Method Today
Method Today

Author: Brad Stoddard

Publisher: NAASR Working Papers

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781781795682

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Thirty or forty years ago, the phrase method and theory in Religious Studies scholarship referred to more social scientific approaches to the study of religion, as opposed to the more traditional theological hermeneutics common to the field. Today, however, it seems that everyone claims to do theory and method, including those people who shun social scientific approaches the academic study of religion. As a result, what does it mean to do theory and method in an era where the phrase has no distinct meaning? To help address this question, the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) addressed the issue of theory at its annual meeting in 2015. Based on what all agreed were productive and rigorous conversations, NAASR returned to the topic at its meeting a year later, where panelists and presenters discussed the issue of method. This volume is a collection of papers presented at the 2016 NAASR meeting, where panelists specifically addressed description, interpretation, comparison, and explanation in Religious Studies scholarship.

Policy Uncertainty in Japan
Policy Uncertainty in Japan

Author: Ms.Elif C Arbatli

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2017-05-30

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 1484302362

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We develop new economic policy uncertainty (EPU) indices for Japan from January 1987 onwards building on the approach of Baker, Bloom and Davis (2016). Each index reflects the frequency of newspaper articles that contain certain terms pertaining to the economy, policy matters and uncertainty. Our overall EPU index co-varies positively with implied volatilities for Japanese equities, exchange rates and interest rates and with a survey-based measure of political uncertainty. The EPU index rises around contested national elections and major leadership transitions in Japan, during the Asian Financial Crisis and in reaction to the Lehman Brothers failure, U.S. debt downgrade in 2011, Brexit referendum, and Japan’s recent decision to defer a consumption tax hike. Our uncertainty indices for fiscal, monetary, trade and exchange rate policy co-vary positively but also display distinct dynamics. VAR models imply that upward EPU innovations foreshadow deteriorations in Japan’s macroeconomic performance, as reflected by impulse response functions for investment, employment and output. Our study adds to evidence that credible policy plans and strong policy frameworks can favorably influence macroeconomic performance by, in part, reducing policy uncertainty.

CCCS Selected Working Papers
CCCS Selected Working Papers

Author: Ann Gray

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-11-07

Total Pages: 1121

ISBN-13: 1134346409

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This collection of classic essays focuses on the theoretical frameworks that informed the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, the methodologies and working practices that the Centre developed for conducting academic research and examples of the studies carried out under the auspices of the Centre. This volume is split into seven thematic sections that are introduced by key academics working in the field of cultural studies, and includes a preface by eminent scholar, Stuart Hall. The thematic sections are: Literature and Society Popular Culture and Youth Subculture Media Women's Studies and Feminism Race History Education and Work.

Remembering J. Z. Smith
Remembering J. Z. Smith

Author: Emily D. Crews

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781781799697

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This volume presents an archive of remembrances of the person and the contributions of the late Jonathan Z. Smith (1938-2017). Section one collects previously unpublished papers from three separate recent scholarly panels (from the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the North American Association for the Study of Religion), in which a wide variety of scholars reflect on the impact Smith had on their own careers and the field at large. Section two includes revised versions of blog posts, many of which appeared shortly after news of Smith's death, in which scholars, journalists, and onetime students of Smith offer a more intimate and personal look at his legacy. The volume closes with the extended transcripts of seven interviews about Smith carried out with those who either trained or worked with him. Taken together, the volume documents the role Smith's work has played in the modern field while providing a basis for further considering the future direction of the field.

Inflation Expectations
Inflation Expectations

Author: Peter J. N. Sinclair

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-12-16

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1135179778

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Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.

Profits With Principles
Profits With Principles

Author: Ira A. Jackson

Publisher: Broadway Business

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0385501633

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Draws on detailed case studies from more than fifty top companies to demonstrate how engaging in ethical practices can enable businesses to gain a competitive advantage, improve a brand image, secure consumer loyalty, and foster greater employee satisfaction.

Reclaiming Populism
Reclaiming Populism

Author: Eric Protzer

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2022-01-04

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9781509548118

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The rise of populism is usually attributed by commentators to either income inequality or culture wars. We are witnessing, they argue, either the displaced anger of the 99% or the revenge of the ‘deplorables’ against the ‘liberal elite’. They are wrong. In this forensic book, Eric Protzer and Paul Summerville argue that populism is actually a response to a profound sense that many of the world’s leading economies are unfair. They show that in meritocratic countries, such as Australia, Canada, Portugal, and Japan, populism has not taken root. In contrast, the countries that have been hit by the worst populist upheavals - like the US, UK, France, and Italy – have low social mobility. The way to address populism is to restore the connection between contribution and reward and craft a politics that reclaims the reasonable grievances that drive populism while discarding its false diagnoses and toxic ‘solutions’. Reclaiming Populism is a must-read for policy-makers, scholars and citizens who want to understand the crises of our age and bring disenchanted populist voters back into the fold of liberal democracy.

Culture, Media, Language
Culture, Media, Language

Author: Stuart Hall

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1134897154

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First published in 2004. A collection of the pioneering work from The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies.

Creating Public Value
Creating Public Value

Author: Mark H. Moore

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1997-03-25

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 0674248783

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A seminal figure in the field of public management, Mark H. Moore presents his summation of fifteen years of research, observation, and teaching about what public sector executives should do to improve the performance of public enterprises. Useful for both practicing public executives and those who teach them, this book explicates some of the richest of several hundred cases used at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and illuminates their broader lessons for government managers. Moore addresses four questions that have long bedeviled public administration: What should citizens and their representatives expect and demand from public executives? What sources can public managers consult to learn what is valuable for them to produce? How should public managers cope with inconsistent and fickle political mandates? How can public managers find room to innovate? Moore’s answers respond to the well-understood difficulties of managing public enterprises in modern society by recommending specific, concrete changes in the practices of individual public managers: how they envision what is valuable to produce, how they engage their political overseers, and how they deliver services and fulfill obligations to clients. Following Moore’s cases, we witness dilemmas faced by a cross-section of public managers: William Ruckelshaus and the Environmental Protection Agency; Jerome Miller and the Department of Youth Services; Miles Mahoney and the Park Plaza Redevelopment Project; David Sencer and the swine flu scare; Lee Brown and the Houston Police Department; Harry Spence and the Boston Housing Authority. Their work, together with Moore’s analysis, reveals how public managers can achieve their true goal of producing public value.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

Author: John J. Mearsheimer

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 651

ISBN-13: 1429932821

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Originally published in 2007, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. A work of major importance, it remains as relevant today as it was in the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006. Mearsheimer and Walt describe in clear and bold terms the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. They provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America's posture throughout the Middle East―in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict―and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America's national interest nor Israel's long-term interest. The lobby's influence also affects America's relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy led to a sea change in how the U.S-Israel relationship was discussed, and continues to be one of the most talked-about books in foreign policy.