In the small world of micrometer to nanometer scale many natural and industrial processes include attachment of colloid particles (solid spheres, liquid droplets, gas bubbles or protein macromolecules) to fluid interfaces and their confinement in liquid films. This may lead to the appearance of lateral interactions between particles at interfaces, or between inclusions in phospholipid membranes, followed eventually by the formation of two-dimensional ordered arrays. The book is devoted to the description of such processes, their consecutive stages, and to the investigation of the underlying...

The geometry of power exponents includes the Newton polyhedron, normal cones of its faces, power and logarithmic transformations. On the basis of the geometry universal algorithms for simplifications of systems of nonlinear equations (algebraic, ordinary differential and partial differential) were developed.
The algorithms form a new calculus which allows to make local and asymptotical analysis of solutions to those systems.
The efficiency of the calculus is demonstrated with regard to several complicated problems from Robotics, Celestial Mechanics, Hydrodynamics and Thermodynamics....

Europe's notoriously high level of unemployment is one of the big puzzles of empirical macroeconomics. In recent years, the unemployment rate has fallen in The Netherlands, but the overall level in OECD Europe remains high. An investigation into why Dutch economic policy has been relatively effective could be useful for the unemployment debate in Europe. This book contributes to this investigation with its empirical analysis covering three important topics. The first part of the book investigates whether (macro) economic policies could be effective in reducing unemployment in the short run....

This book describes MONASH, a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Australian economy. In standard applications, MONASH is run with about 100 industries. Via a suite of add-on programs, results can be generated for 57 sub-national regions, 340 occupations and numerous types of households.

The volume aims to produce an updated collection of advanced theories and methods in the field of urban policies, and highlights modern urban policies that stem from them. Contributions stress the limits of previous theories and methods, and emphasize the new directions that are developed in the field, and barriers that are overcome, providing in this way a dynamic perspective on theoretical and methodological knowledge in the field of urban economics. Urban policies, as well as practical problems envisaged in our modern cities, that take advantage from this theoretical development are...

This book studies the relationships between economic growth and social welfare and the policy implications of these relationships for development. Understanding the relationships between economic growth and social welfare is an enduring issue within contemporary development economics and welfare economics. These relationships are analysed in this book by operationalising normative social choice theory. Normative social choice theory is an appropriate approach as it explicitly incorporates society's preferences, values and choices in determining how social welfare should be defined and...

The monograph concentrates on recent developments in modelling economic processes on macro level. Namely there are two main areas of interest: co-integration analysis and the use of high frequency time series. Special emphasis is put on testing, application of VEqCM models to I(1) as well as I(2) variables and structuralization of VAR. Volatility is analysed within traditional and Bayesian approach.

The main purpose of this book is to enhance the understanding of differences in productivity performance between countries and sectors and to improve our insight in the drivers of productivity levels and its growth. Due to demographics the speed-up of productivity growth will be of increasing importance to secure GDP growth in the future, since the other source of GDP growth (employment growth) will be limited in most Western Countries. A better insight in the patterns and drivers of productivity performance is therefore not simply a matter of academic interest, however valuable that in...

This book examines the intricate relationship among trade and investment policies, as well as environmental regulations, especially for developing economies. Trade liberalization via tariff reduction and market reforms has contributed significantly to the growth of the world economy. Nonetheless, one may wonder if free trade can continue to be a key factor sustaining economic growth and improving environmental quality. Under free trade, capital-abundant developed countries that produce capital intensive goods tend to emit more pollutants. This is the thrust of the so-called factor-endowment...

Pension systems in most industrialised countries are unfunded, i.e. they are pay-as-you-go financed and thus depend on a well-balanced ratio (old) recipients to (young) contributors. This so-called dependency ratio will worsen significantly in the next few decades due to two developments: ageing of the population and increased labour mobility. This book analyses the viability of unfunded pension systems in the presence of the projected demographic evolution. The analysis focuses on questions concerning: efficiency considerations and the possibility of welfare improvements; political economy...