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Inflation and Unemployment in a Monetary Union
This book studies the coexistence of inflation and unemployment in a monetary union. The focus is on how to reduce the associated loss. The primary target of the European central bank is low inflation in Europe. The primary target of the German government is low unemployment in Germany. And the primary target of the French government is low unemployment in France. The European central bank has a quadratic loss function. The same applies to the German government and the French government. The key questions are: To what extent can the sequential process of monetary and fiscal decisions reduce the loss caused by inflation and unemployment? Is monetary and fiscal cooperation superior to the sequential process of monetary and fiscal decisions?
Infinite Dimensional Analysis : A Hitchhiker's Guide
This new edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide has bene?tted from the comments of many individuals, which have resulted in the addition of some new material, and the reorganization of some of the rest. The most obvious change is the creation of a separate Chapter 7 on convex analysis. Parts of this chapter appeared in elsewhere in the second edition, but much of it is new to the third edition. In particular, there is an expanded discussion of support points of convex sets, and a new section on subgradients of convex functions.
Inevitable Aging? : Contributions to Evolutionary-Demographic Theory
Aging is inevitable: this is gerontological dogma. And humans do inevitably grow old, which is probably why it seems so unlikely to us that other forms of life could escape aging. Escaping aging is not escaping death. Death is an inherent part of life, and it can strike any time. But the question is whether death necessarily becomes more likely as life proceeds. And it does not. The theoretical results in this monograph indicate that life provides alternative strategies. While some organisms will deteriorate over adult ages, for others mortality appears to fall or remain constant, at least over an extended period of life after reproductive maturity. This is empirically observed especially for species that keep on growing during adult ages. Perhaps the diversity of aging matches the diversity of life. My thesis, the central insight of this monograph, is: to deeply understand why some species age it is necessary to understand why other species do not.
Industrial Project Management : Planning, Design, and Construction
This book describes – in a precise but practical way – the most recent principles and techniques of project management, at the highest international standards, with a fully company-wide, process-based, multi-project approach. It is unique because of the integration of project management fundamentals with the practices of international contracting, which characterize planning, design and construction of large works (such as plants and machinery) in the industrial sectors. The rigorous academic approach is mixed with the managerial contribution of Danieli, one of the largest worldwide suppliers of equipment and plants to the metals industry. The project management of the latter is described alongside how it can be effectively applied to win and manage large international contracts.
Individual Financial Planning for Retirement : Empirical Insights from the Affluent Segment in Germany
Over time, the responsibility for providing for a financially secure retirement has shifted more towards the individual. A number of implicit assumptions about perspectives, behavior, and individual choices underlie this shift. These assumptions presume that individuals are well-informed and reason unemotionally; that they process information correctly; and that they take rational decisions and act to maximize their own welfare. Empirical evidence, however, shows that such maxims do not often guide individuals’ actual behavior. Building on a new structure applied to insights drawn from behavioral finance, this book analyzes the perspectives of individuals with regard to their financial situation in retirement and compares the actions they take with ideal behavior. The work provides new insights into the broadly defined topic of individual retirement-specific financial planning behavior.
Indigenous Peoples and Real Estate Valuation
Covering contemporary practices around the world, this volume features research from an international array of authors, exploring the economic, demographic, political, legal, and cultural dimensions of property ownership—and the conflicts that emerge when systems clash. Including in-depth case studies and policy recommendations, this volume will be a valuable resource for government leaders and economic policymakers, urban planners and property developers, advocates of indigenous people’s rights, lenders, and other industry professionals.
Indicator Systems for Sustainable Innovation
In the recent past, environmental innovations have led to a considerable reduction of many pollutants; however, further innovation is required to tackle remaining pollution sources. This work analyses the significance and the effects of framework conditions on innovation activities that contribute to the realisation of a sustainable development. The book links the experiences of different research projects with the aim to develop a system of indicators to evaluate sustainable effects of (environmental) innovations. A comprehensive framework for an indicator system is established that allows to include different environmental innovation fields such as process innovations in the steel production, substitution of dangerous chemicals, organisational innovations in the field of waste disposal or sustainable water management.
Indian Life and Health Insurance Industry : A Marketing Approach
Due to its massive population, sound economic fundamentals, dynamic improvements in the insurance regulatory framework and an increasing awareness amongst Indians about the relevance of insurances, India offers extensive opportunities for market entry and expansion in the insurance industry. "The book reveals insightful ideas about the Indian insurance industry along with a discussion on the best practices of the marketing mix. Novi's impressive thesis, which forms the basis of this book, prompted me to contribute to her research with an India perspective. I am sure that this book will be an important reference material for emerging markets with similar growth dynamics."
Index and Stability in Bimatrix Games : A Geometric-Combinatorial Approach
The contribution of this thesis can be divided into two parts. The first part concerns methods and techniques. By introducing a new geometriccombinatorial construction for bimatrix games, this thesis gives a new, intuitive re-interpretation of the index. This re-interpretation is to a large extent self-contained and does not require a background in algebraic topology. The second part of this thesis concerns the relationship between the index and strategic properties. In this context, the thesis provides two new results, both of which are obtained by means of the new construction and are explained in further detail below. The first result shows that, in non-degenerate bimatrix games, the index can fully be described by a simple strategic property.
Income Elasticity and Economic Development : Methods and Applications
Income Elasticity and Economic Development: Methods and Applications is mainly concerned with methods of estimating income elasticity. This field is connected with economic development that can be achieved by reducing income inequality. This is highly relevant in today's world, where the gap between rich and poor is widening with the growth of economic development. Income Elasticity and Economic Development: Methods and Applications provides a good example in showing how to calculate income elasticity, using a number of methods from widely available grouped data. Some of the techniques presented here can be used in a wide range of policy areas in all developed, developing and under-developed countries. Policy analysts, economists, business analysts and market researchers will find this book very useful.
