Ascent after Decline
Ascent after Decline

Author: Otaviano Canuto

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2012-01-09

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 0821389432

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The Great Recession of 2009-2011 has left us short of instruments, bereft of confidence, and generally unprepared for a low-growth world. In this book, more than a dozen noted scholars discuss the prospects for future regrowth within analyses of key policy problems, major markets, and promising avenues for stimulating long-term economic growth.

Reframing Economic Policy Towards Sustainability
Reframing Economic Policy Towards Sustainability

Author: Peter McManners

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1315406691

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In a globalized world economy, delivering the aspirations of sustainability is proving to be difficult. Progress is held back by competing objectives within a complex interplay of factors. Finding solutions to the ‘wicked problem’ of sustainability seems to be beyond the reach of policy makers. Even if the political will can be found to deal with the prime challenges of the twenty-first century, ranging from climate change and resource depletion to persistent poverty and increasing inequity, what is to be done in terms of real-world policy is far from clear. Do we need more globalization; or has economic globalization gone too far in growing a global economy which will strip the planet bare? This book reports twin-track research which interweaves the intellectual argument over the future of the world economy intertwined with empirical research into the challenge of sustainability in aviation. Discussing the prime challenges of this century through the lens of the intractable policy stalemate in aviation, this book leads the reader to the identification of a new way forward. Whether the political will is forthcoming will continue to be subject to debate, but we now have a clear exposition of how to address the problem. The new paradigm presented in this book opens the way to considering radical transformations to make real progress with the sustainability agenda.

Structural Reforms and Firms’ Productivity: Evidence from Developing Countries
Structural Reforms and Firms’ Productivity: Evidence from Developing Countries

Author: Wilfried A. Kouamé

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2018-03-19

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 1484347005

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This paper assesses the effects of structural reforms on firm-level productivity for 37 developing countries from 2006 to 2014 period. It takes advantage of the IMF Monitoring of Fund Arrangements dataset for reform indexes and the World Bank Enterprise Surveys for firm-level productivity. The paper highlights the following results. Structural reforms such as financial, fiscal, real sector, and trade reforms, significantly improve firm-level productivity. Interestingly, real sector reforms have the most sizeable effects on firm-level productivity. The relationship between structural reforms and firm-level productivity is nonlinear and shaped by some firms’ characteristics such as the financial access, the distortionary environment, and the size of firms. The pace of structural reforms matters since being a “strong reformer” is associated with a clear productivity dividend for firms. Finally, except for financial and trade reforms, all structural reforms under consideration are bilaterally complementary in improving firm-level productivity. These findings are robust to several sensitivity checks.

Fiscal Policy and Long-Term Growth
Fiscal Policy and Long-Term Growth

Author: International Monetary Fund

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2015-04-20

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1498344658

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This paper explores how fiscal policy can affect medium- to long-term growth. It identifies the main channels through which fiscal policy can influence growth and distills practical lessons for policymakers. The particular mix of policy measures, however, will depend on country-specific conditions, capacities, and preferences. The paper draws on the Fund’s extensive technical assistance on fiscal reforms as well as several analytical studies, including a novel approach for country studies, a statistical analysis of growth accelerations following fiscal reforms, and simulations of an endogenous growth model.

Post-Covid Transformations
Post-Covid Transformations

Author: Kevin Gray

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-11-10

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1000783596

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This volume explores the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the sustainability of the present global political and economic system and the extent to which that system may as a result be undergoing transformation. Towards this aim, the contributing authors raise a number of key questions. First, what is likely to be the impact of the pandemic on the current global order based on neoliberal hyper-globalization? Second, what insights do earlier pandemics along with other inter-related crises such as those of climate, inequality, social reproduction, and continued fallout of the global financial crisis offer for understanding the medium- to long-term implications of COVID-19? Third, to what extent might the COVID pandemic lead to progressive political transformations? Towards this latter goal, the contributors to this volume also offer a number of suggestions as to what a post-COVID-19 world might look like and how post-COVID transformations might be channeled in a direction more conducive towards social justice and equality. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.

