. Reflecting the contributors’ political priorities, the volume begins with groups that are highly marginalized in our society: immigrant women, sex trade workers, senior citizens, garment workers, women doing community economic development, and people who identify with disability and anti-poverty movements.