In Search of an Integrative Vision for Technology : Interdisciplinary Studies in Information Systems
This book provides a fascinating reading experience for anyone interested in an inquiring relationship between technical progress and the quality of the human condition. It manages to keep a healthier balance between these two complex topics than is found in most publications of the genre, too often they consist either of much technology and little philosophy or the converse.... The book also manages to build accessible bridges over the gulf that tends to separate the philosophical language from the 'real' concerns of technologists."
Improving Healthcare : A Dose of Competition
Improving Healthcare: A Dose of Competition systematically examines the American health care system from a competition-oriented perspective. The volume surveys the performance of each major sector of the health care system, and identifies impediments to more effective competition. Improving Healthcare examines such issues as competition v. regulation, public and private sector approaches to health care financing, cross-subsidies, licensure, provider market concentration, financial and clinical integration, payment for performance, quality, pharmacy benefit managers, direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals, certificates of need, mandates, unionization, the significance of organizational status (nonprofit v. for-profit), and the role of antitrust and consumer protection in health care. It offers concrete recommendations to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of the American health care marketplace.
Impact of Institutions on Lending : Informal Constraints and Enforcement of Bank Regulation in Mongolia
Chuluunbaatar Enkhzaya examines the "inadequate" behaviour of banks in Mongolia by analysing the institutional framework of the banking system, especially in lending. She focuses on the genesis of informal institutions of lending and their interaction with formal institutions of lending. Herewith, informal institutions such as the attitude to risk were indirectly observed by diagnosing the "action-regulating" knowledge of bankers. In order to ensure an effective allocation of the scarce financial resources of Mongolia the author therefore suggests a change - as simultaneous as possible - of formal and informal rules.
Immigration Policy and the Labor Market : The German Experience and Lessons for Europe
German and European immigration policies have only recently begun to cope with the inevitable: growing labor demand in the face of high unemployment and a shrinking labor force due to demographic change. Despite the implementation of Germany's first immigration act and several European initiatives towards legal harmonization at the EU level, an actively controlling immigration policy, which would be needed to master the challenges ahead, is not yet in sight. Against this background, the book draws conclusions from the German history of immigration policy. It analyzes the country's future demand for immigration and develops an economic model for the effective selection and integration of labor migrants that could provide the foundation for a joint European immigration strategy.
IFRS for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises : Structuring the Transition Process
In the process of converting to IFRS, a number of practical questions arise concerning the structures of the accounting area department of medium-sized enterprises as well as the issue of effectively updating financial statements once converted, which have thus far not been addressed in the debate. Richard Wittsiepe analyses the relevant IFRS statements with a view to possibly integrating them into existing workflows in an annual audit. He weighs the key issues of conversion by comparing them with the 4th EU Directive for accounting within the EU. The aim is to visualise the workflows as the basis for creating support software which can make a key contribution to cost-effective conversion.
Ifo Survey Data in Business Cycle and Monetary Policy Analysis
The business surveys of the Ifo Institute (short for Information and Forschung) are internationally renowned. Every month close to 7,000 enterprises are questioned on their short-term planning and their appraisals of the actual and future business situation. The confidence indicator frequently referred to as the Ifo Business Climate Index is derived from the responses to this Ifo Business Survey. While the Index attracts a lot of attention by practitioners (especially financial market analysts), the use and empirical exploitation of this and other components of Ifo business surveys is – amongst academics – still relatively scarce. The present volume, based on a conference entitled "The Academic Use of Ifo Survey Data", gives examples of timely research questions which can be addressed by qualitative survey data like the monthly Ifo Business Survey. It shows that this type of real-time data can be very informative when it comes to forecasting real economic activity or exploring monetary policy transmission.
Hydropower Economics
HYDROPOWER ECONOMICS examines sustainable alternate energy sources beginning with modeling hydropower and extending the model to include thermal power and wind power. The book will use various econometric measures, equilibrium metrics, OR methods, and DEA/productivity analyses to analyze and model the optimal use of these alternate energy sources. Because these problems are dynamic in nature, dynamic methods are used to model the problems. The book derives results on the allocation of the amounts of alternate sources of energy (water, thermal, and wind) required to produce electricity at acceptable levels over time. Graphic illustrations of the analytical and mathematical modeling used to reach research conclusions are used throughout the book.
Human Resource Management in Consulting Firms
This book presents insider reports from high-profile international consultancies which allow practitioners, scholars and graduates to gain an authentic insight into the people management in business consulting. Additionally to the overview of existing hr systems, the book provides details of practices dealing with issues such as value oriented corporate culture, gender diversity management, employability, leadership development, knowledge management and employer branding.
Homo Oeconomicus : The Economic Model of Behaviour and Its Applications in Economics and Other Social Sciences
The economic model of behaviour is fundamental not only in economic theory, but also in modern approaches of other social sciences, above all in political science and law. This book provides a comprehensive treatise of the general model, its philosophical and methodological foundations and its applications in different fields. In addition to the basic model, extensions to its assumptions are examined to account for complex applications like low-cost situations with moral behaviour. Finally, the book takes a broader perspective by evaluating the impact of the model on economic policy and on the development of the field of social science as a whole, such as the competition between individualistic and collectivist approaches.
High Noon in the Automotive Industry
The book provides valuable information in an understandable style and entertaining form, but also makes clear statements on the tough consequences of global competition for the automotive manufacturers and the supply industry. Recommended reading for everyone in risk and asset management in the financial industry.