International Political Economy
International Political Economy

Author: Thomas D. Lairson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-08

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 1134111932

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This text offers a rethinking of the field of international political economy in an era of growing but uneven globalization. Even as global integration advances, states play central roles as partners with the largest of global firms, as the catalysts of competitiveness and economic growth, as the creators of global institutions, and in promoting and responding to global interdependence. Indeed, the struggle for power and wealth within and among states underscores the primacy of politics in understanding current realities. At the same time, new issues and actors complicate the global agenda as it expands to address the environment, global health, and food security. By offering a clear explanation of basic concepts, contextualizing the presentation of theoretical debates, and placing current events in historical context, International Political Economy ensures students a deep understanding of how the global economy works and the ways in which globalization affects their lives and those of people around the world. Key Content and Features Engages debates over the reach and significance of globalization. Examines the sources and consequences of global financial instability. Explores the origins and consequences of global inequality. Compares various strategies of development and state roles in competitiveness. Discusses the role of key international economic institutions. Considers the impact of the rise of China on the global economy and the potential for war and peace. Illustrates collective efforts to fight hunger, disease, and environmental threats. Includes numerous graphs and illustrations throughout and end of chapter discussion questions. Links key concepts for each chapter to a glossary at the end of the book. Provides a list of acronyms at the outset and annotated further readings at the end of each chapter. Offers additional resources on a web site related to the text, including a list of links to IPE-related web pages.

Diverse Divers
Diverse Divers

Author: Gerald L. Kooyman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 364283602X

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This book is not a conventional review of diving physiology. The coverage of the literature has been selective rather than en compassing, the emphasis has been on field studies rather than laboratory investigations, and the dive responses described are often discussed from the perspective of some of the flaws or weaknesses in the conclusions. Some of these points are of more historical interest to note how our concepts have evolved as we learn more about behavior and responses to natural diving in contrast to forced submersions in the laboratory. As a result there is a degree of evaluation of some experiments on my part that may seem obvious or controversial to the specialist. I have followed this planat times in order to aid the reader, who I hope is often an untergraduate or graduate stu dent, the nonspecialist, and the layman, in appreciating to some degree the level of dissatisfaction or skepticism about certain areas of research in diving physiology. In view of historical boundaries in vertebrate biology, the subject is of broad enough importance to catch the interest of a wide audience of readers if I have done my job well. For ex ample, of the major epochal transitions or events there have been in vertebrate history, three come immediately to mind: (1) The transition from aquatic to aerial respiration which ultimately led to a broad occupation of terrestrial habitats. (2) The development of endothermy.

Allies As Rivals
Allies As Rivals

Author: Faruk Tabak

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-12-03

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1317263960

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This book traces the dynamics of international rivalry from the late 1970s up through the present. Among the members of the dominant North political discord has become prominent recently in debates ranging from the Balkan Wars to the Second Gulf War. Yet a wide array of disputes--launching of global positioning systems to steel imports--have shattered the semblance of unity and cooperation among the members of the North, the triad of Europe, U.S., and east Asia. The book explores the subversive ways in which the configuration of economic networks in east Asia are subtly leaving their mark on the structure of the world-system. Also addressed are the ramifications on the South of this sharpening rivalry and, more importantly, whether this round of imperial rivalry will eventually give way, as previously in history, to new forms of international domination.

Laughing at Nothing
Laughing at Nothing

Author: John Marmysz

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0791486281

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Disputing the common misconception that nihilism is wholly negative and necessarily damaging to the human spirit, John Marmysz offers a clear and complete definition to argue that it is compatible, and indeed preferably responded to, with an attitude of good humor. He carefully scrutinizes the phenomenon of nihilism as it appears in the works, lives, and actions of key figures in the history of philosophy, literature, politics, and theology, including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Camus, and Mishima. While suggesting that there ultimately is no solution to the problem of nihilism, Marmysz proposes a way of utilizing the anxiety and despair that is associated with the problem as a spur toward liveliness, activity, and the celebration of life.

After the new social democracy
After the new social democracy

Author: Tony Fitzpatrick

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2013-07-19

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1847795722

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This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Social democracy has made a political comeback in recent years, especially under the influence of the ‘Third Way’. Not everyone is convinced, however, that ‘Third Way’ social democracy is the best means of reviving the Left's project. This book considers this dissent and offers an alternative approach. Bringing together a range of social and political theories, it engages with some contemporary debates regarding the present direction and future of the Left. Drawing upon egalitarian, feminist and environmental ideas, the book proposes that the social democratic tradition can be renewed but only if the dominance of conservative ideas is challenged more effectively. It explores a number of issues with this aim in mind, including justice, the state, democracy, new technologies, future generations and the advances in genetics.