New electronic payment mechanisms together with an emerging global information economy on the Internet are set to change the way we do business. In the centre of all these developments are new electronic payment mechanisms, the financial infrastructure needed to open the electronic marketplace. This book gives a structured overview of these new payment mechanisms by first describing what exactly is possible today, what is currently existing or being developed, and how these systems work. It gives the essential background needed for informed decisions and discussions in the areas of electronic payment systems and electronic commerce.
How to use finance as a tool to build a more equitable and sustainable society. Money defines our present and will shape our future. Every investment decision we make adds a chapter to the story of what our world will look like. Although the idea of mission-based finance has been around for decades, there is a gap between organizations' stated intention to "do good" and meaningful impact. Still, some are succeeding. In Just Money, Katrin Kaufer and Lillian Steponaitis take readers on a global tour of financial institutions that use finance as a force for good.
This book offers a fresh and uniquely sociological perspective on money and credit. As basic economic institutions, money and credit are easy to overlook when they work well. When they malfunction, their importance becomes obvious and demands further investigation. Bruce G. Carruthers and Laura Ariovich examine the social dimensions of money and credit at both the individual and corporate levels, from the development of personal credit in a consumer society to the role of government in the creation of money. In clear prose, they illustrate how the overall economy is governed by the financial system and the flow of capital into, and out of, firms. They also explore the social meanings of money, and how people distinguish between "dirty" and "clean" money. This accessible and engaging book will be essential reading for upper-level students of economic sociology, and those interested in how the bills, coins, and plastic in our pockets shape the world in which we live.
?The Tender Years? is my autobiography, a true and honest account of my life from birth to the present day. It takes in what for many, are taboo subjects: - childhood sexual abuse, self-harm in various measures, and psychiatric care today ? as we leave the 20th Century. My own psychiatric care takes in the hub of ?the System?, the receiving end of in-patient and out-patient or ?client? services ? which is still much in need of improvement. I try to describe the many mistakes that may be made in this ?hit and miss? side of medicine. The book embraces a host of emotional feelings, captured in a format that adults should find inspirational to read. One of the key reasons for writing the book is that it hints of the physical as well as the emotional scars. Hopefully my later years will successively become less ?tender? from these. In offering a light at the end of the tunnel, if QT Saunders got through a tough life and is still standing ? anyone can ? and against all the odds.
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The fascinating untold story of digital cash and its creators—from experiments in the 1970s to the mania over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies Bitcoin may appear to be a revolutionary form of digital cash without precedent or prehistory. In fact, it is only the best-known recent experiment in a long line of similar efforts going back to the 1970s. But the story behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and its blockchain technology has largely been untold—until now. In Digital Cash, Finn Brunton reveals how technological utopians and political radicals created experimental money to bring about their visions of the future: protecting privacy or bringing down governments, preparing for apocalypse or launching a civilization of innovation and abundance that would make its creators immortal. The incredible story of the pioneers of cryptocurrency takes us from autonomous zones on the high seas to the world’s most valuable dump, from bank runs to idea coupons, from time travelers in a San Francisco bar to the pattern securing every twenty-dollar bill, and from marketplaces for dangerous secrets to a tank of frozen heads awaiting revival in the far future. Along the way, Digital Cash explores the hard questions and challenges that these innovators faced: How do we learn to trust and use different kinds of money? What makes digital objects valuable? How does currency prove itself as real to us? What would it take to make a digital equivalent to cash, something that could be created but not forged, exchanged but not copied, and which reveals nothing about its users? Filled with marvelous characters, stories, and ideas, Digital Cash is an engaging and accessible account of the strange origins and remarkable technologies behind today’s cryptocurrency explosion.
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PC Presto is a funny bumbling policeman who uses his magic tricks to solve crimes. He's helped by his clever police dog Sarge and his magic doves Softly and Softly. 3 great stories introducing a new children's character your children will love.